The No. 1 criticism of the original XFL was the quality of play. It didn’t live up to all the promotion. We believe you can trace that to the league not having enough time to properly develop the entire organization and to vet the competitive product. That’s why we’re giving ourselves the proper amount of runway. … There’s certainly a lot of learnings from the original XFL, but we’re also taking a fresh look at what people want from the game itself, as far as format and rules, and we’re spending a lot of time on building the fan experience.
There have been a lot of attempts to build a spring league in the past. Many failed because they didn’t have sufficient funding; a lot of them failed because they didn’t have experienced leadership. We have both of those things locked and loaded. It’s a privilege to be managing a new enterprise and to not have a significant portion of our time spent on fundraising.
XFL is a brand with fan recognition and a reputation for innovation. We’re going to deliver authentic, high-energy football for the whole family at an affordable price. We’re going to deliver games that are faster paced, with fewer play stoppages and simpler rules. We are going to deliver a great stadium experience and work hard to bring fans closer to the game. We’re going to place a lot of value on player safety, health and wellness, and delivering 24/7 content.
We’ll certainly be authentic, credible football, even though we have some opportunity to do things differently, to make pace better and rules simpler and have a more engaging and dynamic experience.
— Terry Lefton
