American football: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Garcia and RedBird buy XFL for $15 million

Former WWE Superstar turned Hollywood actor Dwayne Johnson has teamed up with his ex-wife Dany Garcia and investment company RedBird Capital Partners to buy the XFL for $15 million, hours before the bankrupt American football league was set to be auctioned off.

Johsnon, Garcia and RedBird Capitals Partners were selected as the winning bidder for “substantially all of the assets of Alpha Entertainment LLC” - parent company of the XFL.

The XFL, a reboot of the 2001 league, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, one month after it had to call off the remainder of the season due to COVID-19 pandemic. 

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“We are grateful for today’s outcome. This is a Hollywood ending to our sale process and it is an exciting new chapter for the league,” XFL president and COO Jeffrey Pollack said in a statement on Monday.

“(They) are a dream team ownership group and the XFL is in the best possible hands going forward.”

However, the transcation to buy the XFL is subject to bankruptcy court approval at a hearing on Friday. XFL 2.0 is the brainchild of Vince McMahon and was the second attempt by the WWE CEO to provide an NFL alternative to American football lovers. 

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Popularly known as ‘The Rock’, Johnson is famous for his roles in popular movie franchises such as the ‘Fast & Furious’ and ‘Jumanji’.

“With gratitude and passion I’ve built a career with my own two hands and will apply these callouses to our @xfl2020 brand,” Johnson wrote on Twitter. “Excited to create something special for the fans!”

The 48-year-old was a college football player at the University of Miami who went undrafted in the 1995 NFL Draft before he eventually switched to wrestling.