Vince McMahon is going all in for the relaunch of he XFL.
The revamped league that is expected to return in February 2020 already received $100 million in funding from McMahon, who sold a swath of his stock in World Wrestling Entertainment to initially fund the XFL under his new brand Alpha Entertainment.
Now it appears that number was just a pittance compared to what McMahon expects to spend over the first three seasons of the XFL — assuming the league sticks around that long.
The first iteration of the XFL only went one season.
According to ESPN, McMahon told insiders that his investment in the XFL would likely be around $500 million over three seasons.
New XFL CEO and commissioner Oliver Luck explained that the $100 million that McMahon helped to relaunch the league wouldn’t be nearly enough to actually sustain the kind of financial commitment needed to fuel a new professional football endeavor.
“People were focused on the $100 million, but the truth is that doesn’t even get us to the 20-yard line,” Luck said in the interview.
The biggest chunk of the cost to run the league will go to the players’ salaries, which are expected to average around $75,000 per athlete on a 40-man roster. Some of the higher end players may end up with bigger contracts.
Add to that, McMahon and the XFL are also expected to pay out more than $10 million in the first season just for insurance premiums to cover the players’ injuries.
Luck added that finding an insurance carrier for the league was a top priority for McMahon after announcing that the XFL was coming back. That cost alone could continue to add cost with so few insurance companies willing to cover a sports league like the XFL.
By all accounts, McMahon is not only financially invested in the XFL but he seems committed to make the league work the second time around after the organization originally folded in 2001.
