WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon held a press conference earlier today through his Alpha Entertainment self-entity announcing that the XFL would relaunch in 2020. Vince announced that he would be taking questions during his press conference live from the media and questioned players, fans and coaches on how they would re-imagine the game. Vince said that the new XFL will be fan-centric with lots of innovations and promised a shorter, faster, family-friendly game that is easier to understand and will give the game of football back to the fans.

Vince questioned if the fans would want no half-time during the games and fewer commercial breaks before noting that the league will open with eight teams and a 40 man roster and that the quality of the human being will be as important as the quality of the player. Vince said that the fans will be able to customize how they watch the games on big screens and other devices as well as multi-platforms, before noting that there will be no cross-over of talent from the WWE to the XFL, such as commentators and talents.

The first caller asked Vince McMahon why now as the time to bring back the XFL. Vince said that during the year, there are 7 months in total without football and that they have two years to get ready and to showcase a better quality of the play in comparison to the last time. Vince said that they are going to re-imagine how they will distribute the game and that the XFL will probably be delivered in a combination of ways and they know there is interest, but no talks yet. Vince was asked how this will affect his day-to-day control of World Wrestling Entertainment and said that there will be no change to his role and he will continue on as the Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of WWE, while there will be no cross-over with WWE talents or content with the XFL. Vince said that he will not be out in front of the XFL and he is going to hire executives to handle everything and that this may be the last time that he could be seen to be talking about the XFL as he does not want to be in front of it.

Vince was asked about the NFL kneeling controversy and said that the controversy had no bearing on the decision to bring the XFL back as he has had plans for this for some time and said that the decision to launch this separately from WWE was a decision that was too rich for WWE, because it was an initial $100 million investment and said that they will announce the cities involved in the future. Vince was asked about concussions and CTE and if they have plans on how they are going to keep the players safe. Vince said that reimagining it includes safety and that they are going to make it as safe and environment as possible and he is going to bring in experts and listen to medical experts and heed their advice. Vince was asked if President Donald Trump would support the return of the XFL. Vince said that he does not know if Trump will support the league and said that the XFL will have nothing to do with politics or social issues. He was then asked if San Diego would be a market, but declined to comment.

Vince was asked why he was not concerned about football being oversaturated. Vince said that the demand is there and it is going to be a faster, fan-centric game of football. Vince was then asked if he was going to suspend players if they speak out socially and said that there would be rules and players will be expected to honor those rules, before noting that the National Anthem is a time-honored tradition and that whatever the rules of the XFL are, they will have to be abided by before noting that there are lots of other plaves to speak on issues, such as social media, but that when they step on the field, they will be about football. Vince said that there are a lot of factors involved in the XFL choosing markets, but that they are nowhere near close yet and said that they will be going after NFL cities as you want to play football in football stadiums, but that does not mean that they won’t consider baseball stadiums and said that every city will be on their radar. Vince said that they are going to listen to football experts and they want to have a faster game that can be played in 2 hours, which may include the removal of half-time.

Vince said that the reaction to the ESPN XFL documentary had no beaing on his decision as he has had talks about relaunching the XFL for years. Vince said that there was talk about giving the league a different name, but they felt that there was equity in the name and that they like the way it sounds as it is a cool name. Vince said that all options, including streaming and social media platforms are available to them now that were not available to them the first time around. Vince was then asked if the relaunch would allow jerseys in the style of He Hate Me. Vince said that he did not know about that, but said that it was amazing that people still remember Rod Smart and that they are going to listen to experts, fans and the media. Vince said that the teams will all be new named teams, but that they are not restrained from bringing an old team name and concept back if the ideas are pitched.

Vince was asked whether plays including Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick might be invited to play in the XFL and said that any level of criminality is not something that they want and said that if a player got a DUI, then they would not be allowrd to play and it is about the quality of the player as a person. Vince was again asked if Kaepernick would be invited to the league and said that anyone who played by the rules will be invited and said that anyone who signed on would be well aware of the rules before they signed on the dotted line. Vince then reiterated that there would be no crossover of any sort with pro wrestling announcers used as announcers for the XFL. Vince said that he is going to hire professionals who know what they are doing and he is not going to be out front with the league, he did not seek his wife Linda McMahon’s input before making the decision to relaunch the XFL and that he was once again going to seek feedback to re-create and re-imagine the game of football to excite the audience.