Kevin Seifert of ESPN reports the details between player agents and the XFL in a meeting on Monday night. This meeting had been in the works before the USFL kicked off this weekend. The event was hosted by Inside the League’s Neil Stratton.
ITL started in 2002 as a place for NFL agents to get information or become an agent. The ITL has had events with NFL and USFL personnel in the past. This meeting with the XFL player personnel team was supposed to occur during the NFL combine week in early March. The meeting was moved due to logistics and COVID rules at the time. To suggest that the timing of this is based on the USFL is not accurate but makes for a catchy headline.
From ITL last week
“Monday at 8 p.m. ET, Executive VP of Football Operations Marc Ross, Senior VP of Player Personnel Doug Whaley, and Senior Director of Player Administration and Officiating Operations Russ Giglio will join the football business community on a Zoom hosted by Inside the League’s Neil Stratton. They’ll discuss the details of player acquisition and talent evaluation, rosters, season length, game play, and other issues related to the health and maintenance of its most important assets, the men who will take the field next spring. Time permitting, they will also take questions from members of the audience.”
Seifert is reporting some of the details of that meeting, including XFL player salaries, housing, and meals.
“USFL players are receiving $4,500 per week in addition to bonuses if their team wins. They also receive subsidized housing during the regular season; The USFL pays $75 toward a daily $150 hotel room rate at the league’s one-site location in Birmingham, Alabama. Ross and Whaley told agents that XFL salaries will be higher and will include full housing and meal costs during the season.”
The XFL will have a larger roster size than the USFL.
“Each of the XFL’s eight teams are expected to have 70-man rosters, with 45 active for games, translating to 560 jobs for players — about 200 more than the current roster limits of the USFL. USFL players signed two-year contracts, complicating any effort to switch leagues in 2023.”
As the actual numbers become available, it will be interesting to see how the USFL will respond. Lack of roster size and paying for hotel rooms have been some of the complaints from players and coaches in the USFL. The USFL did adjust from players paying $150 a night for hotel rooms to $75 after complaints from player agents.
