Stephan RachukYesterday Darren Rovell reported that Charlie Ebersol was being sued by former business partner Bob Vanech. XFL2k has obtained a copy of the lawsuit and have come across some interesting things of note.
The lawsuit claims that Bob Vanech and Charlie Ebersol collectively created the idea of XFL 2.0, which has become the Alliance of American Football (AAF). Vanech feels he is entitled to 50% of the AAF. The following should give some more clarity, directly from page two of the lawsuit:
1. This case is about the untold and complete story of how the Alliance of American Football (the “AAF”), a new professional football league, was conceived, founded, announced, and launched.
2. As early as May of 2017, Defendant Charles “Charlie” Ebersol (“Charlie Ebersol”) has been peddling a fictional tale regarding the genesis of the AAF that only a Hollywood storyteller could conceive. The truth is that Ebersol was one of two AAF co-founders that formed a joint venture or partnership agreement in furtherance of launching the AAF, and that he conspired with his father, Duncan “Dick” Ebersol, Keith Rabois, William “Bill” Polian, Thomas “Tom” Veit, and others, to co-opt and purloin fellow co-founder Robert Vanech’s 50% ownership interest and other rights and benefits through a series of deliberate, fraudulent, intentional, wrongful and deceptive acts, as well as oust him from the partnership/joint venture that became known as the AAF.
3. Plaintiff Robert Vanech (“Vanech”) is entitled to his 50% ownership interest in
Defendant Legendary Field Exhibitions LLC, d/b/a Alliance of American Football, a professional football league, that is now nearly three (3) weeks into its first season of games, and recently secured a $250,000,000 commitment in funding from businessman and owner of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, Thomas “Tom” Dundon, as a result, in part, of Vanech’s contributions to the business. Plaintiff is informed and believes that this further funding was structured in such a way as to grant Dundon and/or others equity in the AAF, which required Vanech’s consent given the 50/50 equity agreement Vanech had with Charlie Ebersol, as well as their agreement regarding how the business was to be structured and controlled. Vanech is further entitled to seek declaratory relief as to Defendant Ebersol Sports Media Group, Inc.’s role in any control or ownership of the AAF, which was born out of a joint venture or partnership agreement initially dubbed the secret code word for the business, “XFL 2.0,” then later “Project Phoenix.
In the filing, Vanech attached a copy of the AAF’s, then referred to as XFL 2.0, sales presentation that was to be used during pitches. The presentation outlines who they are, their corporate timeline, how they plan on acquiring the XFL rights from WWE, their original planned markets, their expansion plan, as well as some insight on how they wanted to distribute the games. I went through and pulled some notable slides which you can see below. If you would like to view the full filing, you can do so here.
