HOUSTON, February 13, 2020 – The XFL, the Harris County – Houston Sports Authority and the University of Houston today announced at a news conference that Houston, Texas, and TDECU Stadium on the U of H campus will host the league’s championship game on Sunday, April 26, 2020. This matchup was played the Friday after Thanksgiving, earning it the title of the most-watched, non-Saturday game in the 2020 regular season. Not surprisingly, it blew away its.
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| Date | April 21, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California | |||||||||||||||||
| MVP | José Cortez, placekicker | |||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Xtreme | |||||||||||||||||
| Referee | David Witvoet | |||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 24,153 | |||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | ||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | |||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Matt Vasgersian, Jesse Ventura and Mike Adamle | |||||||||||||||||
The Million Dollar Game, also known as the (2001 or 1st) XFL Championship, was the lone championship of the original 2001 incarnation of the XFL.[1] The game was played on Saturday, April 21, 2001 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Western Division champion Los Angeles Xtreme defeated the western runner-up San Francisco Demons 38–6.
The game's original name was the 'Big Game at the End of the Season;' it was changed during Week 3 of the regular season due to wordiness and concerns over potential to be genericized.[2] The 'Million Dollar Game' name derived from the pot of one million dollars that would be split among the players of the winning team (with each team having 38 players, each player would receive approximately $26,316 for winning).
Background[edit]
The Orlando Rage had finished the 10-game regular season with the XFL's best record, 8-2. Los Angeles was 7–3 while both San Francisco and the Chicago Enforcers each finished 5–5 (thus Orlando and L.A. were the only two teams out of eight to finish with winning records in the regular season; the Memphis Maniax were also 5-5 but San Francisco won the playoff berth on a tie-breaker). The last game of the regular season ended up serving as the western division championship; had the Demons won that game, they would have won the division on a tiebreaker with both teams at 6–4. Instead, Los Angeles won.
The 2001 XFL used a crossover playoff format: each division champion would host the second-place team in the other division (the XFL, as with the National Football League, features each team playing its division rivals twice in the regular season, and thus this format avoided making teams play three times in a season, at least for the first round). The Xtreme defeated Chicago 33-16 in the first round, while the Demons upset Orlando 26–25 in their semifinal.
Game synopsis[edit]
The Xtreme, led by regular-season Most Valuable Player Tommy Maddox, won the Million Dollar Game 38–6. The Xtreme dominated the game and held the Demons scoreless until their third-string quarterback Oteman Sampson (pressed into service after Mike Pawlawski was pulled due to ineffectiveness and backup Pat Barnes suffered an injury) scored a scrambling touchdown in garbage time to avoid the shutout.[3]
The game's MVP was Xtreme kicker Jose Cortez.
Aftermath[edit]
The XFL folded shortly after the Game was played. Sparse attendance at the Coliseum was noticeable, as most of the television camera angles would only show close-ups of sections with fans and sideline interviews used distorted camera perspectives shot from near the ground to avoid the camera catching empty seats.[3] A second XFL season would not be played until 2020.
After each had been released by National Football League teams earlier in their professional careers, both Maddox and Cortez eventually found themselves back in the NFL. Maddox signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2001. He replaced Kordell Stewart in the 2002 season and led the Steelers into the playoffs. That performance earned NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors. Maddox lost his starting job to Ben Roethlisberger in 2004, and was released in 2006, however still became the first former XFL player to be a part of a Super Bowl champion after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL over the Seattle Seahawks.
Cortez went on to become an NFL journeyman for the next five seasons playing two seasons each with the San Francisco 49ers (for whom he scored over 100 points in the 2001 and 2002 NFL seasons) and Minnesota Vikings; his final season in 2005 saw him play for five professional teams as a fill-in for injured kickers, four in the NFL and one in the Arena Football League.
Box score[edit]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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| Demons | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Xtreme | 3 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 38 |
at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California
- Date: April 21
- Game time: 8:00 p.m. EDT/5:00 p.m. PDT
- Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C), sunny
- Game attendance: 24,153
- Referee: David Witvoet
- TV announcers (XFL on NBC): Matt Vasgersian, Jesse Ventura, and Mike Adamle
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References[edit]
- ^'XFL Million Dollar Game Recap'. www.all-xfl.com.
- ^'7 Reminders of How Ridiculous the XFL Was'. Complex. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
- ^ abBulkema, Will. The only XFL championship was also the worst by SB Nation, February 7, 2019
The XFL has announced that Houston will play host to its first-ever championship game.
All the action will go down from the TDECU Stadium on the University Of Houston’s campus. Currently, TDECU Stadium is the home field of the Houston Roughnecks. The league’s championship game will be played on April 26, 2020. There, the champion of the XFL’s inaugural season will be crowned.
Xfl Title Game
Here’s the XFL’s official announcement:
HOUSTON, February 13, 2020 – The XFL, the Harris County – Houston Sports Authority and the University of Houston today announced at a news conference that Houston, Texas, and TDECU Stadium on the U of H campus will host the league’s championship game on Sunday, April 26, 2020.
The game will feature the league’s champions from the East and West divisions and be televised nationally by ESPN at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Nfl Title Game Odds
“We’re tremendously excited to have been selected as the site for the XFL’s championship game,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. “This league has animated football fans from across our region, and we look forward to continuing to showcase Harris County as one of the greatest sports towns in America. We want to thank the league for choosing Houston and we look forward to welcoming football fans from across the nation to what is sure to be a memorable championship game.”
Following the 10-week regular season, which kicked off on February 8 and concludes on April 12, the top two teams in each XFL division will square off for the right to play for the league championship. The East Final is scheduled for Saturday, April 18 (3:00 p.m. ET, FOX), and the West Final will be held Sunday, April 19 (3:00 p.m. ET, ESPN), with the winners advancing to the XFL Championship in Houston the following weekend.
“Houston is a great all-around sports town with top-notch facilities, an amazing community of football fans and a solid infrastructure,” said XFL Commissioner and CEO Oliver Luck. “We are grateful to the city and the Sports Authority for opening its doors once again to the XFL and we look forward to welcoming fans from across Texas, as well as the entire country, to join us in celebrating this special moment in XFL history.”
“It’s fitting that the XFL’s first season will start and end in football-loving Houston and we’re honored to play a pivotal role in the launch of this new league,” Burke said. “Houston is known for hosting major sporting events and the XFL Championship will only strengthen our reputation. We’re thrilled to give football fans in this city the opportunity to experience the excitement of XFL football on the league’s biggest stage.”
TDECU Stadium, which opened in 2014 and has a capacity of more than 40,000, is the home of the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks and University of Houston Cougars football team. It has won numerous awards for its design and construction and offers a variety of premium seating, including 26 Suites, 42 Loge Boxes, 766 Club Seats, two Suite Decks and four Party Decks. There is also an abundance of tailgating areas around the stadium which will add to the pregame festivities.
“We are honored to partner with the XFL, the City of Houston and the Harris County – Houston Sports Authority to host the inaugural XFL Championship. We are excited to have the opportunity to showcase our university and world-class facilities to the nation,’’ said Chris Pezman, UH Vice President for Athletics.
“Since the announcement of the XFL’s arrival to Houston, we have been honored to partner with them and hope to continue to do so going forward. There has been a lot of hard work behind-the-scenes to make this a reality and I would like to thank many members of our executive leadership team in making this venture possible. The XFL Championship game will not only benefit the University of Houston, but it will be a major national sporting event for our city this April.”
Tickets for the XFL Championship will go on sale to the general public starting in March at XFL.com/tickets. Ticket prices will be released at that time, with priority status given to Founding XFL Season Ticket Members.
2020 Xfl Schedule
Fans can visit https://www.xfl.com/championship to sign up for ticket information about the 2020 XFL Championship.