New league introduced for football

XFL football league begins early 2020

Kaylee Karll, Reporter|March 29, 2020

The Battlehawks, St. Louis, Missouri’s XFL team, plays their games at the Dome at America’s Center. “It is a really fun league and is a great filler while the NFL and college seasons are in their off-seasons,” sophomore Camden Millheiser said. “I am also very glad that they brought football back to St. Louis where it belongs.” The Dome is where former St. Louis NFL team, the Rams, used to play before they moved to Los Angeles.

The XFL is a form of a professional American football league which is owned by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment. This league was founded in 2018 but didn’t begin until February of 2020. The league consists of eight teams that are divided equally into two divisions: East and West. The president of the XFL is Jeffrey Pollack, and the CEO is Oliver Luck.

“The main reason the XFL started was to lengthen the time people could watch football,” sophomore Hayden Thiemann said. “It’s America’s favorite sport, so three more months of games are sure to excite viewers.”

The XFL takes place while the NFL and college leagues are in their off-season, though this season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the exception of a couple, these three leagues have almost all the same rules, despite the rules added to the XFL to make the game slightly more entertaining.

“In the XFL when the kicker kicks it, the defense can’t run to tackle the ball carrier until he catches it and starts running,” sophomore Camden Millheiser said, “where the NFL can start running as soon as it’s kicked.”

Aside from rules, the XFL is also far different in terms of pay. The average NFL player gets paid $860,000 yearly whereas the average XFL player only gets paid $55,000. Although this difference may seem like a lot for two different national football leagues, some agree this pay is very fair for the XFL being so new.

“Although the players are phenomenal athletes that draw in big crowds, they haven’t earned the same pay as NFL players yet,” Thiemann said. “The XFL is a much smaller league with far less revenue generated throughout the season, so it’s unrealistic for the players to get similar contracts.”

Despite the controversy among each leagues pay, many are still satisfied with the league and the fact that there’s now higher levels of football in places it wasn’t in before.

“It [XFL] also provides an opportunity for cities who don’t have an NFL team to experience football for the first time or again,” Millheiser said.

All in all, the XFL has been a great way to keep football going throughout the year while producing a more interesting, fun-fill game.

“The league is doing a lot of things right when it comes to giving the fans what they want,” Thiemann said. “They’re changing the game while staying true to what makes football great.”