Interest in the league was reignited when ESPN aired the \u201cThis Was the XFL\u201d documentary that chronicled the spectacular football failure.<\/b>
\nSTAMFORD, Conn. \u2014 The XFL is no longer an ex-football league.
The sexed-up, second-rate football league formed as the early 2000s brainchild of WWE ringleader Vince McMahon is set for a surprising second life in 2020. The league that spawned \u201cHe Hate Me\u201d and placed TV cameras in the bathroom flamed out in 2001 after one wild season. Interest in the league was reignited when ESPN aired the \u201cThis Was the XFL\u201d documentary that chronicled the spectacular football failure.
McMahon is back in charge, pumping $100 million into the XFL through his new private entity, Alpha Entertainment.
\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to bring it back,\u201d the 72-year-old McMahon said on Thursday. \u201cI think the most important thing that we learned with the older XFL and now the new XFL is the quality of play. We have two years now to really get it right.\u201d
FILE – In this Feb. 3,2000, Vince McMahon, chairman of the World Wrestling Federation, speaks during a news conference in New York. The XFL is set for a surprising second life, McMahon announced Thursday, Jan. 25,2018. McMahon said the XFL would return in 2020 but offered few other details about the late winter\/early spring football league. (AP Photo\/Ed Bailey, File) ORG XMIT: NY173
McMahon, who will continue as chairman and CEO of WWE, offered few other details about the football comeback. The XFL will launch with eight teams, 40-man active rosters and a 10-week regular-season schedule. McMahon said the schedule, designed to fill the seven-month gap without the NFL, could begin as early as the end of January. No cities or TV partners were named.
The league will own the eight teams.
The original XFL was founded by the wrestling company and jointly owned by NBC, and opened to massive TV ratings. But the audience did not stick around on Saturday nights to watch bad football, lascivious cheerleader shots, sophomoric double entendres and other gimmicks that saw ratings plummet and quickly doomed the league.
The XFL in 2001 had eight teams, mostly in major markets, such as Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. McMahon said the selection of cities in the new XFL will be announced in the next few months, and a mix of major and mid-major markets will be considered.
The XFL postseason will have two semifinal games and a championship game. XFL salaries have yet to be decided, though players will be paid more to win. He wants a 2-hour game and even tossed out the idea of eliminating halftime.
\u201cWe will present a shorter, faster-paced, family-friendly and easier to understand game,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cIt\u2019s still football. But it\u2019s professional football reimagined.\u201d
This could be a gimmick-free XFL, perhaps without nicknames such as Rod Smart\u2019s \u201cHe Hate Me\u201d stitched on the back of his uniform.
McMahon said the XFL did not want players with a criminal record and even a DUI would exclude an athlete from a contract. McMahon wanted his players to stand for the national anthem, though stopped short of saying it was mandatory.
\u201cAs far as our league is concerned, it will have nothing to do with politics,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cAnd nothing to do with social issues, either. We\u2019re there to play football.\u201d
The XFL and WWE will have no crossover, unlike the first incarnation when wrestling announcers and personalities such as former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura dominated the football telecast.
McMahon promised a safer football league, though he again offered no specifics for a league that unveiled a human coin toss the first time around \u2014 players scrambled from each team to grab the football to decide possession. One player separated his shoulder fighting for the ball.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to listen to medical experts and heed their advice,\u201d McMahon said.<\/p>\n

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