After much speculation, the rumors are indeed true. The Xfl will be returning, with an inaugural season scheduled to begin in 2020. Vince McMahon, chairman of the WWE, will be the sole financier and owner of the league and its teams.

Using funding from his sale of $100 million worth of stock in the WWE, McMahon launched Alpha Entertainment that will be the driving force behind the XFL. The new company is completely separate from the WWE.

The league will begin with eight teams in major and mid-major markets playing a condensed 10 game schedule.

Many of the kinks need to be ironed out over the next two years, identifying players, coaches and all of the logistics that go into running a team will need to be addressed. Since McMahon will be the sole owner, he will have to do this for every team. At this point, it is unclear how roster transactions, such as trades, will work. One would imagine that there will be general managers for each team who oversee the roster-building and personnel moves.

Vince's way or the highway

One way that this new version of the XFL will be different from the first go-round will be the owner structure. Nearly two decades ago, McMahon partnered with NBC to get the league off the ground and on television. The result was too many cooks in the kitchen as competing visions eventually eroded the product as the league was eventually scrapped after one season.

This time, McMahon will be the sole owner of the league and each of its teams. Vince prefers this structure as it allows him to have total control. At the end of the day, he will be able to look himself in the mirror and say: "You were the one who screwed this up, or you made this thing a success." Either way, it is all on him.

As for the league itself, McMahon wants games to be purely entertainment for the fans. There will be no kneeling down for the national anthem or any other type of social protests. Per McMahon, those are to be done on a player's own time. Also, an interesting rule will prohibit any player who has a criminal record. This means that we won't be seeing Johnny Manziel resurrect his career in the XFL.

Gimmick-free football

The XFL was originally designed to be as extreme as possible with the rules and format of the game. The coin toss, for example, was replaced by a mad scramble for the ball.

The gimmicks eventually wore thin as fans were disgruntled about the lack of quality play. This time, McMahon will emphasize putting a quality product on the field first.

Focusing on where the NFL is failing, and how the original XFL failed, McMahon will put emphasis on quality players and coaches that will attract long-term fans. Taking an extra year to work out the details should set the league up for much better potential over the long haul. By planning to keep the parts of the game that the fans want, McMahon hopes to eventually be a viable alternative to the NFL.
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