Football News: Dwayne Johnson & Dany Garcia Announce XFL Will Relaunch In 2022
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took to Twitter on Thursday and announced that the XFL will relaunch in the spring of 2022. The announcement was also shared across social media by Johnson’s business partner, Dany Garcia.
The former WWE superstar — who teamed up with RedBird Capital’s Garcia to buy the bankrupt football league in August — said that the relaunch will be an “uphill battle.” However, they’re prepared to do whatever it takes to bring fans an “electrifying” product.
Johnson and Garcia paid $15 million for the league, which happened just months after Vince McMahon gave it up. The former owner cited COVID-19 as the reason why the previous incarnation didn’t succeed. The situation got messy, however, as McMahon is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with former commissioner Oliver Luck.
Johnson and Garcia reportedly acquired the XFL as networks such as FOX and ESPN had expressed an interest in continuing to show games. It remains to be seen if they’ll continue to work with these television partners once relaunched.
Johnson’s announcement was met with a mixed response from his followers. Given that the XFL has failed twice in the past, some of them aren’t optimistic about its chances in 2022.
However, there were several commenters who thought that the last attempt showed potential, and they think Johnson is the man to push it forward.
“Awesome news. Hopefully, third time around it can expand on the good things that the second go-around did before COVID struck. It was actually good the second go-around than the first go around,” noted one person on Twitter.
XFL returns SPRING 2022 ?
As owners, we’re proud to champion our XFL players, coaches, cities and fans into an electrifying 2022 season!
It’s an uphill battle – but we’re hungry, humble and no one will outwork us.
A league of culture, passion & purpose. #XFL??#Spring2022 pic.twitter.com/jY0VWGj33Y
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 1, 2020
“Really hoping you are the guy that can make this work. Football anytime of year sounds good to me, and to have someone with a wide-reaching voice could help it stabilize itself once it’s off the ground,” another tweeted.
One Twitter user even fancied his chances at joining the competition.
“I’ll keep on eye on that careers page. I’ll start at the bottom. Just want a shot to work my way up.”
Some of the negative comments, meanwhile, stemmed from Johnson’s recent endorsement of Joe Biden in the presidential race. The general sentiment among these users was that he abandoned the conservative and patriotic audience that’s most likely to support another football league on television.
Johnson is excited about his new venture. He even took to Instagram last week and teased the possibility of taking to the field to play some games. He showed promise in the sport before he became a wrestler, and he might have the itch to put on the helmet again.
