Is Vince McMahon working on bringing back the XFL? The news that WWE Chairman sold off 100 Million Dollars of stock to fund Alpha Entertainment. McMahon founded Alpha to explore different opportunities in the world of entertainment and sports. Now this do not necessarily mean that a revival of XFL football is coming. Since the 30 for 30 that aired on ESPN about the now defunct league, its reasonable to believe that fans interest has sparked.
Now it may be true that Alpha has filed for the XFL trademarks but that maybe just, so they can be used for future marketing and merchandise sales. The idea that the league could be coming back is way more fun. The question is can Vince right his wrongs and make this thing a success. It can be argued that the first run wasn’t as unsuccessful as we viewed it.
Vince would have to really focus most of his energy on this, which is very possible as he let next generation take the reigns the of the wrestling business. Running a professional sports league can’t be a hobby. There are enough talented football players not in the NFL that will allow the league to put on a solid product. That was proven in the last go around as many of the players we saw in the XFL ended up on NFL rosters the next season. Tommy Maddox won an XFL title and became the NFL Comeback Player of The Year the next season.
We also know that Vince McMahon can build stars. The fact that everybody around for the first run remembers “He Hate Me” even if they didn’t watch a game a is testament to that. It wouldn’t be hard to find some more out sized personalities to put on display.
The death blow to the league in 2001 was that NBC wasn’t there for the long haul. So, after they were done there wasn’t a ready distribution outlet for the league. In media 2 things are necessary for success and that’s content and distribution. In 2017 the outlets for distribution are limitless. The WWE has its own network that run the games, which football may boost subscribers. Also, their relationship with NBC is in much different place and has more leverage with the network.
Can the XFL be a viable off-season football league? Yes, if they stay out of the NFL’s way and don’t try to be direct competition. They will have to survive talent raids from the NFL, which Vince is not used to being on the other side of. That being said colleges produce talent every year and NFL washes out useable talent each season. Combine that people love football anyway they can get it and will need a fix in the spring and summer hopefully this revival happens.
