XFL banks on Oliver Luck bringing credibility to rebooted league

Zak Keefer | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption Oliver Luck takes on new challenge Oliver Luck has held many positions in the football world. Now he will leave the NCAA to become the first first CEO and commissioner of Vince McMahon's XFL football league.

INDIANAPOLIS – Lured by the idea of “reimagining the game of football and having the chance to do something about it,” Oliver Luck is set to embark upon the most ambitious challenge of his decorated career: running Vince McMahon’s risky reboot of the XFL.

The seasoned sports business executive is leaving his lofty role at the Indianapolis-based NCAA, where he reported directly to president Mark Emmert as vice president of regulatory affairs, and joining forces with McMahon, owner and chairman of WWE, to become the new XFL’s first CEO and commissioner. The league, which flopped the first time around, folding after just one season in 2001, is set to launch a 10-week regular season in 2020.

“How often do you get to build a pro football league from scratch?” Luck said excitedly Tuesday.

We are proud to announce that former #NFL and #NCAA executive and quarterback @OliverLuckXFL has been named the #XFL Commissioner & CEO. pic.twitter.com/ROzr027Bld — XFL (@xfl2020) June 5, 2018

And no, for those wondering, don’t expect Luck’s oldest son — that’d be Colts QB Andrew Luck — to become the new XFL’s first marquee quarterback.

“I don’t think so,” Oliver said, laughing. “He’s very happy being a Colt. He’s got a season looming.”

All sides hope that season includes a healthy throwing shoulder for the former Pro Bowler, who hasn’t suited up for the Colts in 16 months after undergoing labrum surgery in January of 2017.

In Oliver Luck, McMahon and the XFL land perhaps the most qualified candidate on the market. Why? He’s done this before. As president of NFL Europe back in the 1990s, he learned first-hand the challenges of establishing a professional sports league, of selling sponsorships, of cultivating interest and sustaining a profitable business model.

He can trace his entire career back to his days at West Virginia, where he became a star quarterback and school icon after turning down Harvard and Yale. He backed up Archie Manning in the pros — his grunt work included driving around Archie’s middle son, Peyton — and took law school classes at night, mindful that his playing days wouldn’t last. When he qualified for the league pension, he retired. Three years later, he ran for Congress. And he almost won.

After his success with NFL Europe — he and wife Kathy moved over there with their infant son, Andrew, when he was just one — Luck has authored a stunningly-successful career in sports business. He returned to the states in 2001 and became the CEO of the Houston Sports Authority, piloting projects that built the city four, brand new, state-of-the-art sporting venues. He served as the president of the city’s pro soccer franchise, the Houston Dynamo, and led the team to consecutive MLS Cups. He worked as the athletic director for his alma mater, West Virginia University, before taking his post at the NCAA.

“Oliver is a guy who always wants more,” a former boss said of Luck. “He always wants the next challenge.”

In the XFL, he’ll find it.

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Citing the fact that 70 million Americans identify themselves as football fans, the new league “will take a fresh and novel look at the game,” Luck said. That means new rules, new ideas, a new feel. They intend to cut down on lengthy in-game stoppages, hope to build in more engagement with the fans. There’s also this: Luck has also said that players in the new XFL will be required to stand for the national anthem.

But he quickly dismissed the notion that the league will compete with the NFL.

“We are not a competitor to the National Football League, and I don’t think we intend to be a competitor,” he said. “We believe in our business plan, we believe there is a market for football outside of the fall, and we think if we’re smart and diligent and thorough, we can put a high-quality product out there.”

The league, set to launch in 2020 with eight teams, recently submitted proposals to 30 prospective U.S. markets. (Luck declined to say if Indianapolis was one of them.) Each team will play 10 regular season games before a semifinal round and championship.

Luck called Emmert late last week to inform him of his departure, telling the NCAA president it had everything to do with the XFL and nothing to do “with any discontent at the NCAA.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing, and feel like we made some progress,” Luck said of his almost four years in Indianapolis. As vice president of regulatory affairs, he worked directly with some 1,100 member schools across the country, supporting almost a half-million student-athletes.

“The NCAA is not where it needs to be yet in a regulatory space, but I think we made progress,” he said. “We tried to create a bit of a new culture, and tried to focus on the most important thing — the student-athlete. It was sort of a philosophical shift in how we look at the world.”

Now he’ll shift his focus from the amateur sports model to, once again, the professional one. McMahon’s bid to build a football league that will operate during the NFL’s offseason might’ve just found the one man who can pull it off.

“This is a big challenge,” Luck said. “But it’s incredibly exciting.”

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.

Oliver Luck's resume:



> NCAA star at West Virginia

> NFL backup for Archie Manning

> Law student at Texas

> One-time Congressional candidate

> GM of Frankfurt Galaxy

> Pres. of NFL Europe

> CEO of Houston Sports Authority

> Pres of Houston Dynamo

> WVU AD

> NCAA exec — Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) June 5, 2018