Vince McMahon to make major sports announcement at 3 ET today, expected to be relaunch of the XFL

Vince McMahon will make a major “live sports” announcement today at 3 p.m. ET regarding Alpha Entertainment’s first venture. This is widely believed to be the relaunch of the XFL. CBS Sports reports that the league is slated to relaunch in 2020.

McMahon’s original XFL, in partnership with NBC Sports which had just lost the rights to NFL broadcasts, played one season in 2001. The XFL experiment was chronicled in a recent highly rated ESPN “30 for 30” special, thought to be the impetus for McMahon deciding to give it another try.

Keller’s Analysis: Launching in 2020 gives him a much longer window to “get this right,” or at least have a better on-field product at launch. Rumors of other investments have circulated, including buying into an existing NFL team or even buying a European football team. The XFL relaunch brings McMahon’s profile back to a higher level than ever. Whether a TV partner is named, and whether that influences the next WWE TV deal, is something to watch. It’s also possible XFL content will be available on WWE Network, as WWE officials had said in the past they could envision non-pro wrestling content on WWE Network at some point, although they’ve backed away from that more recently.