How to Watch the 2023 XFL Championship

If you’re like me, you haven’t watched one XFL game this season—but you’re reading this because the “Championship” has piqued your interest. Or maybe you’re one of the 600,000+ viewers the XFL has received each game this season. 

I understand it’s hard to watch a spring league because they’ve all lost our trust by not sticking around. Trust me; I experienced it first-handed. I worked for the Alliance of American Football (AAF).

Consistency is one important aspect we have yet to see with a spring league.

So far, the USFL has been the longest-lasting spring league, with it starting its second season this year. 

The viewership of the XFL isn’t up to par, but it does help that the XFL has partnerships with the NFL and the support of The Rock as an owner. 

Not only do I believe the XFL will survive another season and receive more viewership in 2024, but this eight-team league will also be fun to watch in the coming season if they continue to obtain NFL-caliber players. 

If you’ve kept up with this XFL season, you’ve already watched former NFL players step onto the field again. And more excitingly, in my opinion, you’ve witnessed excellent football players who are now being invited by NFL teams to try out for a spot on the roster. 

Before I highlight those with new opportunities, I’ll briefly recap the season.

Beginning on February 18, the XFL season consisted of 10 regular season games for each of the eight teams over 10 weeks—two games on a Saturday and two on a Sunday.

This minor league’s season kicked off with the Vegas Vipers and Arlington Renegades. The Saturday night game was a matchup between the Orlando Guardians and Houston Roughnecks. If you watched on Sunday, you saw the St. Louis Battlehawks go against the San Antonio Brahmas and the Seattle Sea Dragons meet with the DC Defenders.

Surprisingly to me (but also unsurprisingly), there are three teams in Texas. Anyways, let’s fast forward to the end of Week 10. 

On April 29–30, the playoff weekend—or Division Championships—had two matchups.

One game was between the top two South Division teams, the 7-3 Sea Dragons and the 9-1 Defenders. The other was between the North, the 4-6 Renegades and the 7-3 Roughnecks.

Despite their losing record, the Arlington Renegades beat the Roughnecks 26-11.

The Renegade's offense played aggressively from the start and went into the second half 23-8. The second half of the game was a little less eventful, with one field goal each quarter, but the Renegades maintained their lead. 

The DC Defenders won 37-21 by improving their game as time ticked down. 

Both Seattle’s defense and offense were looking strong until the middle of the third quarter. DC’s offense found its groove, and Seattle’s offense started to make costly mistakes.

Although Seattle couldn’t come out with a win, two of its offensive players stood out the entire season and were invited to try out for NFL teams.

If you ask some college football fans why they’d rather watch college over NFL, they might say it’s because the young players are playing to get into the big league. They’re playing with a meaningful purpose. 

Well, the XFL could fulfill a college football fan’s itch during the offseason of NCAA football.

Jahcour Pierson, the best wide receiver in the XFL, has been invited by the Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons to try out for their team. 

Even though he went undrafted in the NFL last year, he got their attention this year with 60 catches and 670 receiving yards in 11 games with the Seattle Sea Dragons. 

Steven Montez, the quarterback of the Sea Dragons and former Detroit Lion, has been invited to the San Francisco rookie minicamp this weekend.

A USFL player will join him, and the 49ers already have four quarterbacks, so seeing how the quarterback showdown turns out will be interesting. 

Darrius Shepherd, the XFL’s special teams player of the year, will have another chance to show he is NFL-ready during tryouts for the Lions. Shepherd played a handful of games for the Green Bay Packers in 2019–2020. 

While playing for the Battlehawks, he averaged close to 25 yards per kickoff return and caught 48 passes for over 500 yards and six touchdowns. 

As of May 9, 2023, 40 XFL players have been invited to at least one NFL minicamp. The season of XFL 3.0 is almost over, and this much interest in its players by the NFL is already giving the XFL a good reputation for finding future talent.

Lastly, you’ll hear some familiar names in the league. So I might jog your memory of former NFL players that haven’t given up on football.

Do the names AJ McCarron, Martavis Bryant, Josh Gordon, Phillip Lindsay, or Ben DiNucci ring a bell?

How about Paxton Lynch, Vic Beasley, Marquette King, or Johnny Townsend?

You can watch all of them in the XFL, but to answer the leading question, you’ll get to watch the following notable players in the XFL Championship:

• Marquette King, punter for the Renegades
• Cre’Von LeBlanc, CB for the Renegades
• Will Hill,  safety for the Renegades
• Jordan Ta’amu, QB for the Defenders
• DJ Swearinger, strong safety for the Defenders