The founder of WWE and architect of the XFL, announced Thursday that he is bringing back the professional football league he started back in 2001.
Vince McMahon, the founder of WWE and architect of the XFL, announced Thursday that he is bringing back the professional football league he started back in 2001, although with fewer gimmicks.
ESPN reported Thursday that McMahon was set to announce that he’s making another attempt at a league, which will indeed be called the XFL.
The league will begin with eight 40-man teams playing a 10-week schedule starting in 2020, providing two years to prepare for on-field action. The original XFL, which lasted just one season, played games a year after it was announced. According to McMahon, the new iteration will be focused on being faster-paced, easier to understand and family friendly, not relying on flashy cheerleaders and antics like the original XFL.
McMahon will be the sole source of funding for the league, which will require an initial outlay of around $100 million.
In December, McMahon and the WWE formally notified the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company’s chairman, McMahon, would sell approximately $100 million in stock to fund Alpha Entertainment. The company was founded to make investments “including professional football,” according to that filing.
“I wanted to do this since the day we stopped the other one,” McMahon told 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.'”
McMahon added that there will be no place for players to make social or political demonstrations, such as kneeling during the national anthem, noting his position as owner of all teams will allow him to make rules against such things. He also said the league will not have players with a criminal record, nor will any preference given to big-name, marketable players who can’t cut it on the field.
Though the NFL’s ratings declines have been a major story over the last year, McMahon said that wasn’t a factor in the timing of his announcement.
“The start of this league has nothing to do with the NFL’s troubles,” McMahon said. “What has happened there is their business, and I’m not going to knock those guys, but I am going to learn from their mistakes as anyone would if they were tasked with reimagining a new football league.”
He added that the XFL will not be a developmental league for the NFL, though it’s unclear if top players will be able to jump to the NFL if they prove themselves worthy.
–Field Level Media
