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posted by martyb on Saturday January 27 2018, @05:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the Rollerball-was-set-in-2018... dept.

The XFL American football league, which played a single season in 2001, could return in 2020:

Television ratings for the N.F.L. have fallen 17 percent over the past two seasons. The league is embroiled in a continuing crisis over concussions, and youth participation rates are falling.

All of this suggests a difficult future for the sport, yet the N.F.L.'s most notorious competitor, Vince McMahon's X.F.L., has a comeback in the works. McMahon, the chairman and chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, announced on Thursday that he would take a second crack at professional football, with play scheduled to start in early 2020.

McMahon first tried to reimagine pro football 17 years ago. The old X.F.L. was a joint venture between the World Wrestling Federation (W.W.E.'s former name) and NBC, which had lost rights to broadcast N.F.L. games. Violence was amped up: An opening scramble replaced the coin toss and fair catches were banned. So was the sex appeal, with cheerleaders who were even more scantily clad than the ones in the N.F.L., and advertising that included innuendo about them.

[...] Other than the name, this version will have little in common with the old X.F.L., he said. There will be no cheerleaders, McMahon said. Players with criminal records will not be welcome. Political statements, such as kneeling during the national anthem, will be prohibited.

Also at ESPN and USA Today.


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Saturday January 27 2018, @10:31PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Saturday January 27 2018, @10:31PM (#629184)

    The NFL receives a bunch of tax money to bring us a more modern version of the gladiator games. That's a complete waste of public money that brings no benefits to the public [stanford.edu]. Similarly, cable packages are set up so effectively everything that isn't sports is subsidizing the sports.

    If you want to support your NFL team, fine. But don't make everybody else pay for your recreation.

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