(Fwrd Axis) — The XFL and its partners officially announced San Antonio will be the home for one of eight of their teams. Originally launched after Super Bowl LIV, the league shut down and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to the negative impact of Covid-19. During this time, the XFL was unexpectedly purchased by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his ex-wife and business partner Dany Garcia, and Redbird Capital Partners hours before it was set to go on sale for auction in August 2020.
Announcing the cities welcoming their own XFL teams and head coaches who will lead tomorrow’s game.
Swipe through to see all the teams who will be crossing paths.
XFL Coming Soon. Spring 2023. #XFL2023
— XFL (@XFL2023) July 25, 2022
Sunday, the league announced their 8 team markets and venues. The cities include Arlington, Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando, St. Louis, Seattle, D.C., and San Antonio.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that San Antonio would be a landing spot for the XFL. When the short-lived American Alliance of Football (AAF) hosted the Commanders in San Antonio, the team pulled off record attendance numbers. The San Antonio Commanders boasted the largest attendance records for the AAF. The first home game had an attendance of 27,857. The second home game had an attendance of 29,176, a little over a 4% increase. Their highest attended game had 30,345 fans in their seats. To put those numbers into perspective, the San Antonio Commanders brought in bigger numbers that year than the Stubhub stadium- the former Los Angeles Chargers home that seated a maximum capacity of 27,000.
The XFL announced the head coach of their San Antonio team would be Hines Ward. Ward, a former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and 4-time pro-bowler, is no stranger to San Antonio. Ward previously served as the AAF’s player relations executive, began his coaching career as an offensive coaching intern with the Pittsburgh Steelers, served as an offensive assistant for the New York Jets, working alongside wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson, and was a wide receivers coach for Florida Atlantic University.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg — who has been an advocate for bringing an NFL team to San Antonio — had remarked in regards to how the XFL will not only benefit the city financially but will act as a starting point to bringing an NFL team to the city as well.
“What’s different here, is that not only do you have folks involved who are quite established within the entertainment and sports industry already, but you have an organization that’s going to work in coordination with the NFL,” Nirenberg said. “It’s a job creator, it’s going to put a lot of folks to work…its also going to bring a lot of revenue generation to businesses around the area that are gonna be impacted by fans visiting and by the enjoyment of football.”
The XFL is slated to start the week after the NFL Super Bowl, 2023. Pre-sale tickets are now available on the XFL.com website. Season ticket holders have the benefits of savings off single-game ticket prices, an opportunity to purchase the same seats for playoff games, and 20 percent discounts on merchandise.
