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Because the NFL season involves an finish, all eyes now flip to the subsequent skilled soccer league set to kick off, the XFL. On this third iteration of the league, what number of XFL groups are there going to be? What does the schedule appear like with a really totally different pool of groups, and can the league contemplate including extra if this model proves to achieve success?
How Many XFL Groups Are There?
There are eight complete XFL groups for the inaugural 2023 season.
The XFL groups are:
- Arlington Renegades
- DC Defenders
- Houston Roughnecks
- Orlando Guardians
- San Antonio Brahmas
- Seattle Sea Dragons
- St. Louis Battlehawks
- Vegas Vipers
The eight groups that will likely be enjoying this season have been all part of the 2020 relaunch. New York, Tampa Bay, and Los Angeles additionally had XFL groups that 12 months, however they won’t be part of this 12 months’s league. They have been changed by San Antonio, Las Vegas, and Orlando.
Will the XFL Add Extra Groups within the Future?
Earlier than waiting for what the league can do by way of enlargement sooner or later, they might want to efficiently full a full season. In 2020, the XFL solely performed 5 video games till they wanted to close down because of COVID-19. Though that wasn’t essentially the league’s fault, the numbers weren’t precisely blowing anybody out of the water earlier than the shutdown.
Nevertheless, one signal of hope must be the success that one other spring league discovered final 12 months within the USFL. Once more, the numbers paled compared to the NFL, however the league nonetheless managed to finish a full season, usher in file numbers by way of rankings, and develop a fairly substantial on-line fan base.
If that’s one thing the USFL can do, the XFL ought to have the ability to do the identical. Plus, with the star energy of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on the helm, XFL groups ought to have the ability to depend on some further help from some big-name celebrities.
MORE: 2023 XFL Schedule: Dates, Start Times for Week 1-10 Schedule
So, if the league is successful they usually resolve to proceed previous 2023, might enlargement be on the desk? Completely. Eight groups can not actually be sufficient to outlive long run.
With no precise discussions round enlargement presently happening, we will solely hypothesize as to the place the XFL would possibly look so as to add extra groups. One clue that may assist information is the emergence of sports activities playing. For another soccer league to succeed, they’re going to have to embrace one of many largest markets within the sport proper now.
The NFL fought it for so long as they may, however even they’ve hopped onto the sports activities betting practice. Some markets which have not too long ago legalized sports activities playing, like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, might all be prime sports activities for XFL groups. With Ohio and New Hampshire additionally legalizing sports activities betting, there are many alternatives so as to add groups in these states.
If the XFL actually needs to faucet into a brand new market and disrupt, why not look so as to add a group in Canada? Locations like Montreal, Quebec, or Toronto, Ontario, are shut sufficient to the border to make journey simpler on the remainder of the league and will create followers in a wholly totally different nation. With the Canadian Soccer League the one actual competitor in Canada, the XFL might simply take a few of that market share.
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