It’s been a long road for the XFL since it was forced to end the 2020 season just five games in. When COVID struck, it brought the league down with it. Shortly after the season was suspended, Vince McMahon pulled the plug on the project, ultimately filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
After many months of speculation, the XFL was purchased for roughtly $15M in bankruptcy auction by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital.
From there things went dark for quite a bit. Other than the discussions with the CFL, there wasn’t anything of note to come until October of last year. That’s when co-owner Dany Garcia leaked the XFL return schedule, leading to a Feb 23, 2023 return to field.
Although the XFL hasn’t officially annoucned their locations yet, they’re basically all but confirmed. Between leaks online and the XFL Shop acidenally hosting images of the new cities, we’re confident we know where they’ll land.
Many are surprised that the league hasn’t made an announcement yet, but it looks like it may be around the corner.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reports that he expects that the league will not only announce the cities by the end of month, the host venues as well.
Organized all the strands of @XFL2023 news we've collected in the past few months, with a few new nuggets. Expecting to get confirmation of the league's 8 cities, and game venues, by the end of this month. https://t.co/cskmNwpBfl
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) July 15, 2022
As it stands now, here’s what we know about where the XFL will land and who will be running the franchise.
- Houston: Wade Phillips
- Dallas: Bob Stoops
- San Antonio: Hines Ward
- DC: Reggie Barlow
- Seattle: Jim Haslett
- Las Vegas: Rod Woodson
- Orlando: Terrell Buckley
- St. Louis: Anthony Becht
Additionally, it’s been reported that TDECU Stadium in Houston will host the league again in 2023. Beyond that, we expect the St. Louis franchise to return to The Dome and Dallas should land in Choctaw Stadium.
By the end of this month, we should hopefully know the rest.
Where would you like to see the eight XFL teams play in 2023? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.