The NFL and XFL announced a partnership on Monday in which the two leagues will collaborate on innovation programs involving rules changes, equipment developments and health and safety initiatives, per an NFL press release.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, one of the XFL league owners, posted a video on Twitter celebrating the new deal.
The XFL is slated to return in February 2023. Under the partnership, the XFL will function as a sort of "petri dish" for the NFL to experiment with, XFL president Russ Brandon said to ESPN's Kevin Seifert.
“People would ask, ‘What are the opportunities to look at the game through a different lens from a player development standpoint?