McMahon: Luck disregarded XFL policies, was fired 'for cause'

In defense against a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Oliver Luck, Vince McMahon's attorneys said the former XFL commissioner was fired "for cause."

Luck received notice of his dismissal April 9, a day before the league suspended operations and three days before it declared for bankruptcy. The rebooted XFL was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic six weeks into its debut season.

Specifically, the attorneys for McMahon, who founded the XFL, laid out three issues that contributed to Luck's firing, according to ESPN's Kevin Seifert:

• Luck neglected his job once the COVID-19 pandemic began and moved back to Indiana from the XFL's offices in Connecticut on March 13. He failed to "devote substantially all of his business time to his XFL duties as required by the contract."
• Luck signed wide receiver Antonio Callaway without McMahon's approval and disobeyed orders to release him. Previously, McMahon said players with problematic backgrounds wouldn't be welcomed to his league.
• Luck violated XFL policy by using his work-issued iPhone for personal matters.

McMahon hired Luck - who had been working for the NCAA - as XFL commissioner in May 2018. Luck, who's the father of retired NFL quarterback Andrew Luck, was under contract with an annual salary of $5 million. He also received a signing bonus of $2 million.

The XFL has been up for sale since filing for bankruptcy.