Dwayne Johnson might be cooking up his own version of a World Championship between the XFL and CFL.
According to Front Office Sports senior writer, Michael McCarthy, among the options on the table for the two leagues is a post-season clash between XFL and CFL champions.
Here’s how it could work, a source told Front Office Sports: Both leagues would play their regular seasons — there could be “interleague” games, similar to MLB — and once the respective XFL and CFL champions are crowned, they’d face off in an interleague championship game.
There could also be an “All-Star Game” pitting players from both leagues. The long-term objective: the merger of the two pro football leagues.
Both the XFL and CFL declined to comment.
The modern NFL was born after it agreed to play a “World Championship Game” against the upstart AFL. Joe Namath and the New York Jets’ win over the favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III spurred the 1970s merger into one league with two conferences.
The owners from both the CFL and XFL have agreed to work together to identify opportunities for both to innovate and grow the game of football. The Rock has stated he’s excited for the ‘unique opportunity’ the CFL and XFL ‘can potentially create together.’
The most recent incarnation of the XFL lasted just five games before the COVID-19 pandemic put their season on hold, which led to Vince McMahon filing for bankruptcy and selling.
Johnson, Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital were selected as the winning bidders last August for all of the assets of Alpha Entertainment LLC, the parent company of the XFL. It cost $15 million and the goal is to make the XFL a stable league in the future, which could be aided by an agreement with the CFL.
The interleague championship game might be the start of a longer term partnership.
