On Jan. 25, WWE chairman and owner Vince McMahon announced the return of the XFL, his failed football league, in 2020.
This version will be different from the first incarnation of the league that was introduced in 2001, promising faster games, more organisation and preparation time for players and coaches and an emphasis on listening to fans.
The original brand was created in 2000 by McMahon and then-chairman of NBC sports Dick Ebersol. They ran on NBC and their affiliates for one ten-week season in 2001 before folding due to poor ratings and public perception.
It was seen as a major failure by McMahon, and he admitted in the ESPN “30 for 30” film “This Was the XFL” that it still weighed heavy on him.
Rumors about the return started December 2017 when McMahon sold $100 million worth of WWE stock and founded a new company called Alpha Entertainment.
He then announced a sports related press conference for Jan. 25, confirming the rumors.
The league is one hundred percent funded by McMahon, who funnelled the $100 million into Alpha Entertainment to cover the cost.
He is the principle owner of the league and wants to keep the fate of the company in his own hands.
“I wanted to do this since the day we stopped the other one,” McMahon said in an interview with ESPN. “A chance to do it with no partners, strictly funded by me, which would allow me to look in the mirror and say, ‘You were the one who screwed this up,’ or ‘You made this thing a success.'”
In the press conference McMahon talked about the details and procedures of the league, with some changes from the inaugural season.
There will be eight teams with 40 players on each. The cities and mascots of teams are not finalized yet, but will be in cities with an “NFL infrastructure” according to McMahon.
The 10 game season will start in January of 2020, and there will be two semifinal games and a championship matchup.
There will be no use of sports entertainment tropes and no crossover with the WWE, as the XFL will be its own entity. McMahon himself will also not appear during broadcasts.
McMahon’s goal is keeping the games short, with a two hour goal, opposed to NFL games that can go from three to four hours.
He also stated that players will not be allowed to make any political statements on the field, such as taking a knee during the national anthem.
“People don’t want social and political issues coming into play when they are trying to be entertained,” McMahon said. “We want someone who wants to take a knee to do their version of that on their personal time.”
When asked about where players will come from, McMahon put an emphasis on upstanding citizens, and noted that even a DUI would keep a player from participating in the league.
He was asked specifically about Colin Kaepernick, Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel potentially joining the league.
“We are evaluating a player based on many things, including the quality of human being they are,” McMahon said. “If you have any sort of criminal record or commit a crime you aren’t playing in this league.”
The league will have two years to get teams, stadiums, rosters, rules and coaches organized, compared to the original XFL, which only had one year of preparation time.
One of the biggest points McMahon affirmed was listening to the desires of the fans. One of the slogans used in the conference was “Fans above all.”
Many facets of the game will be decided with fan input and interaction, though no specifics have been given.
There was also no announcement on where the games will be televised, but McMahon mentioned the different streaming avenues that could be used.
“To me the landscape has changed in so many different ways,” McMahon said. “Just look at technology and companies like Facebook and Amazon bidding for sports rights. Even if ratings go down, there’s no denying that live sports rights continue to be valuable and continue to deliver.”
Vince McMahon’s XFL revival plans to learn from its past mistakes as well as the ones made by the NFL to create a better, safer, faster and fan oriented product in 2020.
Henry Wolski
Executive Editor