The season began on February 8, 2020, with the DC Defenders hosting and defeating the Seattle Dragons.

Alpha Entertainment was established in order to keep the league's management and operations separate from that of WWE.

[11] The XFL's decision to nix cheerleaders is in part due to changing attitudes regarding women's participation in entertaining sports fans.

John Shumway from KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh and local media from Orlando and San Diego both inquired about potential teams in their respective cities, but McMahon (while stating that "I love Pittsburgh") declined to name any cities for teams.

Alpha Entertainment was spun off from WWE to keep the league's finances separate from the publicly traded professional wrestling enterprise, with McMahon the sole proprietor.

Commissioner Oliver Luck announced the eight host cities and stadiums for the first franchises on December 5, 2018, and also announced the starting date of February 8, 2020, the weekend after Super Bowl LIV,[15] as the league chose to focus on placing teams in large media markets, selecting five of the top seven largest media markets in the U.S.; based on 2017 census bureau estimates, all eight XFL markets have over 2.9 million residents each (the smallest being St.

[16] This was seen as a stark contrast to the other emerging spring football league, the Alliance of American Football, which primarily chose markets without NFL teams, seen as a decision to avoid competing with existing fan bases; three of the AAF's markets (Birmingham, Memphis, and Salt Lake, the first two of which had teams in the first XFL) had populations less than half that of St.

[18] 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.

[19] Names and logos for the XFL teams were to be revealed in early June but were delayed over two months from that date.

The XFL has a target stadium size of 30,000 seats, so that in the event of playoff games, the upper decks can be opened to increase capacity.

The team shared practice facilities and support staff with the Dallas Renegades but maintained its own coaching staff; its head coach was Bart Andrus, who was assisted by Pete Kuharchek (defense) and Peter Vaas (offense).

Team 9 did not include the specialist positions of kicker, punter, or long snapper, who were instead reserved in a separate "player pool.

the NFL requires all players to be at least 3 years removed from high school to be eligible for a team's roster.

In the league's inaugural season, safety Kenny Robinson, who had run into eligibility issues that led to him being expelled from college, chose to play in the XFL instead of transferring to another college; Robinson was a success in the XFL and was ultimately selected in the 2020 NFL Draft.

[39] The XFL used a standard form contract paying $2,725 per week for each player on the active roster, $1,040 of which is guaranteed.

A $2,222 victory bonus is paid to the players on each game's winning team; this feature is a carryover from the original XFL.

[43] The XFL chose a more flexible salary structure so as not to overpay for the lower ends of the roster and to be more competitive for better starting quarterbacks.

[21] Head coaches were eligible for up to a $500,000 salary, with each team having a football operations staff of 25 people.

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.

[48] The league did not initially plan to host exhibition games, but the television networks requested preseason matchups in order to conduct trial runs for their broadcasts.

On March 11, 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.

[49] 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.

[50] After the National Basketball Association suspended all games after two players tested positive of the virus, further social distancing measures were announced elsewhere and an unnamed Dragons player developed symptoms of the virus (he later tested positive).

[52] The league initially had hoped that the social distancing measures would expire later in the season to allow the championship to be held.

[53] Any hope of resuming the season ended on April 10 with the league terminating almost all of its remaining employees and suspending operations.

[90] In February 2020, the XFL announced that DraftKings would be the official daily fantasy sports provider of the league and an "authorized gaming operator".

"[94] In December 2019, Luck stated he was cooperating with the Las Vegas sportsbooks in providing official information for betting purposes.

Vegas Stats & Information Network produced supplemental "BetCasts" for iHeartRadio for two games each week, which featured commentary from a sports betting perspective.