Tag: Alpha Entertainment

XFL to reveal team cities and venues next week

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The next step in Vince McMahon’s XFL revival is set for next week.

At MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey next Wednesday (December 5), the XFL will reveal which eight cities will be getting teams for the league’s 2020 launch. The XFL will also announce which venues the teams will be playing at.

The XFL will stream next Wednesday’s announcement live on the league’s website and social media accounts at noon Eastern time.

It appears that St. Louis, Missouri will be home to one of the XFL’s eight teams. KSDK TV reported earlier this week that the XFL will be coming to St. Louis, with five of the team’s 10 regular season games being played at The Dome at America’s Center. The venue was formerly known as the Edward Jones Dome, and the NFL’s Rams played there prior to moving to Los Angeles in 2016.

Instead of using a franchise model with individual owners, the XFL will own all of the teams in the league. A television/media rights deal for the XFL has yet to be announced.

Vince McMahon making ‘major sports announcement’ at 3 PM Eastern

Posted on by Josh Nason

WWE announced Thursday that Vince McMahon will make “a major sports announcement” at 3 PM Eastern, available via his Alpha Entertainment social media channels.

The group officially launched Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channels, as well as a website.

In mid-December, reporter Brad Shepard tweeted that McMahon was looking to bring back the XFL and would make an announcement on Thursday, January 25th, leading to a follow-up via Deadspin’s David Bixenspan that elicited a response from WWE regarding the creation of Alpha Entertainment. 

McMahon renewed old XFL trademarks last year in addition to adding new trademarks for “UrFL”. McMahon also sold nearly $100 million worth of WWE stock to help fund Alpha Entertainment.

While nostaglia grew last year with the release of an ESPN 30 For 30 on the XFL, there is a lot of questions regarding the feasability of a new league in the current sports environment. The NFL and college football have only grown in popularity since the XFL’s closing after just one year in action and while secondary/gimmick leagues like Arena Football still do exist, the logistics involved in creating a league from scratch are considerable.

There is a possibility McMahon could be announcing that he’s joining a group to buy the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, but that seems highly unlikely given a) the price tag and b) the buzz he’s creating surrounding the announcement.

Vince McMahon sells $100 million of WWE stock for Alpha Entertainment

Posted on by Josh Nason

In a move that could indicate a big step toward getting involved with professional football, WWE chairman Vince McMahon sold 3.34 million Class A common shares of company stock Thursday for what could be in the ballpark of $100+ million dollars.

As noted in the SEC filing, “Mr. McMahon executed the sale primarily to fund a separate entity from the Company, Alpha Entertainment LLC, which Mr. McMahon established to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football.  Mr. McMahon has informed the Company that he has no current plan to sell additional shares of the Company’s stock and that he intends to continue in his capacity as the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the foreseeable future.

“The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.3% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock.  After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 32,193,375 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 82.8% of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 41.8% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock.”

After hours trading saw the stock drop to $30.80/share.

Over the weekend, it broke that McMahon could be looking to bring back the XFL and make the announcement as early as January which led to a further reveal about the creation of Alpha Entertainment.

Earlier this month, Alpha Entertainment applied for five new XFL trademarks that cover the league restarting and merchandise. Additionally, they would like to trademark ‘URFL’.