Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

THE OTHER RANDOM FOOTBALL LEAGUES THREAD


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

10 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

Not a thing in civil court

(Also if this was a joke response, I apologize.  Long years of being online have long since burned away any ability to detect irony)

I’m old, and I remember dumb trailer lines, plus kids used to repeat  it all the time during recess.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

I’m old, and I remember dumb trailer lines, plus kids used to repeat  it all the time during recess.

That movie had such an insane understanding of what Double Jeopardy meant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BTW - Dave had a comment in the newest WON that was basically "This has burnt all the bridges Vince had with anyone in football" and I was like "you think???"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

BTW - Dave had a comment in the newest WON that was basically "This has burnt all the bridges Vince had with anyone in football" and I was like "you think???"

I can't wait for some Swiss bankers to help Vince start up XFL Switzerland. I mean Richard Schaefer help turn Oscar De La Hoya's shitty promotion, Golden Boy, from running shows in Sacramento and San Jose into a legit boxing outfit with bankable superstars that weren't named Oscar De La Hoya. He can dig Vince out of this hole.

Okay, probably not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I can't wait for some Swiss bankers to help Vince start up XFL Switzerland. I mean Richard Schaefer help turn Oscar De La Hoya's shitty promotion, Golden Boy, from running shows in Sacramento and San Jose into a legit boxing outfit with bankable superstars that weren't named Oscar De La Hoya. He can dig Vince out of this hole.

Okay, probably not.

If it means vince having to finally give Claudio a good push, go for it.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a link to the above referenced, I think. It's about the XFL folding/Vince is a carney stuff. It looks like Vince woke up one morning and changed plans on the XFL, much like a Reigns Wrestlemania match. 

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/SB-Blogs/Breaking-News/2020/04/XFL.aspx?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTWpVd1l6ZzNPVEprTWpOayIsInQiOiJaUGtRVTVyRzZwOUZNR1FlUnVJc2pFdDlVQTlKaWJNUDM4bFVhMUk4WXV2S1ZucElyQ21qK2pkZENhNTFcL0h1dEdvbnBDZklEOWRWQTkwSkswQ0NYR2pESjd1Zk9ZUVZ5YXhBWW8yVkE4YTdCd0t5Tm5TcVo2NW1zaHVBdGZSWkQ1ZmNkK1A2ZXM3Z05hXC9uMHJkdE1HQT09In0%3D

Edited by joseph2112
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spoiler

The second rendition of the XFL closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy this past week, the same week as its planned regular season was scheduled to close.

Hints that the league was folding first came out on 4/9 when the league announced that it was changing its policy regarding refunds. Previously, after it was announced they were shutting down the season and returning for 2021, people who had purchased tickets in advance were given the option to use those tickets for 2021 or get a refund. But at that time the league announced all tickets were being refunded, including deposits on 2021 season tickets, a total believed to be around $3.5 million. The league refused to answer questions about whether there would be a 2021 season, because at the time nobody other than McMahon likely knew for sure, but obviously that seemed to signal the end for the league.

The next day, in a conference call, the league announced there would be no 2021 season, it was laying off everyone immediately aside from a few people based in Stamford who were needed to tie up loose ends. The league did so with no severance pay. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Alpha Entertainment, the parent company, was filed on 4/13.

According to various media sources, Vince McMahon talked with the WWE Board of Directors about folding the league before it was announced. However, other sources said that nobody in the league, including Oliver Luck, his second in command, had it brought up to them and were unaware until the last day.

The folding leaves a lot of questions, because the ratings over the first four weeks were good enough to be encouraging. The 19 percent decline in week five was not good, as things should have stabilized by then and were concerning, but hardly disastrous.

The belief is that McMahon realized with the money losses due to the pandemic that all the major companies that own the major television conglomerates were taking, that his ability to get a paying television or streaming deal that would allow the league to be profitable just wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

McMahon had sold $379,658,303 worth of stock last year to fund the league, a figure it was believed at the time would cover three years worth of money losses. While McMahon’s own worth plummeted with the price drop of WWE stock, the reality is that the price right now is not altogether different from when McMahon made the decision to run the league, which came before the negotiations for new Raw and Smackdown deals came in so high and led to the temporary gigantic increase in price.

McMahon wouldn’t have immediately earmarked all of that money immediately in the league’s account. More likely he would have enough to fund the first season, and then put more in the account for upcoming seasons. However, losses must have been far greater than expected.

On 3/25, McMahon loaned Alpha Entertainment/XFL $7 million based on it having a shortfall in money to cover, among other things, the next payroll. By 4/9, McMahon had lent the league another $2 million, and had agreed to lend the league another $3.5 million to cover things related to the bankruptcy. By personally lending the money to the league as opposed to using league money for those costs, he becomes a creditor in case of a purchase of the league or the ability to sell any of its equipment or intellectual property. So it would appear with hindsight McMahon was setting up closing down by 3/25.

At the time of the shutdown, Alpha Entertainment had $5.6 million in cash on hand which would include the $9 million McMahon had already lent to the company.

It was telling that Luck, who reportedly was making $20 million per year was not listed as a creditor. That would appear to mean either McMahon did pay him in full or he had an opt-out clause in their agreement in case the league folded and Luck would get a prorated portion for the full length of his deal. The figure reported could also be an upper limit number or a fake number.

According to the bankruptcy filing the league had about 1,200 creditors, had assets estimated at being worth between $10 million and $50 million and liabilities also worth between $10 million and $50 million.

The original XFL had approximately $139 million in losses in its one and only season, which were split between WWE and NBC, which were each 5 percent owners.

McMahon was listed as the sole owner. He had always stated that WWE wasn’t involved, but the bankruptcy listings indicated McMahon wasn’t telling the complete truth. McMahon was listed as owning 100 percent of Class A stock and 76.5 percent of Class B stock, with the WWE listed as owning the other 23.5 percent of Class B stock. The number of shares representing Class A and Class B was not clear.

McMahon had denied from the start that WWE had any connection with the league. It was known WWE owned stock in the league in exchange for the WWE selling the intellectual property such as the name XFL to McMahon for his new league. McMahon had reportedly turned down $50 million for the rights to the name and intellectual property and was opening itself up for potential legal action if they turned down such an offer and then instead gave it to McMahon. There was a class action lawsuit filed by the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension Fund in December against McMahon, claiming the work of himself and other senior executives were diverted to help the XFL, but the case was dismissed in March. It’s unknown if the dismissal was based on an out-of-court settlement or not. Similar lawsuits are still pending.

The Action Network reported that with the Alpha Entertainment Offices and WWE offices being right next to each other, that there was frequent traffic going back-and-forth between the two buildings and it was known that certain employees were working essentially two-full-time jobs, one in wrestling and one in football.

The list of debtors started with $1.6 million owed to the St. Louis Sports Commission, $1,208.832 to Bevel NEP Integrated Solutions of Pittsburgh and Dallas Renegades coach Bob Stoops, the most high-profile coach in the league, at $1,083,333.33.

Among the other coaches, Marc Trestmann was owed $777,777.78 on an employee contract, Jonathan Hayes was owed $633,333.33, Winston Moss was owed $583,333.33, Kevin Gilbride was owed $583,333.33 as was June Jones and James Zorn.

The DeBartolo’s Elevate Sports Partners were owed $856,175.33. 47 Brand, their hat partner, for goods was owed $846,000. Ticketmaster was owed $655,148.46. Venues where the teams played were owed between $260,000 and $368,000 aside from the higher amount in St. Louis.

It was noted by one person in the New York business community as well as another name in sports to us about how this, more than anything this week, has hurt Vince McMahon’s name with the idea that he had earmarked enough money for several seasons, but when calling it quits, stiffed not only respected coaching names but all kinds of business partners for a figure that could be as large as $50 million on the way out.

It was noted that the AAF, which was supposed to be the rival league but didn’t even finish a full season, ended up lasting through eight weeks while the XFL only finished five weeks, but the circumstances were completely different.

Still, the losses were high and the changing economy made McMahon feel that what seemed like a good time with media rights skyrocketing for sports, suddenly was no longer the case. It must have been extreme and not a good view for the future when it comes to many sports rights because McMahon got into this to prove his detractors wrong and erase the biggest mainstream blemish on his reputation.

The fact is this XFL was far better received. He went with real football over a sideshow. The reviews were generally positive but the audience wasn’t sticking with it week-after-week. The death of the league will always be attributed to the timing and a business victim of the coronavirus. And that’s certainly a big part of it. But McMahon had earmarked money for three years, and one would think sports would likely be back by February 2021. Just giving up at this point would seem to indicate he was pretty sure that the future of sports rights fees in 2022 or 2023, when the coronavirus would hopefully be history, did not look promising enough to stick it out and take a chance. And keep in mind, from the start, the XFL as a business was always taking a chance.

That is what Dave put in the WON last week. Lord knows what is going to be this week

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...