XFL: `SmackDown!' dons shoulder pads.(The Orlando Sentinel)

ORLANDO, Fla. _ It's a simple yet overwhelming strategy. The XFL plans to change the way pro football is watched and played.

At least that's the vision of league founder Vince McMahon, the World Wrestling Federation mogul.

McMahon's eight-team league has secured financial backing for the next three years from General Electric, the parent company of NBC. That partnership gives the XFL immediate national exposure to help carry it through the potentially rough early stages.

"In this day in the age of escalating network broadcast fees, it just makes sense for us to share ownership of the league," NBC spokesperson Cameron Blanchard says. "It also ensures us that we'll have 100 percent access (to the league and its players and coaches), which will allow us to bring the game to the fans in a way that has never been done before."

The XFL says it is not a rival league to the NFL. Nor is the XFL a developmental league, such as NFL Europe. At least, not directly. But XFL rosters are littered with former NFL players and those from other pro football outposts such as the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League. And to a man, the players admit to having NFL aspirations.

McMahon's league fancies itself as an alternative to the "No Fun League" by combining a WWF SmackDown! mentality with hard-nosed, physical football. "The NFL has become too conservative, too corporate with too much regulation," McMahon says. "We're bringing back old-fashioned, smash-mouth football, but with cutting-edge marketing and production values."

It's those marketing and production values people wonder about. League officials offer no apologies to critics concerned about the sexual imagery surrounding the XFL. Critics tune into WWF telecasts and note too much foul language and too much skin.