2020 XFL season
The 2020 XFL season was the first season in the reboot of the XFL, and the second in the history of the XFL brand created and owned by professional wrestling magnate Vince McMahon, coming 19 years after the 2001 XFL season.
The season began on February 8, 2020, with the DC Defenders hosting and defeating the Seattle Dragons. The league planned to have a ten-week regular season through April 12, with division championships April 18 and 19, with the XFL Championship scheduled for April 26 in Houston.
In March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the XFL announced that the league would be cancelling the rest of the season, ahead of the league's suspension of operations and bankruptcy filing a month later.
Teams
As with the 2001 XFL, the 2020 XFL operates eight teams, all centrally owned by the league's holding company, Alpha Entertainment LLC, as a single entity. Alpha Entertainment was spun off from WWE to keep the league's finances separate from the professional wrestling enterprise, with McMahon the sole proprietor. Two of the original league's metropolitan areas also received teams in the revival: New York and Los Angeles. All eight teams received new brandings on August 21, 2019: the New York Guardians, DC Defenders, Tampa Bay Vipers, St. Louis BattleHawks, Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Seattle Dragons, and Los Angeles Wildcats.Draft
The 2020 XFL Draft was held October 15 and 16, 2019, via conference call. Seventy-one players were allocated to each team in separate position drafts: one marquee quarterback allocated by the league to each team, ten skill positions, ten offensive linemen, ten defensive linemen and/or linebackers, ten defensive backs, and thirty players of any position. Due to the structure of the draft, there was no true first overall selection. A supplemental draft was held in late November.Season structure
Preseason
Minicamps were held at each team's discretion in December 2019. The Wildcats hosted their minicamp at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas while the Renegades hosted theirs at Arlington High School. The Vipers hosted their minicamp at the renovated Plant City Stadium, which also served as the team's headquarters and practice venue during the season.The XFL held its training camps in Houston, Texas, from January 4–22, 2020. Each team trained at a different stadium in the city, with the hometown Houston Roughnecks using their game stadium, TDECU Stadium. The other seven were as follows:
- Dallas Renegades: Darrell Tully Stadium
- DC Defenders: Rice University Stadium
- LA Wildcats: Alexander Durley Sports Complex
- New York Guardians: Husky Stadium
- St. Louis BattleHawks: W.W. Thorne Stadium
- Seattle Dragons: Delmar Stadium
- Tampa Bay Vipers: George Turner Stadium
Regular season
The league is divided into two divisions, East and West. Each team was given a ten-game schedule with no bye weeks, playing two games against each division rival and one game against each team in the other division.Cancellation
On March 11, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to escalate in major American cities, the state of Washington imposed social distancing measures prohibiting the gathering of 250 or more persons. The league initially stated that a Seattle Dragons game against Los Angeles would be held behind closed doors as scheduled. McMahon was planning on defying a similar guideline issued by New Jersey and going ahead with a game between the Houston Roughnecks and New York Guardians at MetLife Stadium with a full crowd, as New Jersey governor Phil Murphy had not made those guidelines mandatory at the time and the league was expecting a large attendance. The next day, after all of the other prominent team sports leagues announced suspensions or cancellations of their remaining regular season games, further social distancing measures were announced elsewhere and an unnamed Dragons player developed symptoms of the virus, the XFL announced it too would cancel the remainder of their regular season.Playoffs
The playoffs were to feature four teams, two from each division. In contrast to the 2001 XFL, the 2020 XFL would feature two division games, with the top two teams in each division facing off against each other to determine who represents the division in the XFL Championship.On February 13, 2020, the XFL formally announced that the name of the game would be the "XFL Championship" and would be held at TDECU Stadium in Houston, Texas. The league initially had hoped that the social distancing measures would expire later in the season to allow the championship to be held. Any hope of resuming the season ended on April 10 with the league terminating almost all of its remaining employees and suspending operations.
Standings
Season schedule
Regular season
Canceled games
Playoffs
Star of the Week
The Star of the Week is a weekly award given out by the XFL. The XFL selects eight nominees based on who they feel had the best performance, or the performance that had the most impact, of that week in XFL play and the public votes on their choice. The two winners from Saturday and Sunday's polls go against each other, and once again the public votes for the winner.| Week | Player | Position | Team | Ref. |
| Week 1 | P. J. Walker | Quarterback | Houston | |
| Week 2 | Cam Phillips | Wide receiver | Houston | |
| Week 3 | Cam Phillips | Wide receiver | Houston | |
| Week 4 | Jordan Ta'amu | Quarterback | St. Louis | |
| Week 5 | Cam Phillips | Wide receiver | Houston |
Midseason awards
The midseason awards are given out by the XFL at the end of Week 5. These awards are given out first by the league selecting four nominees, and the public votes on who should win. The XFL also selected a mid-season All-XFL Team for the best players at each position.Midseason awards
All-XFL Team
The Houston Roughnecks had the most amount of players on the All-XFL midseason team with 6, with the St. Louis BattleHawks and Dallas Renegades tied for second at four players. The Tampa Bay Vipers had three, and the other four teams with two each.Statistical leaders
XFL to NFL/CFL
After the XFL season was cut short on March 12, 2020, players were allowed to sign with National Football League or Canadian Football League teams beginning on March 22. The following players signed with NFL teams:| Player | Position | XFL team | Date | NFL team | Ref. |
| Deatrick Nichols | CB | Houston Roughnecks | March 24 | New Orleans Saints | |
| P. J. Walker | QB | Houston Roughnecks | March 25 | Carolina Panthers | |
| Khari Lee | TE | DC Defenders | March 25 | Atlanta Falcons | |
| DeMarquis Gates | LB | Houston Roughnecks | March 26 | Minnesota Vikings | |
| Nick Moore | LS | Tampa Bay Vipers | March 26 | Baltimore Ravens | |
| Dewayne Hendrix | DE | St. Louis BattleHawks | March 30 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Tyree Kinnel | S | DC Defenders | March 30 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Christian Kuntz | LS | Dallas Renegades | March 30 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Edmond Robinson | LB | Houston Roughnecks | March 30 | Atlanta Falcons | |
| Jordan Ta'amu | QB | St. Louis BattleHawks | April 2 | Kansas City Chiefs | |
| Saivion Smith | CB | Houston Roughnecks | April 10 | Dallas Cowboys | |
| Saeed Blacknall | WR | Los Angeles Wildcats | April 13 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Cavon Walker | DT | New York Guardians | April 13 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Dravon Askew-Henry | CB | New York Guardians | April 14 | New York Giants | |
| Austin MacGinnis | K | Dallas Renegades | April 14 | Los Angeles Rams | |
| Storm Norton | OT | Los Angeles Wildcats | April 14 | Los Angeles Chargers | |
| Donald Parham | TE | Dallas Renegades | April 14 | Los Angeles Chargers | |
| Anthony Coyle | OT | New York Guardians | April 16 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| John Keenoy | C | Dallas Renegades | April 16 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Arrion Springs | CB | Los Angeles Wildcats | April 16 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Josh Hawkins | CB | Dallas Renegades | April 16 | Atlanta Falcons | |
| Jacques Patrick | RB | Tampa Bay Vipers | April 17 | Cincinnati Bengals | |
| Avery Gennesy | G | Houston Roughnecks | April 17 | Tennessee Titans | |
| Jarron Jones | OT | New York Guardians | April 20 | Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Kahlil McKenzie | G | Los Angeles Wildcats | April 20 | Seattle Seahawks | |
| Colin Thompson | TE | Tampa Bay Vipers | April 27 | Carolina Panthers | |
| Zac Kerin | G | New York Guardians | April 29 | Tennessee Titans | |
| DaVonte Lambert | DE | St. Louis BattleHawks | April 30 | Carolina Panthers | |
| De'Mornay Pierson-El | WR | St. Louis BattleHawks | April 30 | Las Vegas Raiders | |
| Juwann Bushell-Beatty | G | Houston Roughnecks | May 1 | Carolina Panthers | |
| Andrew Soroh | FS | New York Guardians | June 9 | Kansas City Chiefs |
St. Louis BattleHawks safety Kenny Robinson was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, as the only NFL Draft-eligible player who played in the XFL in 2020.
The following players signed with CFL teams:
| Player | Position | XFL team | Date | CFL team | Ref. |
| Armanti Edwards | WR | Dallas Renegades | April 10 | Edmonton Eskimos | |
| Dontez Byrd | WR | Seattle Dragons | April 13 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | |
| Joe Powell | SS | St. Louis BattleHawks | April 13 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | |
| Jalen Saunders | WR | Houston Roughnecks | April 20 | Ottawa Redblacks | |
| Trenton Thompson | DT | Team 9 | April 20 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | |
| Sergio Castillo | K | Houston Roughnecks | April 21 | BC Lions | |
| Ranthony Texada | CB | New York Guardians | May 4 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | |
| A. J. Hendy | SS | New York Guardians | May 4 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | |
| Brandon Wilds | RB | Tampa Bay Vipers | May 7 | Calgary Stampeders | |
| Channing Stribling | CB | Seattle Dragons | May 12 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | |
| Na'Ty Rodgers | OT | Tampa Bay Vipers | May 13 | Ottawa Redblacks | |
| Terrence Alexander | CB | New York Guardians | May 22 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | |
| Doran Grant | CB | DC Defenders | May 28 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | |
| Mekale McKay | WR | New York Guardians | June 11 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | |
| Alonzo Russell | WR | St. Louis BattleHawks | July 3 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers |
Attendance
Announced attendance figures for each home game. In the weekly columns, dashes indicate away games, while bold font indicates the highest attendance of each team.| Team / Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Total | Average |
| Dallas Renegades | 17,206 | — | — | 18,332 | 15,950 | ' | |
| DC Defenders | 17,163 | 15,301 | — | — | 16,342 | ' | |
| Houston Roughnecks | 17,815 | 17,103 | — | — | 19,773 | ' | |
| Los Angeles Wildcats | — | 14,979 | 12,221 | — | 12,181 | ' | |
| New York Guardians | 17,634 | — | — | 12,116 | — | ' | |
| Seattle Dragons | — | 29,172 | 22,060 | — | — | ' | |
| St. Louis BattleHawks | — | — | 29,554 | 27,527 | — | ' | |
| Tampa Bay Vipers | — | — | 18,117 | 12,249 | — | ' | |
| Total | |||||||
| Average |
Broadcasting
This was the first year of a three-year agreement with ESPN Inc. and Fox Corporation to carry all 43 regular season and playoff games.During the regular season, ABC was scheduled to air ten Saturday games, five of them ended up being televised, and four Sunday games, airing only one of the four Sunday games. ESPN was to air five Sunday games, airing only two of them, and ESPN2 was to air two Sunday games, airing only one of the two. Fox was to air seven Saturday games, five of the seven being televised, one Sunday game, which was televised, and two Thursday games, neither being played. Fox’s main cable sports network, FS1, was to air nine Sunday games, with only four being played, and FS2 was to air one Saturday game, which was not played. ESPN and Fox were both scheduled to air one semifinal each, and ESPN was to air the championship game. All three never made the air.
Vegas Stats & Information Network is producing supplemental "BetCasts," focusing on betting, in real-time with game action for two games each week throughout the 2020 season. The BetCasts will be carried on iHeartRadio.
Viewership
In millions of viewers| Broadcaster | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Total | Average |
| ABC | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.5 | ' | |
| ABC | — | 2.4 | — | — | — | ' | |
| ESPN | 2.5 | — | 1.5 | — | 0.8 | ' | |
| ESPN2 | — | — | — | 1.0 | — | ' | |
| Fox | 3.3 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 1.5 | ' | |
| Fox | 3.4 | — | — | — | — | ' | |
| FS1 | — | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.8 | ' | |
| Total | |||||||
| Average | ' |
One decimal place is shown in table but three decimal places are used in all calculations.