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The third time’s the charm so they say. Well, the Xtreme Football League (XFL) is launching today for the third time.
After failing in 2001 (read more here) and again in 2020 (read more again here), the XFL is back for another try at becoming a legit spring football league.
XFL primer: How did we get to XFL 3.0?
I’ll try to keep this short and sweet, but the XFL’s history is nothing short of incredible when you look at how we got to the formation of XFL 3.0.
XFL 1.0 was the brainchild of WWE owner Vincent Kennedy McMahon and kicked off in 2001. A host of truly awful decisions, an even more awful product (mixed in with copious amounts of serious injuries to players due to bonehead rules) on the field killed it within one season of its life.
It took McMahon nearly 20 years to revisit the idea and he relaunched XFL 2.0 in 2020. Gone was the leveraging of the WWE’s brand on the football, the brashness and loudmouth style, were replaced with some more professional.
I had high hopes for the league in 2020, but then of course, the pandemic hit and that was really it for the XFL again. No upstart league could survive without ticket sales and shutdowns.
Plot twist of the century comes next in the tale. Just as the XFL 2.0 tried its damndest to stay away from WWE figures, a living legend, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson swoops in to buyout McMahon for the bones of the XFL, with the dream of relaunching it for the third time.
We got to that stage because McMahon placed the league into bankruptcy proceedings. It was later purchased by Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, and RedBird Capital Partners for $15 million on August 3, 2020.
Mixed into the WWE-styled drama, McMahon also fired XFL 2.0’s Commissioner Oliver Luck before the league folded again, citing him for “cause” according to ESPN. A legal drama then played out until June 2022, when Luck and McMahon settled a lawsuit from Luck.
XFL teams, league structure & changes from XFL 2.0
The XFL will consist of a 10-week regular season that will begin with eight teams being split into two divisions – North and South. The top two teams from each division will then compete in semifinal playoff games from April 29-30, leading up to a championship game on May 13.
In the North Division, the D.C. Defenders, Seattle Sea Dragons, St. Louis BattleHawks, and Vegas Vipers compete against each other. In the South Division, the Arlington Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Orlando Guardians, and San Antonio Brahmas face off.
If you remember the Vince McMahon run XFL 2.0 in 2020 (RIP), it consisted of major market franchises. However, this latest version of the XFL changes things up. The league moved its franchises from New York, Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida to Las Vegas, San Antonio and Orlando, Florida, making a total of three changes from 2020.
Some interesting moves also – a complete switch away from major markets like New York and LA, perhaps an indication of how tough the new owners think it would be to make a new team a success in those markets. By contrast, as regular readers of our XFL content will remember, St. Louis’ team from the 2020 season received utter devotion and adulation from the pro-football-starved (and trodden) city. This could be a key learning for the new owners to focus on smaller markets and cities and try to dominate.
In fact, according to ESPN, in 2020, St. Louis had an average of 28,541 fans attend their games, whereas the league average for that year was 18,614, while the lowest-drawing markets were in New York and Los Angeles.
The Hub concept is something that the XFL has been keen to promote from the start also and read more below to find out what it is.
What is the XFL Hub?
In 2023, the XFL will be utilizing a hybrid structure. Training camp began in early January in and around “The XFL Hub” located in Arlington, Texas. See the video below for more insight into what The Hub is.
But in essence, The Hub is the HQ of the XFL and during the season, teams will fly to their respective home markets to play games in a combination of NFL/college stadiums, baseball ballparks, and soccer fields.
It is a bit of a twist on the other upstart league, the USFL’s approach. In 2022, even though the USFL had seven teams with names from around the nation, like the Houston Gamblers and the Michigan Panthers, it played its entire 2022 regular season in Birmingham, Alabama.
The XFL’s approach would seem a more realistic way to actually build a home fan base, while also containing costs of having athletes spread throughout the country, needing the same resources and support.
But, wait, wasn’t the XFL meant to partner with the CFL?
You may remember that the XFL had actually opened talks with the CFL (Canadian Football League) about “collaboration”.
We wrote about it a bit on here and what a merger might look like, but ultimately the full details of what was proposed haven’t come fully to light as of yet but talks broke down in the summer of 2021.
The CFL released the following statement:
“Our talks with the XFL, exploring the potential for collaboration and innovation, have been positive and constructive. While we remain open to finding new ways to work together in the future, we and our XFL counterparts have jointly decided to not pursue any formal arrangements at this time.”
Meanwhile, the XFL said in a statement to Sports Business Journal:
“While our discussions with the CFL did not ultimately lead to a collaboration, the effort reinforced our belief and commitment to developing the XFL for international spring football. We look forward to seeing everyone for kickoff in spring of 2023”
In a really good piece on Canadian Football Chat (see here) they speculated that the key issue at the heart of the breakdown was likely the differences in rules between the CFL and XFL/American football leagues, such as 12 players instead of 11 and the extra ten yards in the endzone in CFL games.
Why did the talks take place though? There are plenty of potential reasons out there, but consider that the CFL canceled its 2020 season due to COVID-19 and lost a “significant” amount of money. Pooling resources between a struggling, but established league in the CFL, with a fledgling and startup league on the surface seems a smart thing to explore.
Ultimately, this could be revisited in future depending on how the leagues fare in the coming years.
Could we see a Grey Cup Championship game (with a history of over 100+ years of being played) becoming the XFL championship game?
Teams, stadiums & coaches
As mentioned there’s been some changes to the teams, and also the coaching staffs. In fact, only Bob Stoops returns as a coach to the league from 2020’s edition. The other head coaches are comprised of a mix of former NFL head coaches and prominent players.
- Arlington: Choctaw Stadium, coach Bob Stoops
- Houston: TDECU Stadium, coach Wade Phillips
- Las Vegas: Cashman Field, coach Rod Woodson
- Orlando: Camping World Stadium, coach Terrell Buckley
- San Antonio: The Alamodome, coach Hines Ward
- Seattle: Lumen Field, coach Jim Haslett
- St. Louis: The Dome, coach Anthony Becht
- Washington D.C.: Audi Field, coach Reggie Barlow
Notable players to keep an eye out for
So, you’re tuning into the XFL, dying to see someone, anyone you recognize beyond the coaches – will you know any players? Yes, you will. Whereas I’d argue much of the USFL had pretty unknown players for the most part, the XFL can call on some players with some decent football fan recognition. Some notable players for XFL 3.0 include:
- Matt Elam, DB, Orlando
- Martavis Bryant, WR, Las Vegas Vipers
- Josh Gordon, WR, Seattle Sea Dragons
- AJ McCarron, QB, St. Louis Battlehawks
But given the XFL’s history to date, you’re more likely to see a few players rise above all others (think PJ Walker in the 2020 season) who will get a chance at an NFL franchise.
How much do XFL players get paid?
In a really good article, Profootballnetwork gave the full details on the salary situation for XFL players:
- $59,000 for base salary
- $5,000 per game salary
- A $1,000 bonus per win
- Players will be released following their team’s final game (late April or early May) if they receive an NFL offer
The base salary is estimated to be over $5,000 more than the XFL’s main rival, the USFL (read more about their history here). Benefits of up to $20,000 per player are also being provided by the XFL (health and dental insurance, house and also food, to the tune of two square meals a day).
To put this into some context, in XFL 2.0 some quarterbacks were paid $500,000, while the minimum salary in 2023 for an NFL player is $750,000.
XFL rules
If you watched XFL 2.0 and liked it, you’ll feel right at home with XFL 3.0. Dean Blandino, the longtime NFL officiating executive who supervised referees for the 2020 XFL, has been hired by V 3.0 as its vice president of officiating and rules innovation.
For the upcoming season, most of the rules from 2020 have been preserved, with a few adjustments. These include:
- At kickoff, the kicking team and the returning team will be spaced five yards apart. This is intended to incentivize returns and discourage touchbacks, as only the kicker and returner can move until the ball is caught or has been on the ground for three seconds. This arrangement resulted in 92% of kickoffs being returned during the XFL season in 2020, compared to the NFL rate of 40%.
- The XFL has also modified the rule regarding fumbles into the end zone. If the ball goes out of bounds without being recovered, it will not be regarded as a touchback. Instead, the offense will keep possession at the point where the fumble occurred.
- Following touchdowns, teams can choose one of three options to play from the scrimmage: a 1-point attempt at the 2-yard line, a 2-point play at the 5, or a 3-point play at the 10.
- There is also a 35-second play clock and the first and second half will be split by a 10-minute halftime
- In the fourth quarter, teams will have the option to attempt an offensive play, instead of an onside kick, needing to pick up 15 yards in order to keep possession of the football after a score.
- Finally, the overtime structure has been reduced to a minimum of three plays from the opponents’ 5-yard line instead of five from 2020’s rulebook. There were no overtime games in the 2020 season.
Check out the official rulebook below of 126 pages!
Broadcast deal
Broadcast is the lifeblood of any successful sports league, no more so when it is a new entity, or in the XFL’s case a relaunching of a relaunching (is that even a thing?!).
Well, it looks like the XFL has delivered the goods in terms of broadcasting, announcing an exclusive multi-year broadcasting agreement with The Walt Disney Company and ESPN from 2023 until 2027.
All 43 games of the season (consisting of 40 regular season games, two playoffs and one championship) will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN networks and FX, as well as exclusive content rights across TWDC and ESPN’s digital, social and direct-to-consumer outlets, including ESPN+.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said of the deal: “This is a definitive moment for the XFL and the beginning of an incredible, long-term partnership for the league, building on my longstanding, very successful legacy relationship I’ve had with Disney throughout my career. Through the combined power of Disney, ESPN and the XFL, together we will create a new powerhouse on the sports calendar and bring a dynamic game of football to fans everywhere.
“Time to ball out.”
Ticket prices & deals
XFL season ticket packages start at $100 in all cities except St. Louis, which will start at $125. Over 60% of individual XFL tickets are priced at $40 or less, with prices ranging between $20-$95 per game.
Benefits of being a Season Ticket Member include: A price lock for the 2023 & 2024 seasons, same seat location for all home games. Priority access to purchase additional seats at Season Ticket Member pricing, priority access to purchase seats for the XFL Playoffs and XFL Championship Game.
Apparel sponsor – Under Armour
As outlined in another Business Of Sport post, Under Armour is the XFL’s official apparel provider and you can pretty much put that down to Dwayne Johnson being involved in the new league.
By contrast, McMahon’s 2020 league had no official provider, making, in my opinion, the league look a bit less professional and polished. With Under Armour on board, it at least gives the XFL some heft in the apparel department. Heck, even the first XFL had Champion sportwear on board!
Check out the designs below.
Can the XFL finally succeed?
I really hope this is the last time we talk about another iteration of the XFL launching.
Genuinely.
Looking from the outside in, it would appear they’ve got it all set up to at least run for a few years to have a chance of successfully becoming an alternative to the NFL and at last a proper spring football league.
The star power of The Rock, the long-term tie-up with ESPN, major apparel providers like Under Armour on board and more, make me think this time will finally be different.
I think the XFL has a lot to offer, including to the NFL as a feeder league/“second chance” league for many players. Also, the football in XFL 2.0 wasn’t even that bad, there were some really good quality games.
So, maybe this time, third time will be the charm.
