XFL Kicks Off on ABC Feb. 8

ABC and ESPN will televise 22 games during the 2020 XFL season, starting with the league’s kickoff Saturday, Feb. 8, when the DC Defenders host the Seattle Dragons. ABC airs that game.

The XFL East features the DC Defenders, New York Guardians, St. Louis BattleHawks and Tampa Bay Vipers. The West has the Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats and Seattle Dragons.

All ABC and ESPN games will be streamed live on the ESPN App.

On February 9, the Dallas Renegades play the St. Louis BattleHawks on ESPN.

ABC will televise 14 games, most starting at 2 p.m. EST on Saturdays. ESPN and

ESPN2 will combine to carry eight games, all on Sundays.

The championship game happens April 26.

Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment is behind the XFL.

The XFL lasted for one season in 2001. It was a joint venture between the WWE and NBC. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.