WWE chair Vince McMahon will take another shot at scoring on the professional football field with the 2020 relaunch of the XFL pro football league.
McMahon said Thursday (Jan. 25) during an afternoon press conference that he will look to reshape the XFL -- which ran for one season in 2001 in a joint venture with NBC -- into a new, reimagined format that will be "fan-friendly" and exciting.
McMahon said the XFL will look to secure traditional network as well as digital distribution, but has yet to secure any deals.
McMahon said the league will listen to experts to help put the best product out on the field.
“We want to give fans more of that they want to see and less of what they don’t want to see,” he said.
McMahon said the eight-team league will be fully-owned by his company Alpha Entertainment and will play from late January into the spring, but would not reveal the cities in which the league will look to field teams.
The league will also feature no crossover talent from McMahon’s WWE franchise.
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He added that XFL games will be likely be condensed to two hours -- much quicker than the current three-hour average National Football League games – including the possible elimination of the traditional halftime period.
McMahon also said that the NFL's woes over declining ratings and political controversies did not factor into his decision to relaunch the league. He added that players with crimminal records will not be allowed into the league, and that players will most likely be required to stand during the national anthem.
"It will have nothing to do with politics and social issues ... we want really good football," McMahon said "That’s what we’re going to deliver."
