What's going on with the XFL?

The XFL. Officially, the X stands for XTREME, but for some (myself included), the X stands for XCITEMENT! Unfortunately, when that XCITEMENT didn’t last long when the league re-launched in 2020(the XFL was also a thing in 2001 apparently), as the COVID-19 pandemic cut their inaugural season short. Shortly after the season was canceled, the league suspended all operations and terminated all of its employees. The league then filed for bankruptcy and quickly put itself up for sale. Initially the plan was for the league be sold via an auction, but a multi-million dollar deal was made before things could get that far.

Enter former pro-wrestler turned actor and all around cool guy, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Hours before the auction was scheduled to take place, Johnson and a small group of investors purchased the league for $15 million. The Rock has since essentially been the face of the XFL, promising to bring back the league. There were talks about a potential partnership or collaboration with the CFL, but apparently those talks went nowhere. What we do know is the league is scheduled to re-launch (third times a charm?) sometime in 2023 (this was pushed back a year from 2022.

The 2020 season began the week after the Super Bowl in February, so it’s safe to assume that the 2023 season will begin around the same time. However, no definitive date has been set as of this writing. Part of the reason is that the pandemic hasn’t showed too many signs of slowing down, and it appears the league would rather play it safe and plan properly.

The league launched with 8 teams. Those teams are the Dallas Renegades, DC Defenders, LA Wildcats, New York Guardians, St. Louis BATTLEHAWKS (my personal favourite name of the bunch), Seattle Dragons, and Tampa Bay VipersWhile it’s safe to assume those teams will remain, no official announcement has been made. In a statement released on October 1st, the league said, “The new ownership group and league executives are in the process of finalizing next steps for the relaunch with more details to be shared in the coming weeks and months." So there doesn’t seem to be guarantee that any of those teams make a return when the re-launch happens. The XFL did remove the "Teams" section from its website, so it's possible the new ownership is considering other locations outside of those original 8.

It’s too bad that the league shut down when it did, because they actually had some momentum this time. The games were fairly entertaining, thanks in part to some wacky new rule changes. Attendance looked to be holding relatively steady as well, while TV viewership fluctuated at times. Regardless, I for one hope for the league to have success, because let’s be honest we could all use a little XCITEMENT in football. Until then, long live the XFL.