XFL pitches league to player agents in attempt to counteract USFL, source says

The XFL continued its efforts to counterprogram the USFL's return to the field by convening a virtual meeting of agents Monday night to pitch them on the league's plans for 2023 and beyond, a source told ESPN.

The XFL's top two football executives — Marc Ross and Doug Whaley Russ Giglio — told agents that the XFL would offer higher salaries and better benefits than the USFL.

Ross, Whaley and Giglio also suggested that the XFL's season schedule, which will begin in February and end in May, would be more «advantageous» for players who want to get subsequent consideration from NFL teams, according to an internal outline of the meeting obtained by ESPN.

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.

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.

The XFL, which last week named its eight head coaches in a live event on ESPN's Get Up!, declined comment.

The USFL, owned by Fox Sports, re-launched with four games over three days, each broadcast nationally by either Fox, NBC or one of its secondary channels. Its opening game Saturday night, simulcast by Fox and NBC, was viewed or streamed by a projected average of 3 million viewers, the league reported.

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