Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital are teaming up for a $15 million deal to buy the XFL, the football league founded in 2018 by Vince McMahon which was scheduled to start a bankruptcy auction this week (which is now cancelled).
The aim is to “develop the XFL brand into a multi-media experience that our athletes, partners and fans will proudly embrace and love” says Garcia. The transaction is subject to bankruptcy court approval at a hearing this Friday.
Johnson, himself a former football player for the University of Miami, says in a statement: “I look forward to creating something special for the players, fans, and everyone involved for the love of football.” The deal also makes Garcia the first and only female sports league owner independent from a team.
Johnson has also confirmed on his social media accounts that filming is set to resume mid-September on the big-budget Netflix heist thriller feature “Red Notice” which was shut down in March due to the pandemic.
In the post, Johnson says Netflix and the producers are strictly implementing safety protocols on the set, and sought advice from the NBA about their current strategies and approaches.
The globe-trotting action-comedy has Johnson playing an Interpol agent tasked with capturing the most wanted art thief (Gal Gadot) in the world and ends up having to deal with the world’s greatest con-man (Ryan Reynolds). Rawson Marshall Thurber (“Skyscraper”) is helming.
Source: THR & Instagram. Photo credit Hiram Garcia.
