Associated Press
NEW YORK — The Seattle Dragons will kick off the XFL’s inaugural season on Feb. 8 when they face the DC Defenders in Washington, D.C.
Dragons head coach Jim Zorn has ties to both cities. He played quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks from 1976-1984, and served for two seasons as head coach of the Washington Redskins (2008-09).
The XFL released the schedule for its inaugural season Tuesday. The eight-team league begins play the weekend after the Super Bowl.
ABC will broadcast the Seattle-DC game, and Fox will air games on Saturday and Sunday during the opening weekend.
“We’ve got great time slots on the weekends,” XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck said. “We think it’s a well-designed schedule in terms of competitive balance.”
The league is the second XFL backed by the WWE’s Vince McMahon. McMahon has invested nearly $400 million in the XFL and has started a separate company, Alpha Entertainment LLC, to operate it. The first version of the XFL — a joint venture of WWE and NBC — lasted just one season (2001).
The XFL is divided into two four-team divisions. The XFL East features teams in Washington, New York, St. Louis and Tampa Bay. The XFL West has teams in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle.
The regular season lasts 10 weeks. Each team will host five home games and play a schedule that features a home-and-home series against division rivals and one game against each team in the other division. The regular season ends April 12. The division finals will be the following week and the winners will play for the championship on Sunday, April 26, on ESPN.
Seattle Dragons’ schedule
Feb. 8 at D.C. Defenders, 11 am (ABC)
Feb. 15 Tampa Bay Vipers, 2 p.m. (FOX)
Feb. 22 Dallas Renegades, 2 p.m. (FOX)
Feb. 29 at St. Louis Battlehawks, 2 p.m. (FOX)
March 7 at Houston Roughnecks, 11 a.m. (ABC)
March 15 Los Angeles Wildcats, 4 p.m. (ESPN2)
March 22 New York Guardians, noon (ABC)
March 29 at Dallas Renegades, 3 p.m. (FS1)
April 5 at Los Angeles Wildcats, 3 p.m. (FS1)
April 11 Houston Roughnecks, 11 a.m. (ABC)
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