XFL to be 'petri dish' for football innovation, prospect development as part of partnership agreement with NFL

The NFL and XFL have reached a partnership agreement that will focus on innovating the game and protecting the health of players, the XFL announced Monday.

XFL officials made clear that the collaboration will not include player sharing for developmental purposes, but the alignment is notable given the growing number of alternative leagues in the football landscape.

The XFL is scheduled to resume play in February 2023 under new owners Dany Garcia, Dwayne «The Rock» Johnson and RedBird Capital Partners. News of the agreement comes as a revived USFL works toward its launch April.

The NFL-XFL agreement will give the NFL a «petri dish» to experiment with proposed rules, test new equipment and develop prospective officials and coaches, XFL president Russ Brandon told ESPN.

A Buffalo Bills executive for two decades, Brandon said NFL officials routinely discussed the need for such an outlet after NFL Europe shuttered in 2007.

«People would ask, 'What are the opportunities to look at the game through a different lens from a player development standpoint?'» Brandon told ESPN. "'How can you be an incubator or an accelerant in many different verticals, from officiating to rules innovations to playing surfaces, to player development?' You can go on and on.

«Any opportunity that the NFL has to advance the game of football, I think they've always been open to, and we've had some really good dialogue, led by our ownership group.»

Garcia told ESPN that the partnership with the NFL isn't intended to put the XFL «in position [as] a developmental league.» In both of its previous incarnations under former owner Vince McMahon, in 2000 and 2020, the XFL could not use players under contract with NFL teams. The XFL suspended operations and