February 14, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Vince McMahon announces the XFL, 1999 awards, more
Vince McMahon made sports and business headlines on 2/3 with the announcement of him starting his own professional football league called the XFL.
McMahon, who failed in negotiations last year to buy the Canadian Football League, looks to be that league’s No. 1 rival for players not quite good enough for the NFL in his eight-team league scheduled to start in February 2001 with each team playing ten games and ending with championship playoffs in April.
The announcement sent his stock prices tumbling, closing at press time at $11.38 per share on 2/8, down from $17.88 at the time of the announcement, meaning McMahon’s own personal paper worth in WWFE stock dropped from a high of $1.66 billion when the stock opened at 34 to the public down to the current $555.9 million, with his personal on paper losses since the football announcement being $317.8 million over five days.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.