The XFL is planning to return in 2023 and on Monday the league hired a few former NFL and XFL executives. One new hire is former Buffalo Bills CEO Russ Brandon, who is being brought in as president of the XFL. During his 21 years with the Bills, Brandon worked in many areas, including chief executive officer.
Since his time ended with the Bills in 2018, he had been an adviser to RedBird Capital Partners, which together with Dany Garcia and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson bought the XFL out of bankruptcy in 2020.
Here what Garcia said about the XFL newest hires, via ESPN:
“These exceptional and talented executives encompass a deep skill set that aligns with our commitment to delivering an exceptional football universe experience, as well as our shared passion for bringing the XFL back stronger than before. Our team’s experience across varying professional sports leagues and brands will enable us to deliver an experience for our fans, athletes and partners that represents today’s evolution of ‘best-in-class.’ A tremendous amount of work has already been done with more exciting news to come as we prepare for 2023.”
The new executive vice president of football operations will be former New York Giants personnel evaluator Marc Ross. Ross will be in charge of on-field operation. Former Bills general manager Doug Whaley also joins the bunch as deputy.
The league is bringing back three other former executives. Janet Duch, former president of the XFL’s New York Guardians will serve as the chief marketing and content officer. The new chief business officer will be Jordan Schlachter, who formerly worked as the chief marketing and commercial officer. Scott Harniman was rehired as senior vice president, enterprise technology and Cindy Wagner was rehired as senior vice president, people operations.
The league’s former president and CEO Jeffrey Pollack stayed on while they made the move to new ownership, but the two sides have now parted.
