CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie on discussions with the XFL: ‘the door was left open for the possibility that we talk again’

Photo courtesy: CFL

CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie hasn’t shut the proverbial door with the XFL.

The leagues won’t form a partnership in the immediate future, but the possibility exits further down the road.

“We both decided and agreed that we would go back to our respective businesses and focus on our own leagues, for now. We haven’t set any plans to reconnect,” Ambrosie told the Canadian Press.

“But because the relationship was positive, the door was left open for the possibility that we talk again down the road. But today and for the foreseeable future, it’s all CFL all the time.”

In March, the owners from both the CFL and XFL had agreed to work together to identify opportunities to innovate and grow the game of football. The Rock stated at the time he was excited for the ‘unique opportunity’ the CFL and XFL ‘can potentially create together.’

“It would be disingenuous to suggest that we didn’t talk about everything. Now, we’ve got our game, our league and our own future to navigate and I think that’s going to mean having conversations about how do we take our league to the next level?” Ambrosie asked.

“How do we grow the game? How do we double, then double again and double again our success? We’ll have an opportunity for consultation with our stakeholders, our fans, with amateur football, with university football because we don’t need to grow the CFL, we need to grow football in Canada. We need to make our game stronger.”

Ambrosie said in March: “We’re entering into this conversation because we’re looking to be a bigger, more successful CFL. You don’t know where that is going to go. We’re not doing this out of a sense of desperation, we’re doing this because we see it as an opportunity, and that is the fundamental orientation we’re taking into this.”

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. Dwayne 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.

“They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We’ll be encouraging everyone to get out to look at where are the possibilities to grow and expand our game because what we really owe to the game is long-term success,” Ambrosie said.

“I’d continue to encourage our board … certainly myself and my team that we keep our eyes open, we keep our ears open and we keep our minds open to new possibilities and that’s across the board.”

The XFL played one full season in 2001 before being forced to fold, while the latest iteration of the league was suspended midway through its first campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.