The NFL season is over, but fans once again have some spring football to hold them over until the fall.
The XFL is back for 2023 after a three-year hiatus. With eight teams, rosters that feature former NFL players and college football standouts, and some well-known head coaches, the league will be worth keeping an eye on.
Many spring leagues have tried to establish themselves as a long-term piece of the sports calendar, but just about all have failed. Can the XFL break that trend and stick around? The answer starts at the top.
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Here's a look at who owns the XFL ahead of the 2023 season.
Who owns the XFL?
The XFL's restart in 2020 failed for reasons that fell mostly outside of the league's control. The season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, and there just wasn't enough funding to sustain the league without any revenue.
The XFL filed for bankruptcy about a month after the season was cancelled, and it was set to go up for auction in August 2020 until a group led headlined actor Dwayne Johnson swooped in to buy it out for $15 million.
Johnson, Dany Garcia, and Gerry Cardinale serve as the owners of the XFL, with Garcia the CEO and former Bills executive Russ Brandon serving as president of the league. As of August 2022, the league was looking for additional investors to join the team.
Johnson and Garcia were married from 1997-2008 and, to their credit, have remained business partners since their divorce.
The pair have provided regular updates about the XFL's relaunch since 2020, originally planning for a 2022 return before pushing that date to 2023. The league finally drafted its rosters in November and is on track to start up on Feb. 18.
MORE: XFL rosters 2023: Complete draft results, team-by-team picks for new football league
Dwayne Johnson net worth
Johnson's net worth is estimated to be near $800 million. He was just one piece of the $15 million purchase of the XFL, so the league is a low-risk investment for him as he tries to add to his impressive list of career accomplishments.
Johnson has made much of his money from acting - his films have grossed an estimated $10.5 billion worldwide - but he made his name as a professional wrestler after a brief football career at the University of Miami.
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If anyone can propel the XFL to success, it might be Johnson. Still, this is a new venture for him, and even the best designed spring football leagues have fallen short of their goals in recent years.
