WWE/Pro Football News: XFL to announce locations and teams next week
What's the story?
Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reports that the XFL announced on its Facebook page that it will announce the locations and teams that will comprise the league next week on December 5th.
The step is the next one in the league moving forward as a viable alternative to the NFL.
In case you missed it . . .
Vince McMahon first introduced the XFL to the masses in 2001 for the league's only season.
CBS and Fox had secured the rights to broadcasting games during the day on Sundays while the ABC family of networks had grabbed the broadcast contracts for Monday night games.
NBC realized how profitable the NFL really was and wanted to get back into the American Pro Football game.
Even thought the league and the partnership with NBC only lasted a year, NBC did eventually get rights to broadcast a Sunday Night Football game.
The heart of the matter
Johnson's note mentioned that the XFL will be streaming the locations/teams announcement on its own site, xfl.com.
It also noted that St. Louis media had already announced that it will be one of the host cities.
McMahon had previously launched Alpha Entertainment in 2017 to help relaunch the XFL as well as other 'sports and entertainment opportunities down the line,' according to Johnson.
It was originally planned to be a separate entity and unrelated to the WWE. Johnson reported that the WWE will indeed help with production assistance as a deal between the two companies.
What's next?
Announcing the host cities and team names is an obvious next step and building block for the league.
It will again have eight teams with two conferences and will likely play a 10 game schedule.
Vince has always wanted to have successful ventures outside of his wrestling company, like the World Bodybuilding Federation from 1990-1992 and the original incantation of the XFL.
Like the WWE in pro wrestling, the NFL has had a stranglehold on American Professional Football.
The USFL only lasted for three years and went defunct in 1986.
The CFL and the Arena Football league offer variations of America Football, but haven't made much of a dent in the NFL's influence.
Since then and even before then, the NFL has been the top professional league in the world for American Football.
With the announcement of the cities and teams next week, more and more information will be provided up until the league goes active in 2020.
With Vince's launch of Alpha Entertainment, reports have suggested that he's turned over a bit of backstage control in WWE to Triple H, and it might become more and more as the relaunch gets closer.
Triple H helped up the quality of the 205 Live product and NXT is clear and indisputable proof that Triple H can handle it.
With more control behind the scenes, Triple H has proved he 1) has a nose for the business, 2) is great at creating a brand somewhat independent of WWE and 3) he and Stephanie would probably be the best bets to take over for Vince once he ultimately retires.