XFL

The XFL was a professional American football league, founded by World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon. The XFL was intended to be a major professional sports league complement to the offseason of the National Football League, but it failed to find an audience and ceased operation after its debut season in 2001.

Founding
Created as a joint venture between NBC and the World Wrestling Federation under the company name "XFL, LLC", the XFL was created as a "single-entity league", meaning that the teams were not individually owned and operated franchises (as in the NFL), but that the league was operated as a single business unit. Vince McMahon's original plan was to purchase the Canadian Football League (after the CFL initially approached him about purchasing the Toronto Argonauts), while NBC was moving ahead at the time with Time Warner to create a football league of their own.