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Brad Shepard reports that there is no indication of Vince McMahon giving up his spot in WWE to focus on the XFL. This theory was set into high gear after Triple H liked and unliked a tweet that suggested this. However, that is not the case. It just means that Vince McMahon will have even more on his plate.

A high level source speaking to me on @TripleH liking tweets critical of @VinceMcMahon and the current TV product: “Hunter is definitely working people on Twitter. That wasn't by accident. There is no indication at this point that Vince will back off WWE to do the XFL. 1/2 #WWE

— Brad Shepard (@TheBradShepard) May 15, 2019

So far @VinceMcMahon’s pattern is getting more and more similar to how he did it in 2001, where he does both and the entire company basically does both as well. 2/2 #WWE @TripleH

— Brad Shepard (@TheBradShepard) May 15, 2019

Only time will tell how everything pans out, but Vince McMahon is said to have financial backing to keep the XFL afloat for far longer this time around. In the meantime, it appears that WWE’s resources are going to go to the XFL even though it was said that wouldn’t be the case.

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As you know, the AAF suspended football operations yesterday. According to Clay Travis, the AAF actually approached Vince McMahon about buying their league because of the lack of money for a second year. McMahon declined, finding they had nothing he didn’t already have to offer.

“The AAF folding is massively good news for the XFL. The AAF demonstrated there is high demand for spring football and the XFL has the financial clout to pull it off.”—@ClayTravis pic.twitter.com/kh0VPdVewm

— Outkick the Coverage (@Outkick) April 2, 2019

Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports is also reporting that the conversations with the AAF and the XFL actually go back to December of last year, prior to the AAF debut. It seems that the AAF hasn’t been as financially stable as they lead everyone to believe, which is very unfortunate for the players, coaches, employees and fans of the league.

More AAF fallout. I'm told by a source close to the situation that the AAF and XFL had multiple conversations about a merger. Those conversations included a meeting in December of last year, but that was not the first meeting. Those conversations were ongoing as well.

— Ben Kercheval (@BenKercheval) April 3, 2019

It’s also worth noting that since the AAF has folded there has been word that the XFL has spoken to the AAF about purchasing various assets. There is no specifics on what exactly they are looking to acquire, but I would think along the lines of technology and equipment, rather than names and logos.

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Today, Vince McMahon sold over 3 million shares of his WWE stock, a value of roughly $270 million. The sale was completed primarily to fund Alpha Entertainment/XFL. Vince still owns 36.8% of company stock and has 80.1% of voting power. Interesting to note that this is on the heels of the news that the AAF may fold.

Vince McMahon has no plans to sell additional shares of WWE stock, and intends to continue in his role as the company’s CEO for the foreseeable future. McMahon sold $100 Million worth of WWE stock in December 2017 when he initially had plans to launch XFL.

Click here to view the full filing.

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Vince McMahon established Alpha Entertainment to completely separate the XFL from the WWE, but that doesn’t mean that the two companies weren’t going to work together. This is evident by recent SEC filings. It shows just how much money is going between WWE and Alpha Entertainment/XFL and it also details the arrangement between the two.

“As previously announced, Vincent McMahon organized and owns a majority of Alpha Entertainment, LLC (“Alpha”), which owns and operates the professional football league XFL. Under arrangements made at the time of its organization, WWE received, among other things, an equity interest in Alpha without payment by, or other financial obligation on the part of, WWE; WWE sold certain intellectual property rights relating to XFL to Alpha for a payment in the amount of $1 million; and WWE entered into a support services agreement under which WWE provides Alpha certain administrative support services on a cost-plus margin basis. During the year ended December 31, 2018, Alpha was billed approximately $1,305,000 for services under the administrative support services agreement, of which $474,000 was due at year end and subsequently paid.”

In summary:

• WWE sold intellectual property rights to Alpha for $1 million
• Alpha was billed over $1.3 million for WWE providing administrative support
• Alpha paid WWE $474,000 for that administrative support

While the XFL does have its own Careers page on its website, WWE also has a job posting for an XFL position on its website. This could be part of the services agreement between WWE and Alpha/XFL as the latter gets up and running.

So, even though Alpha Entertainment was created to keep the XFL’s operations separate from WWE, the XFL is still leaning on its big brother named World Wrestling Entertainment.

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Vince McMahon is an incredibly wealthy man. McMahon was featured in this years Forbes’ list of billionaires coming in at #691 with $3.2 billion. Last year Forbes listed McMahon’s net worth at $1.7 billion meaning that The Chairman’s value increased by an impressive $1.5 billion in the last year. This is very interesting as during this time he cashed out $500 Million to re-boot the XFL. I’d say there should be no issues funding the new league with a bank account like this.

You can read Vince McMahon’s description as it appears on the list below.

“Vince McMahon is chairman and CEO of entertainment company World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which hauls in nearly $1 billion in annual revenue.

A third generation wrestling promoter, McMahon grew up in a trailer park in North Carolina and joined his father’s small wrestling company in 1972.

McMahon purchased the business 10 years later, then transformed the World Wrestling Federation from a regional operation into a global phenomenon.

WWF (now called WWE) went public in 1999; today its programs are broadcast in roughly 150 countries and more than 30 languages.

His foundation has gifted funds to the Boys & Girls Club of Stamford, CT, and Breast Cancer Alliance.”

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Yesterday 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.

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WWE’s latest SEC filing noted the following about Vince McMahon’s importance to the brand:

The Unexpected loss of the services of Vincent K. McMahon could adversely affect our ability to create popular characters and creative storylines or could otherwise adversely affect out operating results.

In addition to serving as Chairman of our Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. McMahon leads the creative team that develops the storylines and the characters for our programming (including our television, WWE Network and other programming) and live events. From time to time, Mr. McMahon has also been an important member of our cast of performers. The loss of Mr. McMahon due to unexpected retirement, disability, death or other unexpected termination for any reason could have a material adverse effect on our ability to create popular characters and creative storylines or could otherwise adversely affect our operating results. Mr. McMahon has established Alpha Entertainment LLC, to explore investment opportunities across the sports entertainment landscapes, and Alpha Entertainment LLC plans to launch a professional football league in early 2020 . While he has provided the Company assurances that his focus on WWE will not be diverted by these efforts, any such diversion or perception of such diversion could adversely affect our operating results and could have a material adverse effect on our stock price.

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