An XFL primer

Wednesday, June 28, 2000 | 11:23 a.m.

A new outdoor pro football league, jointly owned by WWF Entertainment and NBC. The XFL plans to combine football with the WWF's in-your-face presentation and promotion, but the games will not be staged or scripted, the league says.

Eight, and Las Vegas is a virtual lock to be one of them. The XFL will own every franchise. Chicago and Memphis have been announced, New York and Los Angeles are being finalized, and the other cities are rumored to be San Francisco, Orlando and Birmingham, Ala.

The season will begin Feb. 3, culminating with the XFL championship on April 21. Each team will play 10 games (six in its conference, four against the other). Every week, there will be three games on Saturday and one Sunday. Two teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs, with the No. 1 seed in each conference hosting the No. 2 seed from the other.

Presumably, every level of football except the NFL. All players will be signed by the league, with average salaries of about $45,000, then allocated to the teams by a draft and other means. Each team will have 38 active players and a seven-man taxi squad. The XFL will hire a general manager and coach for each team, and they will be in charge of scouting, drafting and hiring staff.

Aside from the WWF-style hubbub during the games, the league is planning some new wrinkles. Though the players will receive regular salaries, the winning team in each game will split about $100,000, increasing players' incentive. The prize pool for the championship game will be $1 million. The XFL also plans to tweak some rules, possibly including kickoffs from the 25-yard-line, no fair catches, one foot inbounds on pass receptions and a less stringent in-the-grasp rule.

You bet. In fact, that's pretty much the No. 1 reason for the XFL's existence. NBC will carry a prime-time game every Saturday night, UPN will air games on Sundays at 4 p.m. Pacific time, and an undetermined cable network will telecast Saturday afternoon games.

The average price will be about $23.

-- By Steve Addy

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