The Rock Now Owns a Football League

So far, the new XFL isn't exactly the luckiest league in the history of sports—because of the pandemic, all games were suspended five weeks after its launch this year and it filed for bankruptcy in April. But new owner Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson says he is going to build the football league into "something special for the players, fans, and everybody involved for the love of football," reports Bleacher Report. Johnson and his business partner/ex-wife Dany Garcia partnered with RedBird Capital to buy the league for $15 million Monday, just hours before an auction was due to begin.

"With gratitude & passion I’ve built a career with my own two hands and will apply these callouses" to XFL, Johnson tweeted Monday. His involvement continues wrestling's connection with the league, which was founded by WWE CEO Vince McMahon, Variety notes. The eight-team league attracted more than 3 million viewers per game in its first week, though that dipped to around 1.5 million just before the shutdown. The acquisition still needs to be approved by a bankruptcy court, and creditors might push for it to be sold to a bidder offering more, reports NBC Sports. (More football stories.)