XFL football set to return nearly two decades after folding

SHOWS: WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 7, 2020)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. CLOSEUP OF FOOTBALL WITH XFL AND DC DEFENDERS LOGO

2. DC DEFENDERS TEAM PRESIDENT ERIK A. MOSES SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE

3. (SOUNDBITE)(English) ERIK A. MOSES, DC DEFENDERS TEAM PRESIDENT, SAYING:

"One of the things that we say about the XFL is that if you love football you're gonna love the XFL. It will be familiar football with a hundred yard field, moving the ball down the field four downs at a time that people are accustomed to. But we have some rule innovations that we think are gonna make the game faster, uptempo, and safer for our players."

4. BOWSER HOLDING UP LARGE DC DEFENDERS LOGO WITH MOSES AND XFL PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER JEFFREY POLLACK

5. (SOUNDBITE)(English) JEFFREY POLLACK, XFL PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, SAYING:

REPORTER ASKING: "What do you look at in terms of metrics for success? Let's say three or four weeks out you'll be looking at attendance and viewership. What will constitute a successful launch?"

POLLACK SAYING: "Success for us will not be measured in the first game, the first weekend, or even the first season. We're taking a long-term view. We understand we're going to have to earn our stripes with fans so there are no hard and fast metrics for the first season. We're simply looking at getting going, introducing our form of football to the world, and welcoming fans into our stadiums."

6. (SOUNDBITE)(English) JEFFREY POLLACK, XFL PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, SAYING:

"A substantial amount of time has gone into the planning for this launch, almost two years. We've been able to staff up a world class organization, we have some of the best minds in football and in sports management. We're also benefitting from remarkable television partnerships. No league has ever launched with the broadcast footprint that we have. Fox Sports, ABC, ESPN, we're in hundreds of millions of homes around the world and we're on with every game nationally televised every weekend. Four national windows for ten straight weeks, it's a massive amount of linear content and massive amount of distribution for our broadcast partners."

STORY: A week after nearly 100 million Americans tuned in to watch Super Bowl 54 between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in the finale of the NFL season, the eight-team XFL relaunches on Saturday February 8) with the Seattle Dragons playing the DC Defenders in Washington, DC.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was joined by Defenders team and XFL league officials at a news conference Friday (February 7) to help kick off the first season.

Nineteen years after the original XFL spectacularly flared out after one season, the rebooted version will have a ten week season and be financed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) impresario Vince McMahon.

The league will feature several former NFL players and a reworked rule book that will see a possibility of nine-point touchdowns and shootout-style overtimes.

The XFL relaunch will also benefit from the muscle provided by broadcast partners ESPN/ABC and FOX, with many games televised nationally across the U.S.

(Production: Peter Bullock David Grip)