XFL

2020 is already shaping up to be a pretty interesting year.

We’ll have another presidential election that could look more like reality television on network TV than an American political process. Add to that now the return of the XFL.

That’s right, the professional football league established by the WWE’s Vince McMahon back in 1999 only to last one season before ceasing operations will be re-born in three years to the delight of some and dismay of others who lauded the old XFL as nothing more than a joke.

With an official announcement being made at 3pm ET by McMahon who’ll once again head the effort under a newly established banner called Alpha Entertainment not much yet is known about the League other than its proposed start date.

CBS Sports:

“Vince McMahon has established and is personally funding a separate entity from WWE, Alpha Entertainment, to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football. Mr. McMahon has nothing further to announce at this time,” WWE said in a statement back on Dec. 16, 2017.

Originally, the reformed League was going to start-up sooner than 2020 however it’s being reported that McMahon – who sold roughly $100 million dollars worth of WWE shares to get the XFL back up and running again – is taking some lessons learned in regards to the rushed original incarnation of the League. Then – as previously mentioned – the original XFL was undoubtedly rushed after being established in 1999 and held it’s one and only season in 2001. This gave the then defunct League an incredibly short time frame to hire staff and conduct practices before games started.

Likewise the original XFL prided itself as being a rougher, edgier version of the sport that fans wouldn’t see in the NFL or College Football. This included doing away with the opening coin toss replacing it with an opening skirmish for the football that infamously resulted in a player dislocating his shoulder on the first one of these of the season thus ending his year.

Now it probably comes without saying that the new XFL will need to take further lessons learned than just time frame if it hopes to last longer than one season. For instance in the new age of football and the mainstream emergence of CTE it would seem foolish for the XFL to lax its rules when it comes to head injuries and concussion. In any sense I’m sure the League’s lawyers want nothing to do with potential future litigation from players who are suffering from chronic neurological injuries much like what the NFL is currently dealing with now.

McMahon and XFL officials will have what could be an insurmountable task of trying to find that formula within itself to be a viable alternative to the NFL. Or it’ll once again carve its name out on the list of failed football leagues who tried to go up against the NFL juggernaut.

Wikipedia:

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