Facts and information about the XFL

The XFL was a professional football league that ran in the spring of 2001. Started by World Wrestling Entertainment’s Vince McMahon to be an alternative to what he described as the overly strict NFL, the XFL had different rules that would loosen the game up and give it more “attitude”. McMahon and the XFL, along with their partner NBC, stated that they never intended to compete with the NFL, merely to compliment the older league during the time of the year when there was virtually no televised football.

The XFL consisted of eight teams:

Los Angeles Extreme (Champions)

Memphis Maniaxx

New York/New Jersey Hitmen

Las Vegas Outlaws

Orlando Rage

Chicago Enforcers

Birmingham Thunderbolts

San Francisco Demons

• One of the features that made this league different is that the individual franchises were not owned by separate owners; all teams were owned and operated to some extent by the league itself.

• The Los Angeles Extreme won the only XFL Championship (2001)

• There was no coin toss to start the game, one player from each team would “scramble” for the ball and whoever got it first could choose to kick or receive.

• All the teams were owned by the league, not individual owners.

• The pay scale was as follows: Quarterbacks received $5,000 per game, Kickers and Punters received $3,500 per game, all other positions received $4,000 per game.

• There were no extra point kicks after Touchdowns, teams would line up and have to run an offensive play to get the extra point. This was later changed to the scoring team could choose to go for two points, or even three points, by trying the extra point play from farther back.

• Sideline reporters were allowed to interview players and coaches as the game was going on.

• The Las Vegas Outlaws beat the New York/New Jersey Hitmen 19-0 in the first XFL game ever played.

• Punts were considered live balls, similar to kickoffs, and could be recovered by the punting team.

• Games were broadcast on the NBC, TNN, and UPN networks.

• The league was co-owned by the NBC Television network.

• The television announcers for XFL games included: Matt Vasgersian, Jesse Ventura (who was Governor of Minnesota at the time), Fred Roggin, Jerry “the King” Lawler, Jim Ross, Mike Adamle, Jonathan Coachman, Dick Butkis, Kip Lewis, Craig Minervini, Bob Golic, Brian Bosworth, Michael Barkann, Chris Marlowe, and Chris Wragge.

• The league allowed players, and even encouraged them, to put nicknames or other messages on the backs of their jerseys instead of their names.

• Celebrity personality “Super” Dave Osborne did radio broadcasts for the Los Angeles Extreme.

• Though it was professional football, ESPN, CNN, and most newspapers did not report the scores.

• The original play that Vince McMahon had was to purchase the floundering Canadian Football League, when those talks fell through he started the XFL with NBC.
• The XFL had no extra point kick and Kickers made the smallest amount of money. Ironically, it was Los Angeles XTreme Kicker Jose Cortez who would win the Most Valuable Player Award for the Championship Game.