XFL 2022 Update: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Says New Teams, Cities on the Way
In an XFL 2022 update, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson provided some insight into how the league will rebuild in the coming months. Based on a recent interview, the man who was part of the group that bought the near-bankrupt XFL, said expect new cities and teams to be announced soon. That’s good news for fans who are hoping to see the return of the XFL in a major way.
Dwayne Johnson and others saved XFL
Just last year, interest in the rebooted XFL was surging, as the league arrived full force in eight cities around the United States. In the East were the DC Defenders, New York Guardians, St. Louis Battlehawks, and Tampa Bay Vipers. The West featured the Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats, and Seattle Dragons.
The league managed to get in five weeks of the season until things had to come to a close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, the league, still under Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy. Over three months later, The Rock, his business partner Dann Garcia, and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital swooped in to buy the league for $15 million.
Johnson and the XFL provided updates after the deal, indicating the league would restart in 2022. However, plans changed, and it was pushed back further into 2023. Luckily, it seems there is big XFL news coming soon, though.
The Rock gives an XFL 2022 update
In an interview with CNBC, Dwayne Johnson spoke about his various projects including upcoming movies, his tequila brand, and of course, the XFL football league. He indicated that new teams should be on the way in early 2022 regarding the league.
“We should maybe within the next month, or maybe two months, announce our broadcast partners, which we’re very excited about and new teams, new cities and very excited about that,” Johnson said while on CNBC.
In his XFL 2022 update, Johnson didn’t indicate if this will mean all new cities and teams for the league, but it could be possible. The USFL has snatched up a few of the locations that the XFL was using, as they plan to resume play in March 2022.
XFL’s partnership could be ESPN
As we saw earlier this year, there was the potential for the XFL and CFL to have some sort of merger, but this fell through. However, another XFL 2022 update could be a new partnership for TV.
As far as who that partnership will be with, various sources speculate the XFL will partner with ESPN, which would promote and broadcast games.
This is due to the USFL being owned by FOX and currently in partnership with NBC. Additionally, Jay Rothman, who worked with ESPN for quite a while, joined the XFL as the Senior Vice President, Broadcast Operations. Rothman could potentially get things going between the XFL and ESPN.
While the news has been relatively quiet with XFL until now, there was also the reveal this past November that Russ Brandon became President of League and Football Operations. Check out other personnel here at XFL’s website.
As of right now, all signs point towards the return of the XFL in March of 2023, so stay tuned as we await the announcement of host cities and teams!
Visit Sports Odds Digest’s XFL page to get more updates on the league.
