Rumours of the return of the XFL persist, like a zombie.

Everyone in the CFL is aware of the rumours that Vince McMahon is contemplating bringing back the XFL. They’re not particularly concerned about the prospect, though. While a thriving spring league in the U.S. might provide competition for CFL teams looking to lock up their stars in the long term, we’re a long, long way off from that actually happening.
And it’s not as if the people around the CFL haven’t heard this all before, anyways. “You go through this almost every other year, it seems, with a startup football league” Winnipeg Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters said Wednesday. “You pay attention, but it doesn’t change your day-to-day operations, that’s for sure.

“When you come into contact with agents who might want to bring that up, you can certainly talk about the recent history of start-up leagues versus the CFL, and where do you want to send your player?” While the rumours that McMahon is mulling over resurrecting his infamous football league this spring have set the internet on fire, it’s understandable if folks around the CFL aren’t exactly shaking in their boots.
When the WWE boss first launched his eight-team league in 2001, it was met with serious hype and a whole lot of hoopla. It lasted exactly one season. If the XFL looked like competition for the CFL back then, it looks like a much less daunting challenge to the Canadian league now, which is thriving when compared to its situation in 2001.
“We’re going to watch it, obviously,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said. “You never want to be blindsided by something because you haven’t paid attention to it. We’re going to watch to see if it unfolds, how it might unfold, what it might look like if it unfolded and we’re going to do the best we can to understand those things. I’m completely aware, as are my colleagues on the board, but today I can’t really say much because nothing has surfaced to give us any real insight.”
Without more information about McMahon’s rumoured plans, there’s not much the CFL can do to prepare for the new competition should it burst onto the scene later this year.
General managers around the league, though, say the rumours are having little impact on their ability to retain players. “Every time there’s talk of a new league that’s coming up, it’s a discussion we have, but until something is concrete I don’t put a lot of stock into it,” B.C. Lions GM Ed Hervey said. “We’re looking for players who want the opportunity right now, and (the CFL is) the opportunity right now. So, anyone who wants to play right now, we’re your choice. If you want to wait, obviously go ahead and wait, but waiting wastes time in my opinion.”
Asking the GMs about the XFL at the media availability during their annual meeting with league brass in Banff, it became increasingly clear that they hadn’t wasted much of their time together discussing McMahon’s plans.
“I’m that guy who doesn’t (pay attention),” Montreal Alouettes GM Kavis Reed said. “We have a very, very strong football league and a very, very good football league. We’ve done a very good job of putting a good product on the field.
“I think sometimes you lose focus on that when you focus on what’s on the outside or could happen, when we should focus on what’s happening in our league and make sure we improve it, as we’ve been doing.”
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