The XFL is back.
Nearly 20 years after playing its first -- and only -- season to this point, the XFL will make its return in 2020, Vince McMahon announced on Wednesday. The chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, McMahon described the XFL as "football reimagined" in a Thursday announcement and conference call streamed online.
McMahon said the league will begin with eight teams, consisting of 40-man rosters, which will play a 10-game schedule. Two playoff rounds and a championship game will then follow.
McMahon insisted that he has learned from his previous experience running a football league and will place a heavy emphasis on the quality of play. The original XFL, which was announced in 1999 and launched in 2001, was considered a colossal failure, with faltering ratings and a perceived low quality of football.
No cities for the new XFL have been announced yet, with McMahon stating the league was a "long way away" from doing so. The 72-year-old professional wrestling mogul said the league would look to be both safer and faster and emphasized its multi-platform possibilities.
"Our approach to presenting games will be multi-platform, which will allow us to engage fans and customize the viewing experience in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago," McMahon said.
For those wondering, McMahon said he was unsure whether or not player nicknames will be allowed on the back of uniforms, as they were during the XFL's first run. He also said it would be in the league rules that players would stand for the national anthem.
"They want good football," McMahon said of the fans. "That's what we're going to deliver."
