With the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the San Francisco 49ers to lift the Lombardi trophy, fans around the world saw the end to the 2019-2020 National Football League (NFL) season. Like every year after the Super Bowl, fans anxiously wait for football to return in the fall as their desire to watch the sport grows each day. This was the case until the announcement that the XFL would be returning in February, the weekend after the Super Bowl.
What is the XFL?
The XFL was originally founded in 1999 by Vince McMahon, CEO of professional wrestling company WWE, to compete against the NFL. NBC partnered with McMahon to help fund and broadcast games on their network. McMahon intended to use aspects from professional wrestling and incorporate it into professional football. The XFL’s inaugural season began in 2001 and would only last one season due to injuries, lack of talent and poor funding.
The season would start after the Super Bowl to capitalize on fan’s desire to watch more football and was promoted to have fewer rules to encourage more physicality. The league is comprised of eight teams in two divisions: Birmingham, Las Vegas, Memphis, Orlando, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The XFL originally failed due to NBC pulling out because of poor ratings in the first season. Fans lost interest in the XFL because the quality of play was lower than the NFL.
What’s different with the XFL in 2020?
The league will follow the same structure that it did in 2001 with eight teams split into two divisions. They will compete in a ten-game season with a two-week postseason. In the reincarnation of the league, it will not follow the professional wrestling elements that it did before, instead it will promote a faster play than the NFL. The rebooted XFL also has a majority of teams in new cities under new management.
The Western Conference consists of the Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats and Seattle Dragons while the Eastern Conference consists of the DC Defenders, New York Guardians, St. Louis BattleHawks and Tampa Bay Vipers. Oliver Luck, father of former NFL quarterback Andrew Luck’s was named commissioner of the XFL and has implemented different rules than the NFL. The XFL draft has held in October and training camp was held in November.
The rule changes that differ from the NFL
The XFL has confirmed rule changes to kickoffs, punts, points after touchdown, double-forward pass, overtime, clock changes and officiating changes. These rules are official and were released on Jan. 7 with the official rulebook.
The kickoff will be from the kicking team’s 25-yard line, but members of the kicking team excluding the kicker will line up at the 35-yard line. Two different types of touchbacks will be used, major and minor. A major touchback occurs when a kick travels into the endzone in the air, while a minor touchback occurs when the ball bounces into the endzone. Major touchbacks will have the opposing team start at their 35-yard line, while minor touchbacks have them start at their 15-yard line.
For punts, the XFL will not allow gunners. Players on a punting team must remain on or behind the line of scrimmage until the ball is kicked. Punts that go out of bounds will count as touchbacks, and punts have the same touchback rules as kickoffs.
The extra point kick after touchdowns has been replaced with a scrimmage play varying in point value. The scoring team will decide where they choose to take the snap. A two-yard attempt results in one point, five-yard attempts result in two points and ten-yard attempts result in three points.
Teams will be able to attempt two forward passes on a single play as long as the ball does not cross the line of scrimmage. Overtime will be decided by a five-round shootout of two-point conversions. The defense is not able to score, and defensive penalties result in moving the ball to the one-yard line. A second defensive penalty results in a score rewarded to the offensive team. Multiple rounds will be played until a winner can be decided, guaranteeing no game can end in a draw.
The XFL clock changes include the clock running continuously outside of the two-minute warning. Teams are given two time-outs per half instead of three and instant replay reviews will be limited to 60 seconds with no coaches’ challenges allowed.
There will be officiating changes. A specialized ball judge will be added to speed up the placement of the ball, players who commit a foul not serious enough for a penalty flag will sit out for one play and a sky judge will be introduced instead of coaches’ challenges.
Will the XFL succeed this time around?
No one can say for certain that the XFL will succeed, but McMahon has invested in three complete seasons of XFL football. Fans will be able to enjoy football in the winter and spring months as they wait for the fall NFL season.
Armin Mesinovic can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @arminmesinovic