WWE chairman Vince McMahon will make a 'major sports announcement' at 3 p.m. ET, which is reported to be the return of the XFL professional football league. You can watch a live stream of McMahon's announcement, via his new company Alpha Entertainment, in the YouTube Player below.
Some background on McMahon's Thursday afternoon announcement:
Vince McMahon's new business venture, Alpha Entertainment, sent out a press release touting a "major sports announcement" to be made at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday.
According to multiple reports, including one from ESPN's Darren Rovell, the WWE chairman will be unveiling a new football league, a potential relaunch of the infamous XFL.
Per CBS Sports, the league is expected to begin play in 2020. It's still unclear whether or not McMahon's league will be a relaunching of his original football league, the XFL, or be rebranded.
All signs, however, seem to point to the former, with McMahon's recently founded Alpha Entertainment business venture having acquired five XFL trademarks WWE had previously abandoned.
Originally announced in 1999 and launched in 2001, the XFL consisted of eight teams and was presented as a more extreme alternative to the NFL, with nicknames on the backs of jerseys and rules intended to encourage violence. Despite a successful opening weekend from a ratings standpoint, the league lasted just one season.
The original incarnation of the XFL was documented in a recent ESPN 30 For 30 titled 'This Was the XFL.'
But while most consider the XFL to have been considered a colossal failure, it now appears the league will have new life.
