WWE CEO Vince McMahon is cashing in even more of his WWE stock to help fund the upcoming relaunch of the XFL.
McMahon sold off 3 million shares of his WWE stock — valued at approximately $270 million — as he continues to funnel money to Alpha Entertainment, which is the entity he created to help bring his football league back.
McMahon still owns over 36-percent of the WWE with over 80-percent voting rights when it comes to decision making for the professional wrestling organization.
When he first announced plans to relaunch the XFL, McMahon sold off another $100 million worth of his WWE stock to help get the company off the ground.
At the initial meeting to announced that the XFL would be coming back, McMahon stated that it would take a lot of money invested to get the football league off the ground. The original version of the XFL came out in 2000 but after an initial interest from fans, the league floundered and failed.
Now McMahon is determined to bring back the XFL in 2020 while promising to keep the focus on the game and giving fans a chance to watch more football during the entire year.
The timing of McMahon selling off his WWE stock to fund more money into Alpha Entertainment/XFL comes on the heels of the news that the Alliance of American Football (AAF) could be in serious trouble.
On Wednesday it was revealed that the AAF may considering shutting down its operations without additional support from the NFL Player’s Association.
“If the players union is not going to give us young players, we can’t be a development league,” AAF chairman Tom Dundon told USA Today Sports. “We are looking at our options, one of which is discontinuing the league.”
Obviously, McMahon would likely jump at the opportunity to fill that void with the XFL launching next year.
Regardless of the future of the AAF, McMahon is definitely putting the full brunt of his financial power behind the XFL with this latest cash injection.
