XFL Adds Executives From NFL, NBA as League Prepares for 2023 Restart
The XFL has appointed several members of its executive team as it prepares for its return in 2023.
Longtime NFL executives Russ Brandon and Marc Ross are among nine hires chosen to lead the comeback for the alternative pro football league, which shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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Brandon will be the president of league and football operations, while Ross joins the XFL as executive vice president of football operations. Ross previously worked in different capacities for the New York Giants, while Brandon most recently served as executive adviser for RedBird Capital Partners, one of the XFL’s owners, after serving as president and managing partner of the Buffalo Bills.
The two veterans are joined by new chief financial officer Rob Gerbe, who previously oversaw team and labor finance for the NBA, and chief business officer Jordan Schlachter, who is returning to the XFL.
XFL chief marketing officer Janet Duch—along with Gerbe, Ross and Schlachter—will report to Brandon.
Duch and Schlachter aren’t the only top execs making their returns to the XFL. So is Doug Whaley, who has been named senior vice president of player personnel. The former Bills general manger will report to Ross.
Scott Harniman, senior vice president of enterprise technology, and Cindy Wagner, senior vice president of people operations, are also back, and both will report to Brandon. Senior vice president of broadcast operations Jay Rothman, who previously headed production at ESPN, rounds out the slew of hirings.
Actor and former WWE star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his business partner Dany Garcia teamed up with RedBird last year to purchase the XFL from Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment LLC in a $15 million deal.
