The rebooted XFL hasn’t even started its season, and the league’s credibility is already coming into serious question.
Just a week after getting drafted by the Los Angeles Wildcats, former Tennessee Volunteers defensive end Corey Vereen is dropping out of the league after feeling misled about the XFL salary scales.
In the lead-up to the inaugural draft, the average league salary was reported at $55,000 a year.
According to a statement from Vereen’s representation at Logan Brown Sports, the league salary fell well short of that $55,000 a year figure.
For comparison, the NFL league minimum is $495,000. The now-defunct AAF promised players non-guaranteed three-year deals worth upwards of $250,000. That league, though, didn’t make it through one season before shutting down operations.
The statement said that the league’s base salary was $27,040 with bonuses for being active on game days and wins.
Basically, for a player to approach that $55,000 total after bonuses, he’d have to be active for every game and be on a team with a winning record. In a game with a high-injury rate (and in a league with a high failure probability), you can see why Vereen felt misled about the pay scale.
The agency did leave open the possibility of Vereen returning if the XFL addresses its salary issues.
