Los Angeles Wildcats (XFL)

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Los Angeles Wildcats
File:LA WILDCATS.svg
Founded2018
LeagueXFL
DivisionWest[1]
Team historyLos Angeles Wildcats (2020–present)
Based inLos Angeles, California
StadiumDignity Health Sports Park
Carson, California
ColorsBlack, red, light orange[2]
     
OwnerAlpha Entertainment, LLC
PresidentHeather Brooks Karatz
Head coachWinston Moss
General managerWinston Moss
Websitewww.xfl.com/en-US/teams/los-angeles

The Los Angeles Wildcats (LA Wildcats) are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The team is a franchise of the new XFL founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and plays its home games at the Dignity Health Sports Park, which is also home to the MLS’s LA Galaxy.[3]

Los Angeles joined New York, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Washington, D.C. as the league's inaugural cities. Teams have 40-man active rosters and play a 10-week season. Vince McMahon said "the game will feature simplified rules for a faster pace of game that should complete in under three hours", and draw from former college and NFL players.[4]

History

On May 7, 2019, Winston Moss was announced as the team's head coach.[5]

On August 21, 2019, the team revealed its name, logos, and identity as the Los Angeles Wildcats, alongside the rest of the XFL teams.[6] A secondary logo was released August 24.

On February 8, 2020, the team played its first game losing to the Houston Roughnecks 37–17 in Houston.[7] Chad Kanoff scored the first touchdown in franchise history with a scramble left for a five yard score.[8]

On February 23, 2020, the Wildcats earned their first win in franchise history, defeating the DC Defenders 39–9.[9]

Market overview

Los Angeles is one of two cities to have also hosted a team in the original XFL, the other being New York/New Jersey; the Los Angeles Xtreme was the champion of the earlier XFL in the league's only season. (A third broader megalopolis, Central Florida, has also hosted teams in both the 2001 and 2020 incarnations of the league.)

As television networks have required alternative leagues to field teams in New York and Los Angeles to secure television coverage without brokering the airtime,[10][11] Southern California has a long history of alternative professional teams. In addition to the Xtreme, the city has hosted: the Los Angeles Avengers, LA KISS, Anaheim Piranhas and Los Angeles Cobras in the Arena Football League; the Los Angeles Express in the USFL; the Southern California Sun in the World Football League; the Orange County Ramblers and short-lived Long Beach Admirals in the Continental Football League; and numerous teams in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League in the 1930s and 1940s.

The Wildcats are in one of the most heavily crowded sports markets in the United States, competing for sports dollars against two NFL teams (Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers), two NHL teams (Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks), two NBA teams (Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers), multiple NCAA Division I college basketball and college football programs, and in March and April, both the LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC in MLS and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels in the MLB.

Staff

Template:Los Angeles XFL team staff

Roster

Template:Los Angeles Wildcats roster

References

  1. ^ "FOX Sports announces 2020 XFL schedule". KMPH. January 7, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  2. ^ "Los Angeles Wildcats' uniforms, helmet". XFL.com (Press release). December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  3. ^ "XFL.com – Official home of the XFL". www.xfl.com.
  4. ^ "L.A., N.Y. among 8 cities picked for new XFL". ESPN.com. 5 December 2018.
  5. ^ Markazi, Arash (May 7, 2019). "Winston Moss, who played for L.A. Raiders, to be named coach and GM of L.A.'s XFL team". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  6. ^ The XFL team name and logo reveal, retrieved 2019-08-21
  7. ^ "Los Angeles Wildcats fall to Houston Roughnecks in XFL opener". Los Angeles Times. 2020-02-09. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  8. ^ "XFL Live Stats". stats.xfl.com. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  9. ^ "Wildcats roll to first win in upset over Defenders, 39-9". NFL.com. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  10. ^ These failings aside, Byrne's observations on the league's extraordinary capacity for self-destruction are right on target. He painstakingly details the myriad problems: the overly restrictive TV contract with ABC in which the USFL was left powerless(...)
  11. ^ Taube was the first USFL owner to notice the rather stringent clauses in the league's television contract with ABC, and fought hard over the league's three years to get them renegotiated.