With all eyes on the second half of the NFL season, and with the defunct Alliance of American Football now in the rearview, the XFL is hoping to capitalize on the failure of the latter while avoiding stepping on the toes of the former. The year 2020 will mark Vince McMahon's second attempt at establishing the league as an offseason football option for football fans, and they continue to make strides toward their inaugural season.
Having already released the entire schedule for all eight teams, the next stage is to identify when and where training camp will be held, and they can now check that box on their list of to-do's. The XFL officially announced all eight teams will hold training camp in Houston, Texas from January 4-22, and it'll feature upwards of 1,000 players prepping for a mulligan season.
Training camp is expected to spur nearly $7 million in revenue for the City of Houston, and Mayor Sylvester Turner couldn't be more thrilled with the league's decision to centralize camp in South Texas.
"Houston is a sports town," said Turner, via press release. "We have great fans and we support our teams. The XFL made the right call when it chose the city as the home of the Roughnecks, and now, I am even more excited that all eight XFL teams and nearly 1,000 representatives will come to the Houston area for their training camps in January 2020. I'm confident this will generate a great deal of fan excitement and interest in the new football league."
Janis Burke, CEO of Harris County, agrees wholeheartedly.
"We've been involved since the initial proposal to the XFL and for me and my team to see it through and get to this point is incredible,'' Burke said. "We're thrilled to have all eight teams starting off here in Houston and equally as thrilled that the fans will get to share in the launch of this new league. They're bringing a new exciting brand of football to a city that loves the game, and we're proud that we were able to play a part in it."
Here's where each team will be located as they train in January.
| Team | Facility | Partner Organizations |
|---|---|---|
Dallas Renegades | Darrell Tully Stadium | Spring Branch ISD Houston Christian School (for weight training) |
DC Defenders | Rice Stadium | Rice University |
Houston Roughnecks | TDECU Stadium | University of Houston |
Los Angeles Wildcats | Alexander Durley Stadium | Texas Southern University |
New York Guardians | Husky Stadium | Houston Baptist University |
St. Louis BattleHawks | W.W. Thorne Stadium | Aldine ISD St. Pius X (for weight training) |
Seattle Dragons | Delmar Stadium | Houston ISD O Athletik (for weight training) |
Tampa Bay Vipers | George Turner Stadium | Humble ISD |
Things look to be going as planned for the XFL, but they still have work to do to ensure they be a viable and long-running developmental league for the NFL.
They're off to a good start, though, and many believe they may be able to stick around this time. For league commissioner Oliver Luck, a key asset in seeing that happen will be partnerships, and not simply with networks and advertisers, but also with the aforementioned establishments in Houston that will host training camp for the players.
"Everyone at the XFL is grateful to each of the area college and high school athletic directors who have helped make this a reality," Luck said. "We are excited to welcome our teams to Houston and benefit from these world-class facilities as we prepare for kickoff on February 8, 2020."
