[Dr.Dave]

The 2020 XFL Season Will Kick Off Feb. 8 on ABC

ABC and ESPN will combine to televise 22 games during the 2020 XFL season, beginning with the league's much-anticipated kickoff game on SATURDAY, FEB. 8 (2:00-5:00 p.m. EST). ABC will televise 14 games, with most telecasts starting at 2:00 p.m. EST on Saturdays.


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FOX Sports Announces 2020 XFL Broadcast Schedule

FOX Sports announces its 2020 XFL broadcast schedule, which kicks off on FOX Saturday, Feb. 8, at 5:00 PM ET with the Los Angeles Wildcats at Houston Roughnecks. The following day, the New York Guardians host the Tampa Bay Vipers on Sunday, Feb. 9, at 2:00 PM ET on FOX.

The XFL's 10-week season of games will be showcased Saturdays at 5:00 PM ET on FOX for the first five weeks of the season. In addition, FOX will feature XFL games on Thursday nights in prime time (8:00 PM ET) for the final two weeks of the season. The rest of the Sunday matchups can be seen on FS1 after Week 1, with one game airing on FS2 in Week 6.

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See the press releases for the full schedules. I haven't checked if any Canadian channels will show XFL games.

 

[mgut]

The full tv schedule is at the link below. Fox and FS1 are carrying half of the XFL games as well. I wouldn't be surprised if TSN picked this up as outside of regional hockey and some basketball, the TSN schedule is incredibly bare at this time of the year.

https://res.cloudinary.com/xfl-prod....5X11.pdf?mc_cid=20e5b0e978&mc_eid=a21651e26c

 

[DSgamby]

TSN might not as they broadcast WWE rivals.

 

[Inglewood]

Curious to see how deep Vince's pockets are - the quality of play will be similar to the Alliance of American Football, which didn't catch on with fans beyond the curiosity of week 1. Also, XFL salaries are going to be less - including lower than the CFL.

Some of the Alliance players did catch on with NFL/CFL teams - even if just for pre-season. Pre-Season NFL contracts are a decent paycheque for the few guys that got one when compared to the CFL and other European leagues.

 

[mgut]

The AAF actually did ok in regards to the TV ratings and attendance wasn't horrible either. The issue with the AAF was lack of funding from the start. There are some interesting articles that go into detail on this on the Athletic website but essentially if the league had proper funding from the start it would've survived. They had no TV deal and were paying for the games to be aired and once Tom Dundon came on board the whole thing was probably over. The XFL does have a revenue agreement so they will be making money on the games being aired on TV and with proper funding (which is a given with Vince McMahon) I'm fairly optimistic the league will survive. As for quality of play, I believe it should be similar to that of the CFL, a lot of players who would go to the CFL are going XFL as it's a more direct route similar to what happened with the AAF.

 

[mike10]

TSN might not as they broadcast WWE rivals.

it is supposed to be a completely separate company that just shares the same owner as the WWE

 

[DSgamby]

@mike10 Like I said. They might. So they might show or not. Just no one should be upset if TSN does not show it.

 

[hercules130]

I do not expect TSN to pickup any of FS1 games - TSN never carries football game from outside ESPN family - but I do hope that it will pick some of ESPN games. I certainly hope TSN picks the ESPN part of playoffs and the Championship.

 

[mgut]

TSN picks up NFL games from Fox, NBC and CBS all the time. Only college football they haven't picked up from outside ESPN but that isn't always true as they have picked up games from FOX for B1G and Pac 12 also in the past so the statement makes zero sense. As TSN has a light catalog in the spring I would be surprised if they don't pickup the XFL as it would have better ratings than darts and curling which is essentially all that is on the national schedule until March Madness

 

[bigoranget]

TSN hasn't aired any college football outside of the ESPN family of stations for years. I know with basketball (especially march madness) they air from all the networks. The no FS1 games only applies to college football and that is likely because their deal with College Football is a deal through ESPN and not the NCAA directly.

 

[ticky]

Sportsnet has no money so they won't be purchasing it. That only leaves TSN and DAZN. DAZN might go after it and try and keep around the users who only subscribe during the NFL season.

 

[mgut]

The last time TSN aired non ESPN college football that I can recall was when Fox owned the BCS rights and that ended in 2015 so that would have been 4 years ago. But TSN does air plenty of non ESPN programming primarily for the NFL but also March Madness (except for the Final Four where they pick up the ESPN international feed and not the CBS / Turner domestic feed), NBA (TNT) and also various international sports as well where ESPN doesn't own the rights. ESPN is a shareholder in TSN and they use this whenever possible to save on fees as I'm assuming ESPN doesn't charge it's own assets to use programming but it still uses outside feeds when an ESPN feed is not available.

 

[fansportsf1]

XFL on TSN Broadcast Schedule

 

[mgut]

Called it!

 

[mgut]

FYI going back to the college football discussion quickly, I believe TSN aired the B1G Football Championship this year which was a Fox feed.

 

[hercules130]

Sorry, incorrect. As documented by our friend Bossman in his blog, TSN did not broadcast 2019 Big Ten Championship game.

 

[hercules130]

All in all, 8 regular-season games will not available in Canada through regular cable subscription. 80% availability. Not bad for an inaugural league.

 

[Dr.Dave]

TSN announced today it will deliver complete live coverage of the all-new XFL football league, culminating with the inaugural XFL CHAMPIONSHIP in April. The season kicks-off with the league’s opening game featuring former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones and the DC Defenders visiting the Seattle Dragons on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. ET (Full Press Release)

 

[Dr.Dave]

The XFL has filed for bankruptcy protection and suspended operations. It sounds like the TV ratings weren't too bad according to this Deadline article.

 

[Dr.Dave]

The assets of the XFL have been sold to Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson and RedBird Capital Partners for $15 million. The acquisition is expected to close around August 21, assuming bankruptcy court approval and other conditions are met. (Deadline)