Murphy’s League Delays Start Date

The XFL, the new professional football league founded by World Wrestling Federation CEO Vince McMahon, has a lucrative television deal with NBC that has all but put a headlock on outdoor football in the spring.

Dennis Murphy, co-founder of the International Football Federation, which was supposed to have begun play in February but failed to secure a television deal, said his league will instead open in 2001--along with the XFL--but will play from April to early July.

Last week, NBC announced it had purchased a $30-million stake in the WWF, all but assuring the XFL will begin a 10-week season in February with eight teams, including one playing in the Coliseum.

Murphy, a Fullerton businessman, said the IFF is “close to signing” a cable-TV deal but has tabled plans for an L.A. franchise at the Coliseum or Rose Bowl. As many as 10 franchises are planned, including one in Anaheim, which Murphy hopes will be able to negotiate to play at Edison Field.

“Some of what we do will be predicated on what Vince does,” said Murphy, who has founded several pro leagues, including the American Basketball Assn. “For instance, we prefer not to play in the same cities he would play in.”

Murphy said the IFF also will be more traditional in its style of play.

‘Ours is going to be real football; it’s not going to be WWF-style football,” Murphy said. “It will be the NFL with just a few changes like the college rule of getting one foot inbounds on a pass reception, not two like the NFL.

“We will also kick off from the 20-yard line, but otherwise it will be the same scoring system.”

McMahon has said some of his league’s rules would differ significantly from the NFL’s. Individual and group celebrations, for instance, would be encouraged, not penalized, and no fair catches would be allowed.

Just where will the players come from to fill the rosters?

“We’re not going to say that we’re going to be at the same level as the NFL because we’re not,” Murphy said. “Our play is going to be organized on a spring football league basis, and we will build our own stars.”

Besides Orange County, the IFF plans to have teams in Detroit; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Sacramento or San Jose; Raleigh, N.C.; Honolulu, Chicago, New Orleans, New York and either New England or Texas.