It’s been over 16 years since the final Xtreme Football League game was played.
The $100 million venture between the World Wrestling Federation and NBC featured mic’d up coaches and players, a hot tub in the end zone and the Skycam, but lasted only one season.
The XFL closed up shop before fans could really even grasp exactly what it entailed. Things went downhill soon after NBC announced it wouldn’t broadcast a second season, to which WWE Chairman Vince McMahon initially responded by saying the league would continue to operate, but later declared that the XFL was closed.
And while we’ve missed the entertaining and surprising moments the league once produced, the good news is that the XFL could return in the future.
McMahon is “looking to bring back the XFL,” and may announce it on Jan. 25, 2018, according to a report from Brad Shepard.
It will be interesting to hear where the league’s financial backing would come from. It’s unlikely that NBC would be interested in teaming up with the WWE (which was the WWF when the XFL launched) again, given that it lost $35 million during the league’s first and only season.
Deadspin’s David Bixenspan reached out to the WWE for a statement on its potential interest in an XFL reboot, and the organization did appear to be interested in a professional football venture of some sort, but did not directly confirm or deny the latest rumor.
“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,” it reads. “Mr. McMahon has nothing further to announce at this time.”
The “including professional football” tidbit stands out, as it appears the WWE is interested in exploring a supplement to the NFL, of some sort. If the WWE wasn’t looking to go down that road, its spokesperson would’ve shot down the report, but that wasn’t the case.
It’s also important to note that the WWE filed for two new XFL trademarks this year, as Bixenspan pointed out.
If an XFL reboot is actually in the works, we hope that McMahon learned from the league’s past mistakes. A number of pro football leagues aside from the NFL have launched over the years, but only a select few have had sustainable success.
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