UPDATE: Around this time last week, we reported the XFL had officially shut down and declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. We have more details regarding this ongoing situation. According to The Wrestling Observer, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly talked with the WWE Board of Directors about closing the XFL before the official announcement. People within’ the XFL, including Commissioner Oliver Luck, weren’t made aware of this.
The ratings were okay, despite some dropoffs. However, Vince McMahon was more concerned about the loss of money and profit due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This wasn’t a huge issue at first, but in the long term, this would mean the company would not be able to continue on.
McMahon had sold $379,658,303 worth of WWE stock to fund the XFL last year. The bankruptcy has further damaged his reputation and the belief is the losses were greater than anticipated. Vince McMahon loaned Alpha Entertainment $7 million to cover the next payroll, then another $2 million on April 9th. He had agreed to loan another $3.5 million to cover bankruptcy costs. This means that McMahon himself is now a creditor, assuming someone else buys the league and/or intellectual property.
Oliver Luck is not listed as a creditor, even though his contract was for $20 million a year. He was either paid in full or had an opt-out clause in the agreement in case something like this happened. Chances are that Luck would get a prorated amount for the full length of his deal. The $20 million could also just be an upper limit number or made up entirely.
The bankruptcy filing revealed that the XFL had around 1,200 creditors and both assets and liabilities worth between $10 million and $50 million. When you compare this to the original XFL, they had $139 million in losses split between the 5% owners (NBC and WWE).
Check Out: REPORT: Vince McMahon’s Reputation Hurt by XFL Bankruptcy
Vince McMahon was listed as the sole owner in this case. He had previously said WWE wasn’t involved but they were listed as holding 23.5% of Class B stock in the filing. It was also reported that since Alpha Entertainment and WWE were right next to each other, there were plenty of people going back and forth between the two buildings and certain people were working two full-time jobs.
