WWE’s Vince McMahon Announces New Professional Football League

REPORTS: league expected to start in 2020

ABOVE VIDEO: Vince McMahon will make a major sports announcement today at 3 p.m. ET., which is expected to be the unveiling of a new professional football league.

WWE’s Vince McMahon will make a major sports announcement today at 3 p.m. ET., which is expected to be the unveiling of a new professional football league.

Many expect the new league to be similar to McMahon’s XFL league back in 2001.

However, with evolving technologies, social media and political climate, McMahon may see an opportunity that wasn’t available nearly two decades ago.

ABOVE VIDEO: 30 for 30: “This Was the XFL”

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING

– According to CBS Sports, WWE clarified at that time of the initial reports that it was not going back into the football business but McMahon will rather be doing so on his own. McMahon has created Alpha Entertainment separate from WWE and recently sold 3.34 million shares of WWE stock (about $100 million worth) in order to help fund the company. Alpha Entertainment has also since acquired five XFL trademarks that WWE abandoned between 2002 and 2005.

– According to ESPN, it is not clear whether McMahon will use the name XFL, the ill-fated football league he co-owned with NBC that lasted only one season in 2001, but Alpha has filed trademarks for that name.

– According to Forbes, In relaunching the XFL, McMahon is clearly striking at a time where he feels the NFL is vulnerable. He’s right. The NFL is vulnerable, but unfortunately for McMahon and the return of the XFL, the same can be said about football in general.

– According to Sports Illustrated, There is some evidence, laid out by Deadspin’s David Bixenspan, that the league could present itself as a conservative alternative to the NFL in response to players kneeling during the national anthem. McMahon is a longtime ally of Donald Trump and Trump appointed his wife, Linda, as head of the Small Business Administration. Also note that the logo in the leaked video above replaces the XFL’s previous red, white and black color scheme with red, white and blue.

So @AlphaEntLLC just trialled a live-stream ahead of their press conference at 3PM E.T.

This was the final shot.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s happening. pic.twitter.com/n5c4UMkpOf

— The Tag Rope (@tagropemag) January 25, 2018

Vince McMahon, Founder, Alpha Entertainment and Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer of WWE, Inc. (WWE), is a third-generation promoter who has made WWE into the global phenomenon it is today.

As a pioneer in the television syndication business, a recognized television personality throughout the world, a visionary promoter and a fearless marketer, he continues to make his presence known as a leader within the broadcast and entertainment industries. In 1972, McMahon joined his father’s company, Capitol Wrestling Corporation, on a full-time basis. By 1979, the company had syndicated programming to 30 television stations. In 1982, he purchased the Capitol Wrestling Corporation from his father and decided to take what had been a regional operation and turn it into a national venture.

McMahon soon became a pioneer in the cable television industry by leveraging the new technologies of pay-per-view and closed-circuit television for the first WrestleMania in 1985. Now, not only had he built a brand that people would watch in syndication, he had built the WWE into a brand that people would pay to watch. In April 2000, more than 1 million fans purchased WrestleMania 2000, at the time making it the most-watched non-boxing event in pay-per-view history. In February 2014, WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 direct-to-consumer network, launched live in the U.S.

In 2016, WrestleMania 32 set a new attendance record of 101,763, as fans from all 50 states and 35 countries converged on AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The previous WWE attendance record was at WrestleMania 3 in 1987, where 93,173 fans filled the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit.

Today, WWE produces new television programming 52 weeks a year with no off-season. Programs such as “Monday Night Raw” and “SmackDown Live” are ratings successes that can be seen in more than 800 million homes in 180 countries and heard in 20 languages. As the television audience has grown exponentially, so has the live event audience.

WWE performed more than 500 live events, including 80 international events in 25 countries, entertaining more than 2 million fans in 2017. Under McMahon’s leadership, WWE has developed into one of the most popular and sophisticated forms of global entertainment today. WWE is an integrated media and entertainment company that features a portfolio of specialized businesses that creates and delivers original content to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. In addition to its headquarters in Stamford, Conn., WWE has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo. WWE trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WWE.

In 2017, McMahon established and personally funded a separate entity from WWE, Alpha Entertainment.

For his accomplishments in entertainment, television, and pay-per-view, McMahon, one of the longest-running personalities on television, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008. He also has received a Promax/BDA Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the 2008 CableFAX Hall of Fame. In recognition of WWE’s work to support children over the past 30 years, McMahon, in 2005, was appointed to The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America National Advisory Council. He is a tireless supporter of the U.S. military, bringing WWE Superstars to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 to entertain the troops. WWE was the recipient of the USO of Metropolitan Washington’s first ever “Legacy of Hope” award for WWE’s extensive support of our troops and the USO’s Operation Care Package program. In 2006, WWE and McMahon received the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award for its support of deployed service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2008, the company received the GI Film Festival’s Corporate Patriot Award.

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