Las Vegas, Orlando, San Antonio new cities to join XFL for 2023 season

The XFL's 2023 local markets will include five holdover cities and three new locations, the league announced Sunday night.

The three newcomers — Las Vegas, Orlando and San Antonio — will join Arlington, Texas; Houston; St. Louis; Seattle; and Washington, D.C. The league dropped New York, Los Angeles and Tampa Bay from its lineup; those markets had the three lowest average attendance figures during the 2020 season, when the XFL last played.

In total, the XFL will have three teams in Texas. According to industry sources, the league has held internal conversations about centralizing weekday practices in the Dallas area for all eight teams. Players and coaches would then travel to local markets for games.

The league also confirmed two other important steps in its return to the field: game venues for seven of its eight teams and team coaching assignments. The XFL announced the head coaches' hiring in April but did not specify their teams at that time.

The pairings are as follows:

Arlington, Texas: Choctaw Stadium, coach Bob Stoops

Houston: TDECU Stadium, coach Wade Phillips

Orlando: Camping World Stadium, coach Terrell Buckley

Las Vegas: TBA stadium, coach Rod Woodson

San Antonio: The Alamodome, coach Hines Ward

Seattle: Lumen Field, coach Jim Haslett

St. Louis: The Dome, coach Anthony Becht

Washington D.C.: Audi Field, coach Reggie Barlow

Allegiant Stadium is a possibility for the Las Vegas team.

In a statement, XFL owner/chairwoman Dany Garcia said in part: «What brings a league to life is the passion of the fandom behind it. In each of these cities we will co-create with our fans and build these teams from the ground up so that they represent the unique fabric of our communities.»

The league did not announce names or