It’s official. Yesterday, the San Antonio Brahmas were announced as the newly named professional football team representing the Alamo City in the XFL’s 2023 season.
The twice-failed football league, now under the ownership of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and ex-wife Dany Garcia, will make a comeback next spring with eight teams representing select cities across the US.
But what exactly is the the XFL? We’re breaking it down so all you have to worry about is grabbing a ticket.
What does it stand for?
The XFL is a fan-first league looking to raise the excitement level and minimize the downtime with fast-paced football games.
Knowing that the NFL stands for the National Football League, you may already have an idea what the “X” in XFL stands for. Any guesses?
If you were thinking ‘Xtreme, ‘Xciting, or ‘Xclusive, we wouldn’t blame you. But actually, the acronym doesn’t stand for anything at all.
The league’s founder, Vince McMahon, did joke, however, that “The NFL stands for the ‘No Fun League.’ The XFL is going to be the ‘Xtra Fun League.’”
‘Xtreme football rules
While the two leagues are not affiliated with one another, the XFL will collaborate with the NFL to work on changes and enhancements to game rules, officiating, health and player safety, and more.
It is unclear what changes to the rules will come to the new season, but one of the most notable differences to traditional football in the previous season was kickoff. While we could write it all out for you, we think a visual example of what this looked like might do the trick.
More details are set to arrive soon with details on the season’s schedule.
Touchdown
The Brahmas will play home games at the Alamodome, with individual game ticket prices starting at $20. Additionally, the league entered a broadcasting deal with The Walt Disney Co. and ESPN to stream games through the season.
The full list of teams goes as follows:
- Arlington Renegades
- D.C. Defenders
- Houston Roughnecks
- Orlando Guardians
- San Antonio Brahmas
- Seattle Sea Dragons
- St. Louis Battlehawks
- Vegas Vipers
ESPN reports that a player draft is scheduled for next month, with the season kicking off on Sat., Feb. 18.
