Failed Novelty NFL Knockoff League Set To Return For Some Reason

Fans participate in halftime festivities during the XFL championship game in 2001. Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images.

In 2001, during the NFL’s offseason, WWE founder Vince McMahon and NBC came together to create the XFL. The XFL promised a return to old-school, smashmouth football that featured scantily clad cheerleaders and players who wore nicknames on their jerseys.

17 years later, the most memorable aspects of the league are probably Rod Smart’s “He Hate Me” jersey and the innovative Skycam, which would eventually be adopted by the NFL.

Fan favorite Rod Smart played for the XFL’s Las Vegas Outlaws. Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images.

Although McMahon made a two-year deal with NBC to broadcast XFL games, NBC pulled out after the first season of its broadcast contract, citing poor viewership. Now, whether sports fans care or not, McMahon has announced the XFL is set to return in 2020.

“The new XFL will kick off in 2020, and quite frankly we’re going to give the game of football back to fans,” McMahon said in a press conference. “It’s still football, but it’s football re-imagined.” McMahon also announced the league will begin with eight teams and would avoid being politicized. “As far as our league is concerned, it will have nothing to do with politics and nothing to do with social issues,” McMahon said.

There is no TV network associated with the league at the time of this posting, but McMahon may make games available through streaming. “As we re-imagine the game, we re-imagine the way we distribute the game. … It’s going to be a combination of any number of forms of presentation,” McMahon said.

Fans are already speculating about former NFL players they want to see back on the field in the XFL. The three names that keep popping up are quarterbacks Tim Tebow, Johnny Manziel, and Colin Kaepernick.