Update On Vince McMahon Filing For Football And XFL Trademarks
As we previously reported, Vince McMahon is apparently once again interested in getting into the football business. The news, which was originally broken by freelance writer Brad Shepard, was reported by Deadspin after they reached out to WWE regarding the possible relaunch of the XFL. The response from WWE is that Vince McMahon has started a company separate from WWE, called Alpha Entertainment, and is geared to "explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football." In conjunction with the trademark filing in June, the WWE spokesperson did not confirm or deny the possible resurrection.
Last week, McMahon sold 3.34 million shares of WWE to fund his Alpha Entertainment, LLC. The sale would net McMahon just under $100 million.
ESPN Sports Business Reporter, Darren Rovell, also noted that Alpha Entertainment had filed for five trademarks to "XFL" on December 16 with it showing up in the trademark office filing last week. This is in addition to McMahon recently filing additional football trademarks, which included "URFL", "United Football League", "UFL", and "For the love of football." As noted, WWE filed for XFL trademarks back in June with the foreign filing deadline expiring on December 28.
Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment has filed for five trademarks to "XFL."
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 21, 2017
According to PWInsider, there are some new updates with some of the trademarks that were filed. Through McMahon's VKM Ventures, LLC, "UFL" has been giving an initial refuse due to conflict with another "UFL" trademark of the Urban Fitness League (fitness/weightlifting). So, that will be stalled out until McMahon can provide more information about why there wouldn't be any conflicts between the two companies. The group also applied for eight different classifications and identifications of goods and services, but sent funds for the processing fee of only one class.
"United Football League" is moving forward, despite an active trademark on the name from 2010, most likely from the original United Football League. Finally, the "XFL" trademark will be in limbo until around March 16, since there are three month waiting periods on new trademark applications. The XFL lasted only one season in 2001, with it resurfacing earlier this year on the ESPN 30 for 30 This Was the XFL documentary.