How much will XFL players be paid in 2020? One report offers an estimate

Tom Gatto

How much will XFL players be paid in 2020? One report offers an estimate image

XFL players won't be getting rich during the league's second inaugural season, according to one report.

ProFootballTalk.com, citing a memo sent by the league to player agents, reported Friday that average salaries for the 2020 season will come out to $55,000. That figure includes bonuses for being on an active roster and winning games.

XFL players who are selected in next week's draft and kept by a team will be league employees from Dec. 4, 2019, through May 31, 2020, although players will be free to leave for the NFL after the league's championship game on April 26, PFT reported.

XFL GUIDE 2020: Team names, schedule, rules and more

For comparison, the NFL's minimum salary is $495,000, as PFT noted, and practice squad players are paid a minimum of $8,000 per week.

The eight XFL teams will fill their initial rosters with a draft on Oct. 15 and 16. Training camps will begin in November and the regular season is scheduled to begin Feb. 8, the week after Super Bowl 54.

WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon is relaunching the XFL as the latest attempt at a spring professional football league. McMahon folded the first XFL after just one season (2001). Over the past decade, the United Football League, the Spring League and the Alliance of American Football have all tried (and failed) to gain a toehold during the time period between the Super Bowl and training camp.

Prior to those leagues, the United States Football League lasted three seasons (1983-85) and sent dozens of players to the NFL. The World League of American Football, backed by the NFL, lasted from 1991-2007 in two separate stints.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.