READ MORE: Check out our 2020 XFL season preview & get the latest XFL tips.
What Is The XFL Schedule?
The 2020 XFL season gets underway on Saturday, February 8 and concludes on Sunday, April 26 with the Championship Game. Each week during the regular season four games will be played, with Saturday hosting two games and Sunday hosting two games through the first eight weeks. Week 9 and Week 10 will feature a Thursday night game, with one game being played on Saturday and two on Sunday. The playoffs will consist of two semi-finals with one game taking place on Saturday, April 18 and one on Sunday, April 19, and the first XFL champions since 2001 will be crowned on Sunday, April 26.
How Can I Watch XFL Games?
Fans in the United States will be able to watch all four games on television each week, with ABC, ESPN, FOX and FS1 airing games throughout the 10-game regular season. The top two teams in each division will make it through to the playoffs with one semi-final game airing on FOX and one on ESPN, and the Championship Game itself will be broadcast live on ESPN on Sunday, April 26.
International fans have not been snubbed though – UK viewers can watch every XFL game live on BT Sport and BT Sport/ESPN, while those of you who do not have a BT Sport subscription can also watch via ESPN Player. ESPN Player is also available across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Who Are The XFL Teams?
When it was announced that the XFL would be returning in 2020 fans wondered if we would see the resurrection of some of the teams that took part in the 2001 league – perhaps the Los Angeles Xtreme would return to defend their title or maybe the Chicago Enforcers would make a comeback? The answer to that question proved to be ‘no’, with the league opting to put teams in six new towns and cities while deciding against using the old monikers for the Los Angeles and New York teams.
These eight teams have been split into two conferences – the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference – with four teams competing in each, and the top two in each conference at the end of the 10-week regular season will then go on to the playoffs.
So who will be competing for the first XFL title in almost 20 years? The folks from the ‘This Is The XFL Show’ podcast (@XFLShow) have taken a look at each of the eight teams…
Dallas Renegades
DC Defenders
Houston Roughnecks
Los Angeles Wildcats
New York Guardians
Seattle Dragons
St Louis BattleHawks
Tampa Bay Vipers
What Are The XFL Rules?
When Vince McMahon first launched the XFL back in 2001 he promised to bring fun and smashmouth football back, but instead we ended up with a bunch of convoluted rules that were soon scrapped and a replacement for the coin toss (the scramble for the football) that did more harm than good.
So have the XFL learned their lesson? With the help of former NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino, XFL officials have made some innovative changes to the rules you see each week in the National Football League, including three-point conversions and a new shootout approach to overtime that prevents ‘unfair’ overtime losses like the ones seen in the NFL.
Here is a full rundown of the rule set for the 2020 XFL season…
