The XFL has revealed the names of the eight franchises set to compete in the latest professional American football league to compete with the NFL.
The XFL is a league - owned by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson - consisting of eight teams located across the United States. The league’s season will run from February to April in order to avoid competing with the NFL for attention and viewership.
The XFL was originally founded by former WWE CEO Vince McMahon in 2001 in order to create a football league with fewer off-field controversies and faster, simpler play compared to the NFL. The XFL failed to live past its first season in 2001, and the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the attempted relaunch in 2020 after only a few weeks of the season, but 2023 will be a new attempt.
On Monday, the XFL formally announced the cities, team names and logo for ahead of the revamped season. The third edition of the spring football league will kick off on February 18 2023 - with eight teams looking to do battle.
The eight franchises for the 2023 XFL season include three teams in Texas - the Arlington Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, and San Antonio Brahmas. There is also the D.C. Defenders, the Orlando Guardians, Seattle Sea Dragons, St. Louis Battlehawks and Vegas Vipers.
The eight coaches are certainly lacking in experience, with celebrated college coach Bob Stoops taking the reins of the Renegades while former Super Bowl champion coach Wade Phillips will lead the Roughnecks. Phillips was the defensive coordinator when Von Miller’s Denver Broncos surged to glory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.
Former NFL cornerback and Pro Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson is the coach of the Vipers, adding another name to the mix as the XFL strives for legitimacy. Two-time Super Bowl champion linebacker Hines Ward has been named the head coach of the Brahmas.
Reggie Barlow, Terrell Buckley, Jim Haslett and Anthony Becht complete the lineup as coaches of the Defenders, Guardians, Sea Dragons, and Battlehawks.
The XFL is back for the third time after failed attempts to get going back in 2001 and 2020. After only five weeks of play in its inaugural 2020 season, the league’s operations came to a close amid the Covid pandemic, with management filing for bankruptcy in April 2020.
In August 2020, world-renowned actor and former pro wrestler Johnson - who has a background in football as he played defensive lineman for the Miami Hurricanes in college - along with ex-wife Dany Garcia led a consortium to purchase the XFL for $15million (£13m).
The XFL will be the third professional league in the US, after the NFL and the United States Football League (USFL). The XFL operates in the winter and early spring months so it will be in action after the end of the NFL's season and before the start of the USFL's.
