TORONTO & GREENWICH, CT – The Canadian Football League (CFL) and XFL owners Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, and RedBird Capital have agreed to work together to identify opportunities for the leagues to collaborate, innovate, and grow the game of football.
This is great news for both leagues! I'm completely on board. This can help the CFL get a foothold here in the states while legitimizing the XFL by partnering with the great Canadian league. A win-win for all.
Things that make me go Hmmmmm! 
A partnership makes sense for these 2 leagues without 'merging' them.
They play at different times of the year so if their player contracts can align where one can play in the other league in the respective off season. They don't need to be competitors.
The greedy part of would love to see the XFL relaunch as the 3 down game.
Edit: Lawless is giving his opinion above. If he's not involved I wouldn't read too much into the CFL 4 down thing.
Hopefully alignment means XFL trying a CFL style game and see more opportunities in brand recognition .
Not really sure where they are going with that statement .
Growth of football ?
Football in the US is huge it's not like it's rugby or cricket .
Growing the brand CFL is the goal is it not .
Three down CDN version needs growth the American version has grown and is flourishing .
The XFL folded once,not sure if they played more than 2 seasons ever ,sure team up with them..roll eyes
Rather cautious about this news. It will depend on what they have in mind. I guess there is nothing bad if it's about some mutual promotion or some agreements on player contracts. What scares me the most is about rule changing for the CFL .
This is massive news, I had a feeling something was going on behind the scenes.
Naylor is speculating that it can involve teams playing each other.
I echo him on these 2 questions.
The XFL folded in 2001, they played 5 weeks in 2020 before covid shut them and the rest of the sports world down. They have much more legitimate ownership with Redbird financial at the helm, and the huckster Vince McMahon no longer involved
That's what scares me the most honnestly.
I think we have to keep an open mind as we wait to see how the relationship develops. No need to overreact as yet.
Let's face it, the CFL has to increase its revenue streams.
And a bit of trivia. The XFL commissioner Jeffrey Pollack's half-brother is Gary Bettman.
And the 3rd question to me is ratio. If they formally merge, they can't have 2 different set of roster rules.
I would prefer they keep their separate schedules. Perhaps they align broadcast contracts too bring some US$ TV too. Would the ESPN or another US network pay more to have the XFL too?
XFL relaunch is on pause as they're focusing on these talks
Wow, I've been thinking about this for a few months, thinking it was a pipedream, and it's so crazy to hear that there was really talks going on.
The best outcome for the CFL would be two independent leagues with inter-league play. I expect the CFL will not sacrifice the Canadian game, so hopefully all games involving the Canadian teams (or at least on Canadian soil) would be under full Canadian rules.
On the XFL side, they get the stability of having nine established teams to fill out their schedule. It would mean not having to start with 8 to 10 teams of their own, more like 4 teams in the best markets.
I sincerely hope that XFL is considering adopting Canadian rules, or something close to it, but I expect the biggest stumbling block would be field size. It would really cut down on the number of potential markets and venues. The best shot would be adopting the BMO field dimensions and play out of soccer stadiums, but even those stadiums would probably require modifications to their endzones.
Overall, I'm excited. Better to cooperate than compete. Who knows, maybe someday there will be a Mexican league joining the inter league play.
As Sheldon wrote "no need to overreact as yet". Yes, there are/will be discussions but nothing else is happening.
At this time, my main focus and worry is COVID- 19 and the impact on the CFL in 2021. Happy that doses of vaccinations have and will increased/increase substantially in the coming weeks along with more and more Canadians being vaccinated.
Richard
If we see CFL teams playing XFL teams, a ratio for Canadian players obviously wouldn't fly in the States. I would like to see a ratio from that State/local collegiate instead.
This makes me extremely nervous, I'm old enough to have seen the league go down this road to American partnership before. Ultimately after all the right things said to put Canadians at ease, the American owners start losing fans, and money and then they start asking "why don't we have more of a say in our investment, we're in danger of losing it all"....and that's the beginning of the end in Canada. A guy like the Rock is NEVER going to be a "silent" partner, he's by nature a control freak.....the second the two leagues start playing games against each other, is the second a merger begins, then how long before the Rock says "look we need the league's biggest / marketable stars playing in New York, L.A., Chicago.....not Calgary, Regina, or Winnipeg"......it's the ultimate deal with the devil.
ESPN already holds exclusive broadcast rights to CFL in the USA