Editing XFL (2001) (section)

==Founding==
Created as a 50–50 joint venture between [[NBC]] and WWE-owned subsidiary WWE Properties International, Inc.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/otherfb/news/2001/0327/1163009.html |title=DeVito says NBC not necessary for next year |date=March 27, 2001 |website=[[ESPN]] |publisher=[[ESPN Inc.]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=January 23, 2014}}</ref> under the company name "XFL, LLC", the XFL was created as a "[[Legal entity|single-entity league]];" instead of the [[sports franchising|franchise model]] used by the NFL and other major leagues, or the hybrid model where investors in the league are given operations over teams (as used in [[Major League Soccer]]), the XFL uniformly owned and operated all of its teams as one corporation, with no individual owners. [[Vince McMahon]]'s original plan was to purchase the [[Canadian Football League]] (after the CFL initially approached him about purchasing the [[Toronto Argonauts]]) and "[[Canadian Football League in the United States|have it migrate south]],"<ref>{{cite news |url=http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/Wrestlemania23/2007/03/29/3862428.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222215158/http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/Wrestlemania23/2007/03/29/3862428.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |title=Vince McMahon Q&A |first=Tim |last=Baines |website=Canoe |agency=[[Ottawa Sun]] |date=March 27, 2007 |access-date=August 31, 2014}}</ref> which was quickly rejected by the CFL.

NBC had lost their broadcast rights to the NFL's [[American Football Conference|American Football Conference (AFC)]] to [[CBS]] in 1998, ending a business relationship that had its origins with the AFC's predecessor, the [[American Football League]] (this having also come about after NBC had previously lost the rights to the pre-[[AFL-NFL merger|merger]] NFL, also to CBS). Prior to McMahon's announcement, NBC was moving ahead with [[Time Warner]] to create a football league of their own.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/129418/time-warner-and-nbc-to-form-new-pro-league |title=Time Warner and NBC to form new pro league |website=SportBusiness |date=September 28, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826132230/http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/129418/time-warner-and-nbc-to-form-new-pro-league |archive-date=August 26, 2012 |access-date=August 31, 2014}} (Note that contrary to the 2001 date on the article, it was written in 1998.)</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20352535.html |archive-date=November 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105000642/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20352535.html |title=TNT, NBC consider new football league}}</ref>

The concept of the league was first announced on February 3, 2000. The XFL was originally conceived to build on the success of the NFL and [[professional wrestling]]. It combined the traditional game of American football with the [[kayfabe]] and stunts of professional wrestling. As [[WWE|WWF]] was, at the time, in the midst of its "[[Attitude Era]]" (which marked a shift in a mature and provocative direction for its content), the XFL's presentation likewise would reflect that approach toward football.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/346025 |title=What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From the XFL's Second Attempt at Victory |last=Womack |first=Josh |date=February 7, 2020 |website=Entrepreneur |language=en |access-date=March 15, 2020}}</ref> It was hyped as "real" football without penalties for roughness and with fewer rules in general. Keen to avoid any perception that XFL games would [[match fixing|somehow be predetermined]] in the sort of manner long established in professional wrestling, McMahon repeatedly emphasized that whereas the WWF was "100% (scripted) entertainment" the XFL would be "100% sport" i.e. the winners of its games would be determined on the field. XFL games were to feature players and coaches with microphones and cameras in the huddle and in the [[locker room]]s. Stadiums featured [[trash-talk]]ing public address announcers and scantily-clad [[Cheerleading|cheerleader]]s who were encouraged to date the players. Instead of a pre-game coin toss, XFL officials put the ball on the ground and let a player from each team scramble for it to determine who received the kickoff option. The practice was dubbed "The Human Coin Toss" by commentators, and one player ([[Orlando Rage]] defensive back [[Hassan Shamsid-Deen]]) famously separated his shoulder on the first scramble, missing the rest of the season.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/this-is-the-xfl-again-controversial-football-league-set-to-return-in-2020/ |title=This is the XFL, again: Controversial football league set to return in 2020 |work=CBSSports.com |access-date=January 25, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

The XFL featured extensive television coverage, with three games televised each week on [[NBC]], [[UPN]], and [[Spike (TV channel)#The National Network and The New TNN (2000-2003)|TNN]]. To accommodate this, it placed four of its teams in the four largest U.S. media markets: [[New York metropolitan area|New York City/North Jersey]], [[Chicago metropolitan area|Chicago]], the [[San Francisco Bay Area]], and [[Greater Los Angeles]] (this was during the [[History of the National Football League in Los Angeles|NFL's 21-year absence from the Los Angeles metro area]]). The remaining four teams were placed in markets that had previously hosted teams in second-tier and/or rival major leagues: Birmingham, Memphis, Las Vegas, and Orlando. All of the XFL's markets except Las Vegas had hosted teams in the [[United States Football League]] in the 1980s; Las Vegas, along with Birmingham and Memphis, had hosted short-lived CFL teams in the 1990s.

The XFL chose unusual names for its teams, most of which either referenced images of uncontrolled insanity ([[Memphis Maniax|Maniax]], [[Orlando Rage|Rage]], [[Los Angeles Xtreme|Xtreme]], [[San Francisco Demons|Demons]]) or criminal activity ([[Chicago Enforcers|Enforcers]], [[New York/New Jersey Hitmen|Hitmen]], [[Las Vegas Outlaws (XFL)|Outlaws]], and the [[Birmingham Thunderbolts|Birmingham Blast]]). After outrage from Birmingham residents who noted that Birmingham had a history of notorious "blasts", including the [[16th Street Baptist Church bombing]] in 1963 and [[Eric Rudolph]]'s 1998 bombing of a local abortion clinic, the XFL changed the name of the Birmingham team to the more benign "Birmingham Thunderbolts" (later shortened to "Bolts").<ref>{{cite web|title=Bolts for short |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2000/08/24/xfl_birmingham_ap/ |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |publisher=[[Time Inc.]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=August 25, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010185318/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2000/08/24/xfl_birmingham_ap/ |archive-date=October 10, 2008 |access-date=August 31, 2014}}</ref>

Contrary to popular belief, the "X" in XFL did not stand for "extreme", as in "eXtreme Football League".{{sfn|Forrest|2002|p=9}} When the league was first organized in 1999, it was originally supposed to stand for "Xtreme Football League"; however, there was already a league in formation at the same time with that name, and so promoters wanted to make sure that everyone knew that the "X" did not actually stand for anything (though McMahon would comment that "if the NFL stood for the 'No Fun League', the XFL will stand for the 'e'''x'''tra '''f'''un '''l'''eague'"<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/04/sports/sports-business-wwf-alters-script-and-looks-to-football.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |series=Sports Business |title=W.W.E. alters script and looks to football |first=Richard |last=Sandomir |date=February 4, 2000}}</ref>). The other Xtreme Football League, which was also organized in 1999, merged with the [[Arena Football League]]'s minor league [[AF2]] before ever playing a single game. In a much later article describing the origins of the league's name, ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' stated: "The F and the L act to indicate, if only indirectly, a football league. But the X is a variable. It could mean anything."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/05/01/new-xfl-wwe-football-league-2020-oliver-luck-commissioner |title=Oliver Luck and XFL 2.0: What's different this time |date=May 1, 2019 |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]}}</ref>