Today, WWE CEO & Chairman Vince McMahon announced the return of the XFL, slated for re-launch in 2020.
McMahon said that this version of the league will be different from what fans saw in the early 2000s, stressing that is is football “re-imagined”.
“I wanted to do this since the day we stopped the other one,” McMahon told ESPN in an exclusive interview. “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.'”
Here are 5 reasons why the XFL will work this time around”
#1 The Timing Is Right
When the XFL initially launched it can be argued, as it could today, that the market was over-saturated with football content from the NFL and CFL to college football.
While the XFL was certainly different, and yielded strong ratings initially, it failed to hold interest.
Now, the XFL is going to still be different, but not an extension of the WWE product, but an entity in it’s own space, one that will address most football fans’ issues with today’s product.
“We will present a shorter, faster-paced, family friendly and easier to understand game,” McMahon said in a news conference. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s still football, but it’s professional football re-imagined.”
This time, the XFL will be entering a market that is in need of a new presentation of a now watered-down NFL product, one ripe with controversy.
“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.”
With the NFL ratings dip, an XFL relaunch may be exactly what the sports world needs.
# 2 Focusing On Quality Of Human Beings
This will strike a chord with a lot of folks, the XFL is going to hold a strict line when it comes to player conduct.
McMahon even boldly stated that a player who receives a DUI won’t be playing in the XFL.
“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.”
McMahon also had a strong stance for national anthem protests, another hotly debated topic in the NFL the past 2 years.
“I think, it’s a time-honored tradition to stand and appreciate the national anthem for any sport here in America, for that matter in any country,” McMahon said. “I think it would be appropriate to do that.”
“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.”
Many fans tuned out when a lot of protests made their way to the football field and others were bothered seeing players such as Greg Hardy, who got another chance to earn millions playing in the NFL after a domestic-violence incident.
“I can say, ‘Here are the rules, and as long as you are playing football in the stadium for us, you follow these rules.'”
Holding players to a higher standard both on and off the field will be a nice change.
#3 Presentation, Speed of Game, Social Media Aspect
Despite what you may think of professional wrestling, Vince McMahon knows how to evolve and stay on top.
Many people second guessed McMahon when he launched the ‘WWE Network’, but it remains a strong and viable entity years later, showing just how much a McMahon-led entity can evolve alongside the evolution of technology.
“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.”
WWE is a dominant presence on social media and while it will be a different challenge to find the social media formula that works for the XFL, McMahon has proven he can make things work.
“I don’t think people want to see the same thing when they’re streaming as they see on television,” McMahon said. “That’s boring. I think fans want it shot in a totally different way, and I think there’s an immersive opportunity that’s more interactive to the game.”
Fans bothered by constant commercials, drawn out halftime shows and 3-hour-plus games can expect a different experience with the XFL.
“We intend to have a much faster game,” McMahon said. “We are going to try to get to two hours. That’s our goal.”
#4 No Crossover From WWE
When the XFL first launched, there was plenty of WWE crossover with wrestlers, personalities, broadcasters, 14+ style presentation, and even McMahon himself at the forefront of the league.
Essentially, XFL was WWE in shoulder pads.
Having learned from his initial mistakes, McMahon is taking himself out of the picture and will instead hire executives and people with specific expertise to guide the ship.
#5 One Entity, Not Several
McMahon stated that initially the XFL will have 8 teams with 40 man rosters and that while no cities have been planned at this point, McMahon said that “every city is on our radar.”
McMahon also mentioned that the XFL may be a sole entity, meaning that there won’t be a panel of owners, instead all teams will be under one umbrella.
Why would that matter?
Too often throughout the 2000s we have seen team owners move teams from city-to-city motivated by the all-mighty profit, leaving longtime fans heartbroken and storied cities without the sports teams that they were associated with.
Just ask San Diego. And St. Louis. And Oakland in a few years.
This will take out a lot of the blackhat financial scheming that owners and the league seem to too often be in cahoots on.
Will an XFL team relocate? Surely, but McMahon gives the sense that if those decisions are made, it will be for a clear, cut financial reason or to meet a clear and specific need rather than the need for a billion dollar stadium to replace a billion dollar stadium.
You can see the entire presser, right here: