The XFL, the football league originally started by WWE’s Vince McMahon and the late NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol (and the focus of an online sports business game called The XFL Simworld), is planning a return to the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a well-positioned source who does not want to be quoted at this time.
UPDATE: XFL 2020’s Interested In Football At Oakland Coliseum, If The Oakland A’s Say Yes
The last time the XFL was in the Bay Area, it was in the form of the San Francisco Demons in 2001. he The Demons used AT&T Park, the home of the baseball San Francisco Giants, as the place where its games were played. This time, the XFL will be in Oakland, at the Oakland Coliseum.
Reportedly, the representatives of XFL 2020, the new version of the NFL, have taken meetings with Oakland – Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority Executive Director Scott McKibben. Calls and texts to Mr. McKibben to confirm that news were not returned at the time of this blog post.
But, it’s expected that the matter of XFL 2020 in Oakland will be on the closed session agenda for this Friday June 15th Oakland – Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority Meeting.
If all goes as smoothly as it should, it will mean that the XFL will be back in the SF Bay Area by February of 2020. The league that hired former Stanford and now Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck’s father Oliver Luck as its commissioner will play its games in the winter and spring months of February through May of 2020. It will consist of eight teams playing a ten-game season, and a two-week postseason.
The XFL 2020 league will be along the same central control model as the original XFL, and one that has served to form similar pro-football league models, since: single-ownership of teams by the league, and all player contracts handled by the league and not the teams.
There’s no word at this time on what the name of the Oakland team would be, or the colors for that organization. The SF Demons colors were red, black, and white.
Considering the possibility that the Raiders would still be playing in the Oakland Coliseum by 2020 before leaving for Las Vegas and the new stadium there, Oakland could wind up having pro football played at the facility for most of that year.
Stay tuned.