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'Smash-mouth' XFL invades Orlando
Posted: Tuesday July 04, 2000 07:11 PM
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Promising a brand of "smash-mouth" football, XFL officials formally welcomed Orlando on Monday into the new extreme football league that is a joint venture between the World Wrestling Federation and NBC. "For guys who go through football withdrawal after the Super Bowl ... now we don't have to do that," said WWF chairman Vince McMahon during a news conference at the Citrus Bowl, where the Orlando XFL team will play. League officials said XFL games would be less regulated than those of the NFL, and players would be permitted to make hits not allowed in the NFL. The new, eight-team league's season starts in February, and will not compete with the NFL, which sees its regular seasons end in December, McMahon said.
"We're about competition, but we're also about entertainment," McMahon said. "We will entertain you as you have never been entertained before." McMahon also promised the "best-looking cheerleaders ever assembled." "I believe that's part of football as well," he said. "You're going to get to know these ladies. ...You might even get to know them as far as some of the relationships they may or may not have with certain players." League officials announced that Tom Veit will be the vice president and general manager of the as-yet unnamed Orlando team. Veit is a former executive of the Tampa Bay Mutiny, a Major League Soccer team. "This state loves football," Veit said. "This city loves football, and deserves football." Other XFL teams will be in New York; Washington; Miami; Los Angeles; Memphis; and San Francisco. Orlando is the third city to be formally welcomed into the league, behind Chicago and Memphis. Each ticket, on average, will cost $23 to $25. The games, which start in February 2001, will be televised on NBC, UPN and TNN.
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