There were numerous reports over the weekend that Vince McMahon was working on some sort of football project, which many compared to an XFL “revival.” Reporter Brad Shepard broke the story, tweeting that Vince McMahon was planning on bringing back the XFL and an announcement could be made on January 25th, 2018. Following that report, David Bixenspan of Deadspin questioned WWE and they responded with the following, which is far from a denial that it was happening:
“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.”
Now, FOX News has some additional details on the story. According to the site, the reporter who broke the story, Brad Shepard, is a right-wing political source. There is some speculation that the league may somehow have ties to President Donald Trump. As many of you know, Trump is angry with the NFL and has urged fans to boycott them due to some players deciding to take a knee during the National Anthem. For those unaware, Trump owned a USFL team in the mid-1980s. The USFL was a football league that tried to challenge the NFL and failed. At the time Trump owned the USFL team, he was extremely critical of the NFL and urged the USFL to compete directly with the NFL in an aggressive way. That aggressiveness ended up being blamed for the league failing. Also, Donald Trump and Vince McMahon have had ties with each other for decades now.
We reported over the weekend that WWE extended and filed new trademarks for the XFL earlier this year. Vince McMahon himself has trademarked “URFL,” “United Football League,” “UFL,” and “For the love of football.”
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In an update on the January 25th, 2018 date that was rumored to announce the revival of the XFL (or the launch of a new football league), that is the Thursday following the 25th anniversary edition of RAW.
A user on Twitter responded to Shepard’s tweet saying he knows players who played in the XFL and said McMahon broke promises to them and “burned” them. That tweet likely has to do with former XFL players being told the league would last at least two seasons. It was cancelled after just one season and many of the players were upset.
While the XFL was a huge failure in 2001, it opened to a ton of media coverage and strong opening day ratings. The league ended up losing $138 million and shut down after just one season.
Vince McMahon and Dick Ebersol teased an XFL revival at the end of a recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary.