Colin Kaepernick almost played for the XFL – but he wanted way too much money

This is kinda funny. Colin Kaepernick was going to bring his national anthem kneeling circus to the XFL, but he wanted way too much money. That’s according to XFL commissioner Oliver Luck:

Luck told National Public Radio that league representatives reached out to Kaepernick’s side but knew the numbers couldn’t work.

“We gave it some thought,” Luck said in the interview, which aired over the weekend to coincide with the league’s debut. “We have some pretty significant salary restrictions, you know. We’re a start-up league, so we want to make sure that we can be fiscally responsible and fiscally prudent.”

Signing Kaepernick to the eight-team league apparently didn’t fit that description.

“We spoke with his representative, and the salary requirements that were broached in that conversation were exorbitant and certainly out of our range,” Luck said.

Kaepernick reportedly wanted $20 million to play, while the average player in the XFL gets paid $50,000, and the high level athletes get paid $500,000.

I think they dodged a bullet here. There’s no doubt that he would bring more political drama even if they wanted to pay him all that money. And that would turn off at least half of the possible fan base for the XFL. I just don’t see the upside to playing such a contentious celebrity sports figure.

Have you guys been watching the XFL? I have to admit the action is pretty intense. But will it survive to the end of their season?


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