As I am sat here in my Houston Texans NFL jersey Vince McMahon is stood in front of a camera announcing the return of the famous failure, the NFL’s distant cousin, the XFL.
During it’s last incarnation the more extreme version of American Football only lasted a solitary season before being cancelled, causing the approximate cost of $70million to Vince McMahon and the WWE.
But this time Vince appears to believe that the market is ripe for the introduction of a stand alone rival to the biggest sport in American history.
Starting in 2020 Vince has claimed that the XFL will give the game of football “back to fans” and that the thoughts of fans will be taken on board and “fan-centric”.
Vince has promised innovations to his “football reborn” and “reimagined”. The details include 8 teams, a 10 game regular season, 2 semi-finals, a Championship game and a 40 man roster. But Vince’s main focus appears to be on the use of technology which will allow you to watch the XFL in all manner of formats.
When asked about “why now” McMahon claimed that he always wanted to bring back the XFL and that he’s learned lessons from the first failed incarnation of the XFL.
At the end of the day this all a very well prepared PR launch, what will be interesting to watch going forward is the manner in which the XFL forms and launches over the next two years. It’s an interesting time to be both a WWE fan and American Football fan. Good luck to Vince, and let’s hope that this doesn’t affect either the daily production of the WWE product.
WeAreNiche 