Vince McMahon will bring back the XFL nearly 20 years after its first and only season

Vince McMahon is ready to give professional football one more try.

His first attempt didn’t work out so well. That was the XFL, which played its first and only season in 2001.

But the 72-year-old WWE founder and chairman announced Thursday the formation of the new XFL, which he said would start in two years with eight 40-man teams representing cities that have yet to be determined.

“The new XFL will kick off in 2020, and quite frankly, we’re going to give the game of football back to fans,” McMahon said in a teleconference with reporters. “It’s still football, but it’s football reimagined.”

A goal for the league is to get the length of games down to two hours, McMahon said. Also, there will be no scantily clad cheerleaders this time and less of an emphasis on the violent nature of the sport.

McMahon said the games will be “shorter, faster-paced, family friendly and easier to understand.”

In addition, McMahon said the new league “will have nothing to do with politics” and will adhere to the “time-honored tradition to stand and appreciate the national anthem.”

Also, players with criminal backgrounds will not be permitted in the league.

McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment investment company owns the rights to the XFL name. Last month, WWE filed paperwork that stated McMahon would sell about $100 million in stock to fund Alpha Entertainment.

Unlike the first XFL, this incarnation of the league won’t be affiliated with the WWE.

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii

UPDATES:

1:15 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information from McMahon’s news conference with reporters.

12:50 p.m.: This article was updated after McMahon officially announced the return of the XFL.

This article was originally published at 10:50 a.m.