The XFL is returning to rewrite their wrongs from 2001. While the relaunch has been slow and steady, many wondered if securing a television deal would take a lot of time. Luckily that’s no longer a problem or an issue. The XFL reached multiyear agreements with ESPN and Fox Sports on Monday to broadcast its games beginning in 2020. The league also announced its season will start Feb. 8, the weekend after the NFL season ends with the Super Bowl.
The #XFL has four new homes.
Announcing our #XFL2020 broadcast partners:@ABCNetwork, @ESPN, @FoxSports & @FS1 ?
More info at https://t.co/hAlDLJuvRV. pic.twitter.com/YmBPhkTez5
— XFL (@xfl2020) May 6, 2019
ABC will broadcast the league’s first game and Fox will have games on Saturday and Sunday during the XFL’s opening weekend. ESPN will show the championship game April 26.
The eight-team league has set its schedule with most games on Saturday and Sunday airing back-to-back. The final two weeks will have a Thursday night game on Fox.
“The technical innovations with cameras, data and player tracking are extremely interesting,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive vice President of programming. “We all share a vision for spring football and Vince has made it clear that with this version he is dropping hokey but not dropping the creativity.”
This is the second time Vince McMahon has launched a football league. The first version of the XFL – a joint venture of WWE and NBC – lasted one season in 2001.
The XFL has established teams in most of the country’s major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Houston and Washington D.C. With the new television deals in place, the returning league can focus on delivering the perfect alternative football to the NFL, and position themselves to some day become the NFL’s rival league.
