The XFL didn’t exactly shy away from NFL venues when it announced the eight cities and stadiums it’ll take over as part of WWE CEO Vince McMahon’s plan to reboot the controversial football league in 2020.
Seven of the XFL’s eight teams are set to compete in cities already manned by NFL teams, and two of those teams will be in cities that already host two different NFL franchises. Among the seven: Seattle, where the yet-to-be-named XFL startup will share CenturyLink Field, the Seahawks’ stadium.
Ask Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, however, and he doesn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, if anything, the ninth-year Seahawks head coach thinks Seattle should welcome the new league with open arms.
“Our fans go crazy, so I hope that they’ll really enjoy it and embrace it,” he told reporters this week. “And the fact that that would be here in town, I would love to have that, to watch guys, see guys develop and all that kind of stuff.”
Carroll didn’t stop there, proceeding to joke about the revived XFL.
“I don’t know the makeup of the XFL games at this point,” he said. “Is this the XFL that’s the — they’re not wearing the thorns on their helmets and stuff like that, right?”
All in all, however, he seemed far from perturbed at the idea of another professional football team coming not only to Seattle but to the Seahawks’ own stadium. Considering how quickly the XFL faded after its original arrival in 2001, perhaps that’s just because there’s no guarantee they’ll be there for long.
