First XFL Host City Revealed, Rumored Date For Full League Announcement

The XFL is reportedly set to field a team in St. Louis, bringing pro football back to the city for the first time since the NFL’s Rams left for Los Angeles.

According to a report from KSDK St Louis / 5 On Your Side Sports Director Frank Cusumano, the XFL will bring a team to St Louis, and they will play 10 games in the 2020 season. Five of those games will be played at the Dome at America’s Center (formerly the Edward Jones Dome) which served as the Rams’ home from 1995 through 2015.

Additionally, according to a Reddit post by user ReadingTeaLeaves, we may be getting a major update on the XFL this coming Wednesday, December 5th. It is believed that this will be an announcement of the eight total host cities for the revival XFL teams. As is known, the XFL is looking to relaunch in 2020 through Vince McMahon‘s newest business endeavor, Alpha Entertainment.

According to this post, the XFL is being purposely secretive because of all of their competition. Not only are they considering the NFL competition, but the new endeavor from Charlie Ebersol, The Alliance of American Football (AAF), and apparently a third new competitor to the National Football League, The American Patriot League:

The XFL is purposely being secretive because of their competition. Mostly the AAF but there is also yet another spring league launching in The American Patriot League. That group is headed by former NFL player Marques Ogden and former XFL announcer Bob Golic. Their league has started try out camps and has announced Daytona Beach and Mobile Alabama as their two first markets. They have already started naming contests and those two playing venues are Daytona Stadium and Ladd Peebles Stadium.

Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment Logo Opposed By Adidas

Several of the companies owned by clothing & sneaker brand Adidas have asked the United States Patent & Trademark Office for more time to oppose the logo registered by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment, which was created to relaunch the XFL in 2020. The argument is that the Alpha Entertainment logo could be seen as infringing on the Adidas logo. Adidas has until March 6, 2019 to file an opposition or ask for another extension.

XFL CEO Talks Vince McMahon, Mandating Players Stand For The Anthem, & Re-Imagining Football: ‘Forget About 2001’

XFL commissioner and CEO Oliver Luck recently talked with former Green Bay Packers linebacker AJ Hawk on The HawkCast podcast.

Luck opened up about all things XFL including his thoughts on WWE CEO Vince McMahon & what it takes to create a professional football league from scratch:

On How His Own Personal Experience Helps In His New Role As XFL Commissioner And CEO:

I do feel as though my experience playing football at the college level has helped me, certainly at the NFL level. Probably the thing that has helped me the most in terms of getting ready for this challenge was the ten years I spent working for the NFL after I quit playing, in Europe. Running franchises in the old World League of American Football and basically running the league as league president in the ’90s and being an athletic director, you’re administering football. That’s what you do. Not only the football side with coaches; but, also the business side – you gotta sell tickets, you gotta sell sponsorships, you’ve got stadium up-keeps, concession issues, parking, all those things that matter to having a successful football program. I also believe that in life everything you do helps you in the job you’re currently doing. You take skills that you picked up along the way and try to use them the best you can to try to do a successful job wherever you’re at. I’m absolutely prepared – I think – for this challenge.

On Forging Forward With A Brand New XFL:

We’re looking at it more as shaping a lump of clay and trying to do the best we can possibly do. Forget about 2001. Some of the things that were done were a little bit gimmicky, I think is maybe the best word. We want to make this build a serious sustainable league that football fans can enjoy, that families can enjoy, that’s family affordable, that’s as safe as can be while still respecting the great rock ’em sock ’em game of football, which we know and you know better than I, is a very physical rough game. We kind of look at it as taking a mold of clay – thanks to Vince [McMahon] and his foresight – we’ve given ourselves plenty of time before we kick off in 2020 to get it right, to really make sure we’re doing all the right things in terms of tweaking the rules, the markets we go to, the types of coaches and players we have in our league. I almost feel like we’re starting from scratch quite honestly.

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Andrew Luck’s Father Named Commissioner of the XFL

Vince McMahon is committed to proving that his professional football league will be a serious venture the second time around, and he has hired an executive to oversee the league that should help accomplish that goal.

Oliver Luck, the father of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, revealed on Tuesday that he has been named the commissioner of the XFL.

“The XFL will be a labor of love as I get to combine my experiences as a player and executive,” Luck told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “I’m thrilled to have this unique opportunity to reimagine the game that has been a constant in my life for 40 years.”

Luck currently holds a position with the NCAA where he oversees the Eligibility Center. His responsibilities include keeping tabs on eligibility requirements and academic affairs, but he will leave that job immediately and relocate to the XFL’s headquarters in Connecticut.

Luck, a former quarterback who played for the Houston Oilers and was inducted into the West Virginia University Hall of Fame, is a big hire for McMahon. He previously served as the president of NFL Europe and was the athletic director for four years at WVU, so he has plenty of experience in the field.

WWE Listed As A Minority Owner In The XFL

MLive.com is reporting WWE is listed as a minority owner for the XFL in the latest SEC filings that came out earlier this week. WWE and McMahon's Alpha Entertainment LLC (parent owner of the XFL) had an agreement where the following was stated:

"Alpha has announced that it expects that this launch will occur in early 2020. Under these agreements, WWE received, among other things, a minority equity interest in Alpha without payment by, or other financial obligation on the part of, WWE."

As noted, the Orlando Sentinel reported that officials from Vince McMahon's XFL have reached out to to the city of Orlando about possibly bringing one of the XFL football teams to Camping World Stadium. It was believed that XFL and WWE would run separate for the most part but Allen Johnson, Executive Director of Orlando's venues, confirmed to the Sentinel that John Saboor, WWE's Senior Vice President of Special Events, was the one that recently reached out about an XFL team in Orlando.

Back in December, McMahon sold $100 million worth of WWE stock to help kick start his Alpha Entertainment LLC venture. In an interview with The New York Times, McMahon responded to the sale:

"I am very committed to this, and it's going to take more than $100 million to do this league."

WWE sends a scout to Penn State Pro Day

In listing those who attended Wednesday’s Pro Day, the Penn State football program revealed some unusual information: A scout from World Wrestling Entertainment was in attendance.

That came as a surprise and raised immediate questions about which player or players the WWE scout was looking at. There’s been some speculation that the WWE scout could have been looking for XFL players, but that seems unlikely: The XFL isn’t launching for two more years, and Vince McMahon has made clear that the XFL is his own separate venture, not an arm of the WWE.

More likely, the WWE just wants to get a better handle on the kinds of big, strong, athletic men who are going to be looking for work in the months ahead. It’s highly unlikely that a player who’s good enough to get drafted could be lured away by the WWE, but there are plenty of players at Pro Day workouts who aren’t going to make it to the NFL. It makes sense for the WWE to look at those players.

Vince McMahon’s XFL Revival Faces Early Competition From New Football League

WWE's chairman and chief executive Vince McMahon already has an opponent in drawing away NFL's football fans, and it comes from a surprising name: Charlie Ebersol. Not only did Charlie's father, and longtime NBC executive, Dick help Vince launch the original XFL 17 years ago, but the younger Ebersol directed the recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the original failed launch of the XFL. Today, Ebersol announced the formation of the Alliance of American Football.

After political protests by NFL players and concussion injuries gained recent attention, ratings for the league fell by 17 percent. Perhaps seizing on this environment, McMahon announced this past January that he'd revive the XFL (backed by $100 million in stock he sold). He emphasized a more family-friendly stance than the previous XFL, downplaying the sexy cheerleaders and violence of the original league and adhering more to the current PG-era of the WWE. He also stressed nonpolitical actions during games and employing players without criminal backgrounds.

Ebersol's announcement of his Alliance for American Football league also might mean McMahon's plan will come too late. Whereas Vince wants to revamp the XFL in in early 2020, his rival scheduled his launch for February 9, 2019 on CBS, soon after the next Super Bowl.

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Vince McMahon: XFL to return in 2020 without gimmicks

WWE founder and chairman Vince McMahon announced Thursday he is giving a professional football league another go.

It will be called the XFL, the same name of the league McMahon and NBC tried for one season in 2001, but it won't rely on flashy cheerleaders and antics as its predecessor did, he said.

McMahon said he is the sole funding source for the league, which is slated to begin in January 2020. Its first season will have eight teams around the country playing a 10-week schedule. The initial outlay of money is expected to be around $100 million, the same amount of WWE stock McMahon sold last month and funneled into Alpha Entertainment, the company he founded for the project.

"I wanted to do this since the day we stopped the other one," McMahon told ESPN in an exclusive interview. "A chance to do it with no partners, strictly funded by me, which would allow me to look in the mirror and say, 'You were the one who screwed this up,' or 'You made this thing a success.'"

One mark of the new league, McMahon said, will be faster games. The ideal running time, he said, would be two hours.

As for the timing of the announcement, two years before the league's debut, many might point to McMahon's relationship with President Donald Trump, who this fall criticized the NFL for allowing its players to kneel and sit during the national anthem. McMahon said players in his league will not be given the forum to take a personal stance while on the playing field. McMahon's wife, Linda, heads the Small Business Administration in Trump's Cabinet.

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