Professional Football News

HOT OFF THE PRESS OF USA Football™

XFL scheduled to begin play in 2001

STAMFORD, CT (February 3, 2000) - World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NMS: WWFE) announced today the formation of the XFL - a new professional football league that is scheduled to kickoff in February 2001. The XFL is expected to launch with eight teams in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Two additional teams will be announced at a later date. The inaugural season is expected to feature a ten-game regular schedule played at major stadiums in each city, and will conclude with a four-team playoff, and a Championship game at a neutral site. Through subtle rule changes designed to enhance the action and speed of the game, along with technical innovations that will bring fans inside huddles and on to the sidelines, the XFL is designed to accentuate the action that football fans crave. "The appetite for professional football continues long past the Super Bowl," said Vince McMahon, Chairman of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. "The XFL is more than just an extension of the football season, it is a completely new product that not only fills a void for football fans, but will give the casual fan an all-access pass to a football experience unlike any other to date. The action will feature the best football players available and will be highly competitive, hard-hitting, and most importantly, fan friendly. Guaranteed." World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. has built a highly qualified team to launch the XFL. Similar to his past role with the World Wrestling Federation, Basil DeVito, President of New Business Development at World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. will oversee the day-to-day operations of the XFL. His new role will utilize his extensive television syndication, advertising, sponsorship, public relations, live event sales and pay-per-view experience. Michael Keller, a former senior executive with the start-up USFL Michigan Panthers, start-up World League of American Football, and assistant General Manager with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, as well as a former linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys, will serve as the XFL's Vice President of Football Operations. While World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. expects to announce broadcast and cable television contracts at a later date, the XFL has already retained Michael Weisman, a highly respected, award-winning producer whose credits include seven Super Bowls as a broadcast production consultant. "The XFL will attract the entire football-viewing demographic, strengthened by our unique understanding of the young, adult male audience. That, combined with our extensive experience filling venues and executing live events will help lead to the success of the XFL," McMahon added.

NBC-Turner football league folds before kickoff

The proposed 12-team professional football league that has been on the drawing boards at NBC and Turner Network since the networks lost their NFL contracts nearly two years ago, is no more as a result of the two networks working out a $1.2 billion deal with NASCAR. NBC and Turner have entered into six-year contracts with NASCAR beginning in 2001 that will provide sports programming for Sundays in July and August that would conflict with the proposed schedule of a summer football league.

New spring pro league forms

HOUSTON, TX --- Here we go again. A new professional football league is about to form. The Spring Football League, Inc. ("SFL") has announced its intention to play a 12-week schedule of games in the Spring of 2000. Potential investors, including former NFL stars Eric Dickerson, Bo Jackson and Tony Dorsett, are discussing a pro football league with games to be played in March and June. The SFL plans franchises in Birmingham, AL, Canton, OH, Houston, TX, Jackson, MS, Los Angeles CA, Miami, FL, San Antonio, TX, and Washington, D.C., Mark Rice, chairman of the SFL board of governors, told Houston's KRIV-TV on Friday. The inaugural season of 2000 projects ten individually-owned teams playing a 12-week schedule of games with Memorial Day weekend designated as the annual date for the SFL Championship game. Each season's schedule will be arranged backward from Memorial Day weekend to determine the opening dates for training camp and the regular season. Each year the NCAA produces over 4800 football players and other collegiate athletes who have exhausted their college eligibility and could qualify to play in the SFL. The 1999 NFL Draft had more than 500 registered football players not being selected and the NFL 1999 pre-season saw NFL teams releasing over 300 players who did not make the final cut. "It seems like a really good opportunity and I might be involved with the Texas team,'' Dickerson said. Jackson said he was considering investing in the SFL. "I can't make any big announcements of whatever, but I'm very interested in this new league,'' he said. Over the two-day weekend of January 21 and 22, the SFL will conduct a national combine in Phoenix, Arizona. More than 400 players will be invited to participate excluding punters and placekickers. Only 16 candidates per position will be invited.