The XFL, a short-lived American football league that sought to fuse the sport with the theatrics of pro wrestling, will return to the gridiron in 2020, World Wrestling Entertainment founder and chairman Vince McMahon says.
McMahon said the XFL, which originally launched in 2001 and lasted only one season, will kick off with eight teams and play a "shorter, faster-paced, family-friendly and easier to understand" brand of the game during the NFL's offseason.
"It's still football, but it's professional football reimagined," the 72-year-old said.
"The new XFL will be fan-centric with all the things you like to see and less of the things you don't," he said.
"We're going to give the game of football back to fans."
The announcement comes as the NFL suffers a slide in ratings amid controversy surrounding head injuries and player protests against racial inequality and police brutality during the national anthem.
McMahon said the league would consult medical experts to make the game safer, and would seek to keep politics off the field.
"Our league will have nothing to do with politics, absolutely nothing, and nothing to do with social issues either," he said. "We're there to play football."
McMahon also emphasised the importance of players showing good character, noting that if a player had a DUI on his record he would be ineligible to play.
The NFL has come under fire in recent years for its handling of players accused of crimes including domestic violence.
McMahon said the cities for the eight teams would be determined later. He said the league, not individual franchises, will own the teams.
The focus for now would be improving the play on the field, he said, admitting that it had not been good enough to attract fans the first time around.
"Quite frankly we only had a very short time in the past to put everything together," McMahon said. "Now we have two years to get it right."
Share
