- Vince McMahon announced the
- return of the XFL at a press conference on Thursday.
- Taking questions from reporters, McMahon outlined the basics of what the league would look like, and how it would distinguish itself from the NFL.
- The league is scheduled to start in 2020, and has been billed by McMahon as "football reimagined."
Vince McMahon announced the return of the XFL at a press conference on Thursday, claiming that the league will give fans the opportunity to experience "football reimagined."
The league is slated to kick off in 2020 and will consist of eight teams, 40-man rosters, and 10 weeks of regular season play, leading to two semifinals and a championship game.
While speaking about the league, it was clear that McMahon was selling a very different version of the XFL than was initially pitched and broadcast for one failed season in 2001. Opening the press conference, McMahon asked viewers to consider what football would look like if it were reimagined.
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Reimagining the game of football means reimagining it on all levels," and said one of the goals of the league would be to "Make it as safe as possible."
McMahon took a serious tone throughout the broadcast, and was relatively light on details on the specifics of the league, but did lay out a few broad concepts the league would be built around. He mentioned that "The quality of the human being will be as important as the quality of the player," and added that no player with any criminal history, even a DUI would be allowed to play in the league. He also claimed the league would remain apolitical, but when pressed acknowledged that players standing for the national anthem would likely be a part of the rulebook.
You can watch the press conference in its entirety below.
Vince McMahon's Major Sports Announcement
Rumors of the return of the XFL had been swirling since December, Brad Shepard reportedA WWE spokesperson later told Deadspin's David Bixenspan