Ahead of its 2020 draft, the XFL informed agents that the average player will receive $55,000 during the inaugural season—about $440,000 less than the minimum NFL salary.
According to an XFL memo obtained by Yahoo! Sports, league athletes will be paid $2,080 on a bi-weekly basis from Dec. 4, 2019, to May 31, 2020. With 13 pay periods during the season, the average player will receive a base salary of $27,040, plus $1,685 for each game they're active and an extra $2,222 per win. "So if a player is a starter and is on a team that goes .500 over the 10-game regular season, he’ll earn $55,000," Yahoo! reports. "There are also undisclosed bonuses for playoffs and championship game wins."
Sports reporter Darren Rovell confirmed portions of this breakdown on Twitter:
According to Yahoo!, top XFL quarterbacks could receive about 10 times more than the average player. Sources told the outlet that each of the eight starting QBs will earn more than the NFL rookie minimum, which is currently $495,000.
The XFL 2020 draft will take place Oct. 15-16, with each of the eight teams filling a 71-player preseason roster; each of those will be reduced to 52 players before the start of the regular season.
