The Rock is currently on a whirlwind tour promoting the new Black Adam movie coming to theaters on October 20th. According to his business partner and XFL Chairwomen Dany Garcia, this project has been six years in the making.
Dwyane Johnson started the tour in Mexico, then made his way to the US this week with appearances in New York. Last night he stopped in Toronto during a Maple Leafs game.
Canadian radio host Rod Pedersen reports that The Rock is meeting with MLSE Chairman Larry Tanenbaum while in Toronto. With Johnson’s busy movie promotion schedule, it was a bit eyebrow-raising that he would make time to meet with Tanenbaum.
Tanenbaum is the longtime chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. MLSE owns the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, and Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.
They also own the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts. We all know about the XFL and CFL talks, which ended in July 2021. Tanenbaum was rumored to be high on the XFL/CFL partnership/merger talks.
In June, Tanenbaum talked about the CFL in an interview with the Globe & Mail.
“The community-owned teams seem to be satisfied with what’s happening in the CFL, so we’re working to see how the Argos fit into that scenario. I’m not happy with it. I’m not happy with the structure of the league. “
TSN Football Insider Dave Naylor talked about the interview.
Dwayne’ The Rock’ Johnson chimed in on Twitter, saying.
“Larry was a great partner & advocate who I found to be a gutsy visionary who saw an amazing opportunity to grow the game of football that we all love – in a very exciting & electrifying way for the FANS.”
Dwyane Johnson’s appearance at the MLSE-owned Maple Leafs could be much to do about nothing. Just simple movie promotion and meeting with an old friend before heading off to London for the next part of his movie promotional tour.
We know a MAJOR difference between the XFL 2.0 era and the 3.0 era is the relationships. The relationship between the XFL front office and NFL helped guide the NFL/XFL partnership. Dany Garcia’s connections in the TV/Movie business, Gerry Cardinale’s relationship with the NFL and other pro sports leagues. Do Tanenbaum and Johnson have something cooking? We will have to wait and see down the road.
The XFL recently announced a partnership with the IFL but has yet to release its team names and logos. The Argos are in the CFL playoff hunt, and Tanenbaum was recently unanimously re-elected as chairman of the NBA board of governors.
These friendships might not mean anything now, but they could years later.
