XFL Commissioner Explains Decision To Not Sign Colin Kaepernick

Heading into the first weekend of the XFL, football fans were skeptical about whether or not the league would deliver on its promise for great football in the spring. So far, the league has brought forth some great ideas and fans are excited to see how the league will play out over the next 11 weeks. The XFL has real potential and it seems like the NFL has a thing or two it can learn from the new venture.

One thing that’s missing from the league, however, is star power. Of course, this is to be expected considering the NFL has all of the premium talents. Some people felt as though the league should have gotten Colin Kaepernick. In a recent interview, XFL commissioner Oliver Luck spoke about Kaepernick and how his demands were something the league couldn’t match.

Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Tyler Perry Studios

“We gave it some thought,” Luck said according to NBC Sports Bay Area. “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. And the salary requirements that some folks shared with us were in our case exorbitant, so we couldn’t go down that path. . . . We spoke with his representative, and the salary requirements that were broached in that conversation were exorbitant and certainly out of our range.”

For now, Kaepernick’s career remains in question although perhaps the league will expand to a point where they can afford high profile players like Kap. Either way, the XFL is offering an interesting alternative to the NFL and we can’t wait to watch more games.