Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

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MikeMitchell
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Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by MikeMitchell »

Someone sent me this proposed schedule. I though that I would post it here for review. This is obviously not official and we still don't know who the XFL's TV partners are going to be, and we don't even know if the league is going to do an afternoon/primetime split for all weekly games. I have tweaked the original that was sent to me because there were some errors. There are always some issues with 8 team leagues. Teams being on the road for an extended time or playing a division opponent twice in 3 or 4 weeks.

The proposed schedule is pretty good. It takes into account early season weather and books division matchups for the end of the season. I like the Dallas-Houston games bookending the season. There's even accounting for WrestleMania being at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday April 5th, which obviously would necessitate Tampa being on the road that weekend. Looks like Bob Stoops and Dallas are getting a lot prime time games with this proposed schedule.

I think that when The XFL announces their TV deal. They should release the schedule at the same time and immediately put tickets on sale. Get a 9 or 10 month jump on filling these stadiums.

XFL 2020 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

*WEEK 1*

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 8TH

NEW YORK AT ST. LOUIS (ABC)
WASHINGTON AT TAMPA BAY(ABC) (BACKUP GAME FOR PREMIERE)

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 9TH

SEATTLE AT LOS ANGELES(ESPN)
HOUSTON AT DALLAS (FOX)

*WEEK 2*

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15TH
TAMPA BAY AT HOUSTON (ESPN)
WASHINGTON AT DALLAS (ABC)

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16TH
ST. LOUIS AT SEATTLE (FS1)
NEW YORK AT LOS ANGELES (FOX)

*WEEK 3*

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 22ND
HOUSTON AT SEATTLE (ESPN)
LOS ANGELES AT WASHINGTON (ABC)

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 23RD
ST. LOUIS AT TAMPA BAY (FS1)
DALLLAS AT NEW YORK (FOX)

*WEEK 4*

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 29TH
TAMPA BAY AT DALLAS (ESPN)
LOS ANGELES AT HOUSTON (ABC)

SUNDAY MARCH 1ST
SEATTLE AT WASHINGTON (FS1)
ST. LOUIS AT NEW YORK (FOX)

*WEEK 5*

SATURDAY MARCH 7TH
TAMPA BAY AT WASHINGTON (ESPN)
HOUSTON AT NEW YORK (ABC)

SUNDAY MARCH 8TH
ST. LOUIS AT LOS ANGELES (FS1)
DALLAS AT SEATTLE (FOX)

*WEEK 6*

SATURDAY MARCH 14TH

NEW YORK AT WASHINGTON (ESPN)
HOUSTON AT ST. LOUIS (ABC)

SUNDAY MARCH 15TH
SEATTLE AT TAMPA BAY (FS1)
DALLAS AT LOS ANGELES (FOX)

*WEEK 7*

SATURDAY MARCH 21ST
TAMPA BAY AT NEW YORK (ESPN)
SEATTLE AT DALLAS (ABC)

SUNDAY MARCH 22ND
ST. LOUIS AT WASHINGTON (FS1)
HOUSTON AT LOS ANGELES (FOX)

*WEEK 8*

SATURDAY MARCH 28TH
LOS ANGELES AT TAMPA BAY (ESPN)
DALLAS AT ST. LOUIS (ABC)

SUNDAY MARCH 29TH
WASHINGTON AT HOUSTON (FS1)
NEW YORK AT SEATTLE (FOX)

*WEEK 9*

SATURDAY APRIL 4TH
TAMPA BAY AT ST.LOUIS (ESPN) (WRESTLEMANIA 4/5 IN TAMPA)
WASHINGTON AT NEW YORK (ABC)

SUNDAY APRIL 5TH
SEATTLE AT HOUSTON (FS1)
LOS ANGELES AT DALLAS (FOX)

*WEEK 10*
SATURDAY APRIL 11TH
WASHINGTON AT ST.LOUIS (ESPN)
NEW YORK AT TAMPA BAY (ABC)

SUNDAY APRIL 12TH
LOS ANGELES AT SEATTLE (FS1)
DALLAS AT HOUSTON (FOX)

CONFERENCE ROUND PLAYOFFS

SATURDAY APRIL 18TH
EASTERN DIVISION WINNER VS EASTERN WILDCARD (ABC) 8PM

SUNDAY APRIL 19TH
WESTERN DIVISION WINNER VS WESTERN WILDCARD (FOX) 8PM

XFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
SUNDAY APRIL 26TH
EASTERN CHAMP VS WESTERN CHAMP (FOX) 7:30PM

Last edited by MikeMitchell on Wed Mar 06, 2019 1:12 pm, edited 3 times in total.
MikeSherman
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

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I posted this in the Tampa Bay forum, but I think it's worth exploring playing Week 9 at Tropicana Field on Saturday afternoon and soaking up the WWE fans coming in for Wrestlemania.

I also think the XFL would be very wise to push for traditional broadcasting slots. Noon and 3:30 on Saturdays; 1 and 4:15 on Sundays. Work with the existing habits of football fans.
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MikeMitchell
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by MikeMitchell »

MikeSherman wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:01 pm I posted this in the Tampa Bay forum, but I think it's worth exploring playing Week 9 at Tropicana Field on Saturday afternoon and soaking up the WWE fans coming in for Wrestlemania.

I also think the XFL would be very wise to push for traditional broadcasting slots. Noon and 3:30 on Saturdays; 1 and 4:15 on Sundays. Work with the existing habits of football fans.
Tropicana is probably not a venue the league would consider. Playing Saturday at Raymond James is possible but The only thing with setting up Tampa to play in week 9 on Saturday before WrestleMania is the elaborate staging. The WWE tends to take over a venue for a few days just to construct their massive stage sets and then they go through reversals usually a couple of days before their grand event.

As for the timing of the XFL games. It’s possible that the league avoids having all of their games in prime time. It’s possible that the league follows a Saturday and Sunday afternoon model similar to most college and NFL games, with only a few prime time tilts during the season.

One of the things that the AAF got right, almost by default is having only their first game in prime time on network tv. The number would certainly have gone down considerably if they were on CBS again in week 2. From a perception and optical standpoint. Having 400 thousand viewers on cable is not considered a failure. Even in today’s television landscape, 500 thousand viewers on a Sunday night Fox broadcast in week 4 won’t come off as well.

One of the kinks probably being ironed out in the XFL tv deal is probably production costs and scheduling. Maneuvering around these networks other broadcast properties. For example if the XFL is with Fox, It’s possible that some of these games air on FS2 rather than FS1. Depending on what else the network is contracted to air. The same could be conceived with ESPN.
Last edited by MikeMitchell on Mon Mar 04, 2019 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by GDAWG »

MikeSherman wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:01 pm I posted this in the Tampa Bay forum, but I think it's worth exploring playing Week 9 at Tropicana Field on Saturday afternoon and soaking up the WWE fans coming in for Wrestlemania.

I also think the XFL would be very wise to push for traditional broadcasting slots. Noon and 3:30 on Saturdays; 1 and 4:15 on Sundays. Work with the existing habits of football fans.
Why in the world would XFL Tampa want to play in that crap hole of a stadium?
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MikeMitchell
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by MikeMitchell »

youngorst wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:46 pm Zero percent chance a Sunday night game will be on Fox.

They aren't going to pre-empt their primetime line up on a Sunday for the XFL.

It is far more likely that a Sunday night game will be on ESPN with the "over the air" games being during the daytime window. I could see a network putting the XFL on Saturday night but seriously doubt a Sunday night game will be on a network.
It’s a good point. It could be flipped around with ABC/ESPN doing Sundays. I think it’s most likely that there will be only 1 broadcast tv network prime time game every week. Saturday seems most realistic.

I do think that there will be games during the season and in the playoffs that get the prime time treatment on broadcast tv.
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by Tank55 »

Tampa Bay Times says Thursdays are on the table:
The XFL, which is backed by World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon, is set to kick off the weekend of Feb. 8, one week after Super Bowl LIV. The Tampa Bay team, which does not yet have a name, will play its home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Games will be played on Saturdays, Sundays and possibly Thursdays.
https://www.tampabay.com/sports/2019/03 ... -bay-team/

That's probably still too tight for Wrestlemania weekend though.
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MikeMitchell
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by MikeMitchell »

Tank55 wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:09 pm Tampa Bay Times says Thursdays are on the table:
The XFL, which is backed by World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon, is set to kick off the weekend of Feb. 8, one week after Super Bowl LIV. The Tampa Bay team, which does not yet have a name, will play its home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Games will be played on Saturdays, Sundays and possibly Thursdays.
https://www.tampabay.com/sports/2019/03 ... -bay-team/

That's probably still too tight for Wrestlemania weekend though.
That's cool. I really like the idea of playing a Thursday night game. Specifically for the league's opening game, and maybe the championship game. I like the idea of the XFL having a full audience to themselves for the opening game.

Either kick it off in St.Louis, or in Dallas, or have Bob Stoops and Dallas playing at St.Louis in week one. The Stoops game and St.Louis game in week one may very well get primetime treatment.
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by Firecop »

Why would Seattle only have 4 home games?
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by Joker »

Firecop wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:51 pm Why would Seattle only have 4 home games?
Because St. Louis has six. :D
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MikeMitchell
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Re: Proposed XFL 2020 Schedule

Post by MikeMitchell »

Firecop wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:51 pm Why would Seattle only have 4 home games?
Good spot. Not my schedule but I suppose that these are hard to do. That week 2 game between Seattle and STL would have to be at Century Link
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