A report that Vince McMahon intends to relaunch the XFL was not met with a denial from WWE officials. Twitter.com/TheBradShepard reported that McMahon is looking to relaunch the football league and may announce it on January 25, 2018.
Deadline.com’s David Bixenspan reached out to WWE about the story and received the following statement: “Vince McMahon has established and is personally funding a separate entity from WWE, Alpha Entertainment, to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football. Mr. McMahon has nothing further to announce at this time.”
Powell’s POV: The fact that WWE didn’t issue a denial is certainly interesting. Perhaps Alpha Entertainment can purchase the rights to New Coke and fund a Waterworld sequel as well. As a football fan who was openminded about the original XFL back in the day, I can’t think of any reason why a relaunched XFL would fare any better the second time around. I could see a secondary league connected to the NFL as a minor league feeder system potentially being feasible, but there doesn’t seem to be any demand for a competing league with inferior players.
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There is plenty of room for a well run spring football league. There are definitely markets which would support it live and, if McMahon lays off the over the top marketing this time, it’s something that should survive in the long term. The USFL would likely still be around if not for DJT suing the NFL. The XFL, once the gimmicks were stripped away, was decent football and innovated camerawork for the NFL.
Of course, everything I described above is the polar opposite of how VKM approaches anything, so it almost certainly won’t work. If he gets investors who aren’t stupid to join in, the league could definitely last. The one thing he should borrow from his WWE approach is never mentioning other organizations. Never once mention the NFL outside of a player’s history.
He cant afford pyros for his wrestlers entrances anymore. I dont think the company would survive if the XFL would flop again.
WWE just pulled their biggest revenue quarter ever.