Earlier this year, WWE boss VINCE MCMAHON announced that he’s bringing back his failed football league, the XFL, in 2020.  But now, Vince and the NFL are going to have even MORE competition.

A guy named Charlie Ebersol is launching another new league called the Alliance of American Football, and that it’ll arrive sooner than the XFL, on February 9th of next year . . . the week after the Super Bowl.

Interestingly enough, Charlie is the son of Dick Ebersol, who was McMahon’s partner in the original XFL.  And Charlie also directed a documentary on the XFL that aired last year as part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series.

But he’s got some former NFL people working on this new league with him . . . including former NFL general manager Bill Polian.  The player side of the league will be overseen by former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, and the team side will be led by former USC standout and executive J.K. McKay.

Advisers include former NFL players Hines Ward and Justin Tuck.

Charlie believes there’s room for another football league because “millions of Americans” stop watching sports and playing fantasy during the NFL offseason.

And he also says that there’s plenty of talent out there.  Quote, “There are 28,000 Division I football players.  Only 1,700 have NFL jobs.  We’re looking for those Kurt Warners working in grocery stores, and we think we will find them.”

(He didn’t say how he planned to orchestrate the grocery store talent search.)

Here are a few details about this new league . . .

They’re starting with EIGHT teams, and 50-man rosters.  The host cities will be announced in the next three months.  There will be regional drafts that will allow those cities to get familiar players who played at local colleges.

As for the game, there will be no kickoffs . . . the ball will be placed at the 25-yard line.  Play clocks will be 30 seconds . . . and every touchdown will be followed by a two-point conversion.  There will be no TV timeouts and 60% fewer commercials.

Of course, they won’t be a huge presence on TV at the beginning . . . but the first game and the championship game will be on CBS.  All the games will be available to watch on the league’s app, which will also incorporate live fantasy play.