On Monday afternoon it was announced that Red Bird Capital and Dany Garcia had purchased the XFL for $15 million dollars. Garcia will be the first female owner of a major sports league. Congratulations to her (story HERE).
But at the heart of the story was that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was also part of the new ownership group. And opening another exciting chapter of his life that once had him down to seven dollars to his name before eventually becoming a WWE Superstar, a Hollywood A-lister, a philanthropist, and now a sports league owner that is a move right out of his HBO show “Ballers”.
But The Rock could be out of his depth here. spring time football, up to this point, has been a loser.
The AAF. The XFL the first two times around. The World League. Arena football. They are all jokes compared to the NFL. And now it will be up to Garcia, Johnson, and company, to change this trend that has been more dominant that The Rock was during any of his championship reigns.
It’s going to be harder than any game of Jumanji. That’s for sure.
I’ll be rooting for him. And it’s not because I’ve been getting compared to this man for half of my life, but it’s because spring time football is still a need in the world of sports. We need a true feeder league for the NFL.
For a short time, I covered the Orlando Apollos before the AAF fiasco concluded. The demand is there for it to be done right. The fans, the players, the networks, they all want it.
It will be up to Johnson to make that happen. It will be exciting to watch.
Let’s hope it’s more Fast and Furious than it is Tooth Fairy.