2020 XFL Season Preview

2020 XFL Season Preview

Stephen Bologna, Sports Editor

It’s been 19 years since the alternative professional football league, XFL’s first attempt at success before folding in 2001. But now, with the lead of Vince McMahon and Oliver Luck, the XFL is back and is looking to stay.

There are 8 teams in total spread out all across the country.

Those teams are the New York Guardians, Tampa Bay Vipers, St. Louis Battlehawks, Dallas Renegades, Los Angeles Wildcats, Houston Roughnecks, Seattle Dragons and the DC Defenders.

The league is taking advantage of the ending the National Football League season by beginning its regular-season in early February and running until April 26th.

The XFL is looking to acquire viewers fresh off the NFL season who still crave to watch football, even in the spring.

They are certainly increasing their odds for viewership as they’ve inked TV deals with major stations such as FOX, ABC and ESPN.

As far as who will be on the field representing these teams, the XFL held a draft of a pool of players who are looking for a second chance to get back to the gridiron.

The league is filled with former college football stars and successful NFL players.

The XFL’s branding of their league is centered around their new rule changes.

The league has hopes of speeding up the game and make for a more entertaining watch.

Some of these rule changes include no more extra point after scoring a touchdown. Instead, a team will have the option for a one-point play from the two-yard line, a three-point play from the five-yard line or a five-point play from the 10-yard line.

League President Oliver Luck says this rule was created to generate more comebacks.

Another rule change is that there will be a constant running clock and each team’s play clock will only be 25 seconds, instead of 40 seconds in the NFL.

Overtime rules are completely different as there will be five rounds of plays for each team from the five-yard line.

The team that scores the most in those rounds wins.

They will also be playing with the one-foot inbound on catches rule.

The last rule that will certainly change the game is a double-forward pass.

Teams will need to strategize and be well-prepared on game days because, in the XFL, anything is possible.

This league also gives players another shot to play and potentially punch their ticket back to the NFL. The last football league to make an attempt at giving players this same opportunity was the Alliance of American Football league (AAF), which only lasted 2 months before it was canceled due to lack of money and profit being made.

The one major difference between the AAF and the XFL is Vince McMahon, the billionaire sports entertainer who can fund the league and its players for years to come.

Hoping to draw a big crowd, the XFL will look to revolutionize football in many different ways, but the real question is: how long will it last?