Thursday, December 5, 2024

XFL: 2021 season confirmed, early expansion possible

According to XFL reporter Danny Jones, the 2021 season has not only been confirmed, but we could possibly see an expansion of the league before expected. The opening season of the XFL reboot has been forced to close down early doors, but not for financial reasons, instead due to the COVID-19 crisis currently sweeping the globe.

State of play for XFL 2021

Vince McMahon was reportedly very cautious to shut down the 2020 season, believing it would only validate the opinions of those critics who said the XFL wouldn’t last. As it is, the league will seemingly last until 2021 at least, and we could have more teams.

Yesterday, Danny Jones tweeted that the next season has already become the primary focus of the league officials and teams. As for expansion, Jones told us that the league are thinking of committing to the expansion a year ahead of schedule, and even named the two cities currently being touted for an expansion team.

“As I reported earlier, XFL 2021 has been confirmed & planning has already begun,” tweeted Danny. “Executives are currently looking at/discussing expansion (1 yr early), believing 1 way to keep fans’ interest is to add new teams/cities. Currently, Atlanta & Chicago are the top choices.”

So, Chicago and Atlanta eh?

Well, although I’m a big fan of most Chicago based sports teams and would personally love there to be an XFL team in the city, I can’t help but the think the XFL would be better off looking at bringing a team to a city that currently doesn’t have one.

So far, all but one of the current XFL teams come from cities that also have an NFL team. The St Louis Battlehawks are the only exception to that – and professional football returning to the city has gone down very well, with 30,000 people turning out to support the Battlehawks in their home season opener.

Now, with Atlanta and Chiago both potentially about to gain an XFL franchise, we’ll likely continue to see a lack of will from the fans in cities wherein they already have a football team. For me, they should be looking to bring football to more cities that don’t have it.

A fantastic option for me would have been San Antonio. Last year, the failed AAF brought a team to San Antonio and frankly, they were the only team in the entire league that actually garnered any kind of support.

Ultimately, that proved to be the reason behind the leagues failure, but it also proved that San Antonio has a huge appetite for professional football in the city.

Another option that I’d like to see is San Diego. The residents of San Diego were heartbroken when their NFL team picked up and moved to Los Angeles to play second fiddle to the LA Rams. Currently, the Chargers play their home games at Stub Hub Centre, but there’s regularly far more fans for the visiting team than their own…

If the XFL could bring a team to San Diego, I believe they’d find a lot of luck in finding passionate football fans desperate to see football back in the city. The truth is, the Chargers made a poor decision in moving to LA, and the residents of San Diego deserve a team to support on their own doorstep.

One of the reasons I like the Battlehawks so much is because of the plight the residents have gone through, losing their team. As an Englishman, the concept of your team to just moving to another city is still totally alien to me, and I really feel for the people in those cities who have lost their teams… even Oakland, although not that much.

All-in-all, from a purely selfish standpoint I would like to see a Chicago based XFL team so I can finally put my eggs all in one teams basket. As for the other new team, I’d like to see the XFL move into a city that doesn’t currently have a team – lets bring football to more of the USA.

For more like this, visit our dedicated XFL page which you can find by clicking right here. Meanwhile, follow us on Twitter for coverage of the XFL, NFL and so much more.

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