XFL Talks With Major Football League Have Stalled

During an interview with Bloomberg, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson spoke about the current relationship between the XFL and Canadian Football League.

"We were all in alliance at that time (in 2021) for some sort of partnership between the XFL and the CFL in the spirit of growing the game because we all love the game of football," said Johnson. "We got down the line and eventually those conversations started to stall. We all agreed: respectfully, let's put the pencils down [and] wish each other the best of luck."

Back in July 2021, the Commissioner of the CFL, Randy Ambrosie, released a statement about the league's relationship with the XFL. In the statement, Ambrosie noted that both the CFL and the XFL had "jointly decided to not pursue any formal arrangements" at the time. 

It's interesting to note that before his historic run in WWE, The Rock had a stint in the CFL. He had signed with the Calgary Stampeders but was cut from the team in the first season.

The XFL was originally launched in 2001 and only lasted for one season. The second iteration would stop halfway through the first season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The XFL declared bankruptcy and The Rock, Dany Garcia, and RedBird Capital Partners purchased it in August 2020 for 15 million from former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The league has a current deal with ESPN to broadcast games through 2027. The 2023 season is set to kick off on Saturday, February 18.