FORT WORTH, Texas — North Texas will be home to plenty of XFL activity in 2023, creating an abundance of excitement for some of the school districts that were chosen to be locations to host practices.
Carroll ISD, Mansfield ISD and Northwest ISD will each provide their stadiums to XFL players for training and preparation for the re-debut of the XFL season in February 2023. This will be the first time this football league will make its return since the suspension of the 2020 season due to COVID-19.
This was an exciting announcement for Jake Strong, a senior at Northwest High School and the starting quarterback for the football team.
“I like to watch all football, and whenever it’s not the NFL or college football, then I’ll definitely tune into the XFL,” Strong said.
XFL officials say the eight teams — based out of Arlington, Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Antonio, Seattle, St. Louis and Washington D.C. — will spend their weeks in North Texas before traveling back to their cities on game day. An XFL press release revealed that Arlington and Choctaw Stadium will be the main hub.
Strong says that’s great news for his school district. The starting quarterback is a two-time district champ who is looking to make it three-time for his last year.
“The thing I’m most excited about is enjoying the time I have left with all of these guys that I grew up with,” Strong added.
Strong received a scholarship to be a quarterback at Texas Tech. While he won’t be at Northwest ISD when the XFL touches down at their stadium, Strong says he’ll be cheering the league on from Lubbock.
Joel Johnson, executive director for Northwest ISD Athletics, says he expects to see XFL players start using their stadium by January 2023.
“They needed facilities that were basically standalone facilities. In other words, not attached to a campus,” Strong said.
Johnson is also eager to see the positive impact this league and its players will make during the season.
“This publicity and having the XFL…I definitely think that it will kind of put us on the map,” Johnson added.
The XFL’s ownership group includes the likes of Dany Garcia, Gerry Cardinale, and WWE legend and actor Dwayne Johnson. The XFL, which is considered to be a minor league for the NFL, will kick off on Feb. 18.