![For the six people on earth who didn't know yet: this is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_645/urjk0627s74mwpp5oomg.jpg)
Nearly everything Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has touched in sports and entertainment over the past two decades has turned to gold. His Midas touch started in professional wrestling behind Vince McMahon and the WWF/WWE, then transferred to the big screen in Hollywood. Johnson revamped McMahon’s twice-failed XFL project when he purchased and relaunched the league earlier this year. That restart brought the XFL in the spring against the USFL, which made its comeback a few years earlier. Now it’s two competitions discuss a mergeras reported by Axios.
After two lackluster campaigns for the USFL and one for the XFL, both have apparently thrown in the towel each spring to compete as separate entities. Americans love football, yes, if the product is good. It’s been hard to make sense of either of these football leagues long after they announced their return. Joining forces will therefore be better in the long term, especially from a financial point of view.
The NFL has such a stranglehold on football fans that it’s hard to compete for eyeballs even when no games are being played in that league. Although the USFL and XFL are marketed as alternatives to professional football, most spectators consider them to be the minor leagues at best. It’s safe to say that all of their talent is aiming to make it to the NFL get another chance if they have played there before.
Being an offseason alternative to the NFL is the best the USFL and XFL can hope for, so tackling that together could mean more long-term success. This merger could be even more important once the Arena Football League returns next year. There is so much ‘professional’ football on the market that it is quickly becoming oversaturated. An announcement on the XFL-USFL merger could come later this week.