Although the exact number isn’t known due to confidentiality in the contract, it’s believed that Vince McMahon owed Oliver Luck around $20 million. The money owed to Luck was a guaranteed amount and was not contingent on whether the company was successful or not. Once McMahon realized he had to shut down operations of the XFL, he stopped all communications with Luck. Luck’s firing was believed to have come out of nowhere and was done through a letter in the mail with a list of reasons for why he was being terminated by “due cause.”
Details were later revealed that the XFL hadn’t actually lost as much money as originally reported. In fact, some of the money XFL will owe back goes to Vince McMahon himself because the money he claimed to be putting into the company was actually just a loan. By loaning money and firing the executives for due cause, McMahon has become the leading name in the debt owed to individuals because it makes him an accreditor during the bankruptcy. McMahon loaned the money so that they could make the last two weeks of payroll, and then he would get the money back in the bankruptcy process. The amount loaned was actually far less than he originally said he was going to be putting in.
It’s believed that McMahon’s business rep during this whole process has taken a massive hit. The deal coming out of the bankruptcy screws almost everyone out of money despite what their contracts guaranteed them. Luck’s lawsuit is that he was wrongfully terminated and that the money he was guaranteed is still owed to him, especially considering the company hadn’t lost nearly as much money as originally thought.
(credit: f4wonline.com)