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USA Today reported that Vince McMahon filed a counter suit against former XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck yesterday in Connecticut State Court. Luck had previously sued McMahon over his departure, which took place just as the league filed for bankruptcy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and before it was purchased by a group of investors led by The Rock and Dany Garcia.
The report noted that McMahon's lawsuit alleges Luck all but abandoned his duties as the pandemic took hold and that even before that point, Luck ignored McMahon's direction, "when it came to the signing of former NFL wide receiver Antonio Callaway by the XFL's Tampa Bay Vipers."McMahon said he emphasized to Luck that the XFL player pool must include “quality football players with good character.”
Callaway had been suspended by the National Football League in 2017 for facing third-degree felony charges of credit card fraud, according to the USA Today report and was later suspended ten games by The Cleveland Browns for violating substance abuse policy.
Callaway was injured and never played, which led to the XFL "paying him worker’s compensation and leaving the XFL unable to terminate him without paying the original signing bonus that exceeded $120,000."
“Luck knowingly and deliberately deceived me – repeatedly – throughout the Callaway situation, which made me question whether I could continue to trust Luck to be the commissioner and CEO of the XFL,” McMahon stated in the lawsuit, which is seeking $572,792.10 from Luck to cover Callaway’s contract, the worker’s compensation owed to him and Luck’s personal compensation from March 14 to April 9.
Luck’s contract called for a $5 million annual salary and a yearly $2 million bonus through June 30, 2023, and Luck has said he is owed the $23.8 million remaining, on top of other damages and attorney fees.
In 2018, McMahon launched a new company, Alpha Entertainment, to pursue a number of potential entertainment endeavors as well as a potential relaunch of the XFL. The original XFL launched in 2001 as a joint venture between NBC and WWE, existing for one season before shutting down. This version of the XFL was birthed coming out of an ESPN 30For30 documentary about the rise and fall of the 2001 failed version of the league, This Was The XFL.
That documentary ncluded footage of McMahon and NBC Executive Dick Ebersol discussing their memories of their partnership in the league over dinner and the idea of launching it today. During those discussions, McMahon admitted that he had "recently" had talks with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones about the idea of a "minor league NFL." The Director of that documentary was Charlie Ebersol, Dick's son, who later approached McMahon with the idea of purchasing the XFL rights and resurrecting the league.
Instead, McMahon did it himself while Ebersol went on to form the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which launched after the 2019 Super Bowl and folded within months. The AAF launched in February 2019, one year before the XFL's planned 2020 kickoff. Despite having a broadcast agreement with CBS, the AAF League almost immediately ran into cash flow difficulties, requiring a new $250 million investment, which made Tom Dundon the new majority owner. Dundon later made the decision to shut down the league, leaving the XFL's goal of becoming a new alternative football league unencumbered while also spotlighting the dangers of such a business launch.
As it turned out, XFL 2.0 shut down just weeks into its first relaunched season due to COVID-19. Although initially, the XFL promised to return next year, TV deals with ABC/ESPN and FOX in hand, it instead went into a quick bankruptcy.
Under its new management, the XFL has promised to kick off again in 2022:
Thanks to Matt Turk.
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