Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re we’ll aware that the XFL has been purchased by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital.
Based on the court filings which were released shortly after the sale was announced via social media, we have some more information in regards to the sale price and how many companies put in bids.
A lot of people have wrote about The Rock buying the XFL, technically the joint venture between Johnson, Garcia and RedBird is a new company named Alpha Acquico, LLC.
“Alpha Acquico, LLC (“Alpha Acquico”), a joint venture between The Garcia Companies and Redbird Capital Partners Management LLC. The Qualified Bid of Alpha Acquico is for the purchase of substantially all of the Debtor’s assets for a purchase price of (a)$15,000,000, (b) the assumption of certain specified liabilities, and (c) the payment of cure amounts of up to $8,500,000 for agreements designated by Alpha Acquico to be assumed and assigned by the Debtor in accordance with the designation procedures provided in the asset purchase agreement and order approving the sale.
These cure amounts can be payments to The University Of Houston and XFL season ticket holders.
Going into the sale there was a lot of speculation on how many people were interested in the league and if that would translate into bidders for the XFL. While digging through the most recent filings we’re learning that Alpha Acquico, LLC was the lone bid.
“PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that, no other Qualified Bids were received by the Bid Deadline, and the Debtor hereby provides notice of cancellation of the Auction. The Debtor will seek entry of an order approving the sale to Alpha Acquico at the sale hearing scheduled for August 7, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. (ET)”
The sale is all but official, but pending any major objections all should be set by this Friday. They are expected to close on the purchase by August 21st.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert caught up with Dany Garcia and it seems that the league is still targeting a 2021 return, possibly using the bubble concept that we’ve seen the NBA, NHL and MLS utilize with their respective returns.
Spoke w/ @DanyGarciaCo, one of three investors buying the XFL. Plan is to play in 2021, she said, possibly in a bubble. Garcia will hold an executive role with the league. Asked about other leadership, she noted "excellent" people who are or were in place for XFL 2.0.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) August 3, 2020
As we’ve stated earlier, it seems that Houston may be on the short list of locations to be utilized in the leagues ‘bubble’ return. The University of Houston recently negotiated with the league to keep TDECU’s stadium lease active to be used as collateral in the XFL’s sale. This is beyond the fact that historically the XFL has had a close relationship with the City of Houston and the Harris County Sports Authority.
