It’s been 17 years since the one and only season of XFL hit American Football fields but its legacy has continued to create the intrigue of “What could have been?” and now we may just get the answer. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has announced that he will be giving American Football one more go as his company Alpha Entertainment embark on a new venture to rival the NFL.
The new XFL will return in 2020 and is being described as “Football Reborn” and McMahon says “We’re going to give the game of football back to the fans“. Current plans involve 8 teams that will not follow the typical franchise model as seen in most American sports, each time will have a 40 man roster and the goal will be to head towards either of the two Semi Finals and progress to the ultimate goal of winning the seasons Championship game. The XFL season is currently set to be starting at the beginning of the calendar year to once again capitalise on the NFL off season.
Whilst the original XFL did fold after a controversial season that saw TV ratings fall throughout the year it did also have quite the positive influence on the sport and with its most prominent league the NFL picking up on some of the XFL’s innovations such as their sky-cam and sideline interviews. However Vince McMahon mentioned that this time round there would be no crossover of WWE and XFL talent, something that the league came under fire for before when it used Wrestling stars such as The Rock personally appearing at games and Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura on commentary.
Questions surrounding a possible return of the infamous Football League arose soon after the fantastic ESPN 30 for 30 documentary.
McMahon has mentioned that this Football League is open to new ideas from cutting Half Time to less Commercial breaks. So, what would you like to see different in American Football? Are you ready for the XFL?
More news as we get it…