The XFL is set to return in 2020, and now the reimagined football league has announced cities and stadiums for all eight of their teams.
The announcement was made today by Alpha Entertainment Founder Vince McMahon and XFL CEO and Commissioner Oliver Luck at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Like the upcoming Alliance of American Football league, the XFL will also begin the week after the Super Bowl, except one season later in 2020.
“Kickoff is going to be February 8th and 9th, that weekend following the Super Bowl of 2020,” McMahon said. “We’re really looking forward, once again, to establishing a very exciting innovative form of football like, frankly, we’ve never seen before.”
Before officially announcing the inaugural cities, Oliver Luck answered the question of “what is football reimagined?”
“It’s a game that’s fast-paced, high octane, up-tempo, with a great rhythm, a great flow, with fewer stoppages in play, ” Luck said. “Or, as you may have heard us say, ‘less stall and more ball.'”
Later, the eight cities were announced one-by-one with a representative from each city and venue. Below are the eight cities that will have XFL teams for the inaugural 2020 season:
Dallas
The Dallas XFL team will play at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The stadium opened in 1994 and is the home of Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers.
Globe Life Park has a seating capacity of 48,114.
Houston
The Houston XFL team will compete at TDECU Stadium, the home of the University of Houston Cougars football.
TDECU Stadium seats 40,000 plus has some standing room only availability.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles’ newest professional football team will play at StubHub Center, which is the home of the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer. It’s also the temporary home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.
StubHub Center current has a seating capacity of 27,000 and has a planned future capacity of 30,000.
New York
The New York XFL team will play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, currently the home of the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets.
MetLife Stadium, built in 2010, has a seating capacity of 82,500.
St. Louis
Professional football returns to St. Louis in 2020, five seasons after the Rams left for Los Angeles. The XFL team will play in the same venue, now named The Dome at America’s Center.
The Dome can be set up in multiple configurations with a seating capacity of 66,965.
Seattle
Seattle’s XFL team will play at CenturyLink Field, which is the home of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.
“The Clink” seats 69,000 for NFL games and is expandable to 72,000. The XFL seating will likely be similar to the MLS setup, which seats 39,419.
Tampa Bay
The Tampa Bay XFL team will play at the home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the University of South Florida Bulls football, Raymond James Stadium.
“Ray Jay” seats 65,618 and is expandable up to 75,000.
Washington, DC
The eighth and final inaugural XFL city is Washington, DC, or simply “DC.” The DC XFL team will play at the brand-new Audi Field, the home of Major League Soccer’s DC United.
Audi Field has a seating capacity of 20,000.
Schedules for all eight XFL teams will be added to the site once they are officially announced by the league.
Looks like XFL went after MAJOR CITIES for teams which is understandable but since B’ham was not one of them & even though I live in the Tampa area, I will probably not be a fan, not that it means anything in anyway or going to hurt the XFL at all. Good luck to them & I will keep up with them, thaks for adding this league to this site, yu guys do a great job on here.
Clever Vince. No overlap with AAF locations.
Interesting to see these two new leagues and how they place their teams.
When pro football was just beginning, the teams were based across the Northeast and Midwest where the sport was most popular. Now, outside of New York and St. Louis, both in the XFL, there are no teams in those areas. That’s interesting, I think and shows how the population of the nation has changed over the last 120 years or so and how thew popularity of the sport has changed as well.
I think the AAF has done things well up to now and the XFL is smart to try to build in areas where they won’t directly compete with the other league. The AAF completely blocked them across the South by scooping up Atlanta, Memphis and Birmingham.
I’m sure the XFL pivoted once the AAF released their teams, but I really don’t agree with placing these in cities with NFL teams and in mostly NFL arenas. I think the soccer/college locations are great – nice and compact. I would’ve gone Portland, Louisville, San Jose, Columbus, Oklahoma City, Las Vegas, Virginia, and Austin.
Good list except Vegas will be getting the Raiders. But hey, it’s Vegas so XFL might could still do good there.
Not to mention that Vegas was an original XFL city, which they’ve also seemed to shy away from. I did think of that but Vegas is such a tourist city you constantly have an influx of potential new customers so I think it could work.
Dumb! Should have put teams in new cities!