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Former NFL quarterback Oliver Luck is leaving his high-ranking position at the NCAA to become commissioner of the XFL Guillermo Heredia Seattle Mariners Jersey , the second edition of professional wrestling mogul Vince McMahon’s football league.

McMahon announced the hire Tuesday, four months after unveiling plans to relaunch the XFL, which folded in 2001 after its only season. The new XFL is scheduled to begin in 2020. Luck will start his new job July 1.

He said the XFL presents an opportunity to reimagine football, from how it is played to how it is delivered and consumed by fans.

”Opportunities like this come along very infrequently,” Luck told AP in a phone interview. ”You’ve got Vince, who is a visionary. A well-capitalized effort. A guy who has passion for the game, but realizes that there are others who have lived and breathed the game for decades who he was able to bring on board.

”An incredibly fascinating time in terms of technology that exists to engage fans. All of those combined led me to believe the key ingredients to a successful launch are there to deliver great football, which I think was one of the failings of the original league.”

Luck said McMahon assured him the XFL will be a more serious endeavor than the first time around, when the league tried to use some of the WWE’s sexed-up, tough-talking antics to spice up second-rate football.

”Vince and others have really looked clear-eyed at the original XFL and acknowledged there wasn’t enough focus put on the game itself Byron Maxwell Color Rush Jersey ,” Luck said.

Luck, the father of Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, played four seasons for the Houston Oilers after being drafted in the second round out of West Virginia in 1982. He graduated from University of Texas law school in 1987.

Luck went on to a successful career in sports management in the professional and college ranks. He joined the NCAA in 2014 as executive vice president of regulatory affairs and strategic partnerships.

Luck has served as president of the now defunct NFL Europe and was general manager for two of the league’s teams in Germany. He was later president and general manager of the Houston Dynamo, leading the franchise to two MLS Cup titles. Before joining the NCAA, he spent four years as athletic director of West Virginia, orchestrating the school’s move to the Big 12.

”Oliver and I share the same vision and passion for reimagining the game of football,” McMahon said in a statement. ”His experience as both an athlete and executive will ensure the long-term success of the XFL.”

At the NCAA, Luck oversaw all NCAA enforcement, academic and membership affairs and athlete eligibility.

”Oliver Luck has been a key member of my leadership team and he has done a superb job at the NCAA over the last three years,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement. ”His vision and insight have been invaluable to our schools and the national office. Oliver’s values and leadership skills helped keep the Association focused on supporting student-athletes.”

The XFL plans to have eight league-owned teams Kyle Freeland Colorado Rockies Jersey , 40-man rosters and a 10-week regular season during the NFL’s offseason. Host cities and stadiums are now being sought by the league through requests for proposals.

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New Jersey’s casinos and racetracks are waiting for the starter’s gun to begin offering sports betting now that the state Legislature has approved a bill to legalize it.

All eyes were on Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday, immediately after the state Assembly and Senate unanimously passed a bill to allow sports betting three weeks after winning a U.S. Supreme Court case that cleared the way for them and all other states to do so.

Casinos and racetracks itched to begin taking bets on baseball, basketball, soccer and other sports. But the Democratic governor would not signal whether he would sign the bill – or even when he might decide.

”He said he wants to act quickly, but the legislation will be subject to the same thorough review that all legislation sent to him for signature is subject to,” said his spokesman, Dan Bryan.

While some top lawmakers said they expected Monmouth Park, a racetrack near the Jersey shore in Oceanport, to begin taking bets Friday, others said they expected Murphy to consider the bill during the weekend before acting.

Adding to the confusion was an action the legislators took before approving the bill: They stripped out a provision that would have prohibited any casino or track from beginning to offer sports betting before the bill was signed. Republican state Sen. Declan O’Scanlan said that technically enabled Monmouth to begin taking sports bets right away.

John Heims http://www.coltsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-quenton-nelson-jersey , a spokesman for the track, said it would not take any sports bets Thursday night, adding it ”should know soon when we are starting.” Other first-day movers would likely include Atlantic City’s Borgata casino.

Three weeks ago, New Jersey prevailed in a Supreme Court case that struck down a federal law limiting sports betting to just four states. Now, any state is free to adopt laws legalizing it, and analysts expect most to do so. A report this week by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming predicted that only six states will not have approved sports betting by 2023.

Former state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who led the fight for sports betting for eight years, predicted it will help turn around Atlantic City, where casino gambling had been in decline. The state’s casinos and racetracks would be able to offer sports betting once the governor signs the bill.

”Today is the day that New Jersey gets the same benefits that Las Vegas does,” he said. ”During the Super Bowl or the NACC Tournament http://www.texansauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jordan-akins-jersey , in Las Vegas you can’t get a hotel room and Atlantic City is a ghost town. This will change that.”

Three of the professional sports leagues were not happy over the lack of ”integrity fee” payments they say would help them police betting patterns and called for better information sharing. In a joint statement, Major League Baseball, the NBA and the PGA Golf Tournament called on Murphy to ”fix” the bill before acting on it.

”The legislation does not include basic protections to mitigate risks to the integrity of sports and to ensure fairness for New Jersey consumers,” they said. ”The bill allows for the creation of non-transparent betting markets that deny sports leagues critical tools to monitor betting activity and conduct integrity investigations. Additionally, the bill does not require casinos or the regulator to notify sports leagues of potential match fixing or other improper conduct.”

The bill would allow Atlantic City casinos and racetracks, including Monmouth, the Meadowlands and Freehold Raceway, to offer sports betting. A provision also would allow it at the former Atlantic City Race Course if that facility were to reopen.

The bill sets the tax rate for casinos at 8.5 percent, with an additional 1.25 percent payment to help market Atlantic City. The 1.25 percent add-on fee for tracks would be split among the host community and the county in which the track operates. Internet bets would be taxed at 13 percent.

Internet betting would begin 30 days after the rest of the law takes effect.

The bill also clears away obstacles for any of Atlantic City’s casinos to offer sports betting, adding clauses to allow the Borgata Authentic Rasmus Dahlin Jersey , Caesars, Harrah’s, Bally’s and the Golden Nugget to offer sports bets despite ownership or partial ownership of professional sports teams.

A last-minute change allowed the Golden Nugget to take sports bets, despite the fact that its owner, Texas Billionaire Tilman Fertitta, also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets. The bill previously shut the Golden Nugget out of sports betting, but a change allowed it to offer bets on sports other than basketball.

Fertitta thanked New Jersey for making the change and said he eventually hopes to convince state regulators to let the Golden Nugget take bets on basketball teams other than the Rockets, as Nevada regulators allow.

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