XFL Brings Minor-League Football Back to Dallas, Same as It Ever Was

Everything about Dallas' new XFL team is warmed over. It's participating in a once-defunct league in a stadium — Globe Life Park — that would be defunct if not for the XFL saving it from implosion. Its coach, ballyhooed as his prospects once were, won his only college football national...

By Stephen Young

August 22, 2019

Renegades, Desperados, Cowboys, Mavericks? We're sensing a theme. Stephen Young

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Everything about Dallas' new XFL team is warmed over. It's participating in a once-defunct league in a stadium — Globe Life Park — that would be defunct if not for the XFL saving it from implosion. Its coach, ballyhooed as his prospects once were, won his only college football national championship almost two decades ago. The team's players haven't been signed yet, but the XFL's excitement last week over securing a commitment from NFL never-was quarterback Landry Jones doesn't speak well for the league's potential quality of play.

#BREAKING: @LandryJones12 has signed with the #XFL

DETAILS https://t.co/Qlw0qQO6cq pic.twitter.com/K6d6yRPQNk
— XFL (@xfl2020) August 15, 2019

The league, and its Dallas outpost, had a chance to spice up all that blah Wednesday, with the announcement of the team's name and the logo unveiling at Hero in Victory Park. Then it hit Dallas and its fans with this:

The Dallas Renegades. #XFLTeams pic.twitter.com/CPJqBIv16M
— Dallas Renegades (@XFLDallas) August 21, 2019

Deja vu struck immediately, and not the good kind. The Renegades' — that's the team name — logo looks just like the logo of Dallas' last upstart professional football team, the Arena Football League's Dallas Desperados. This did not go unnoticed on Twitter.

Did you notice our logo is the same guy from the Dallas Desperados minus the star lol pic.twitter.com/rNJoxDTgQG
— ???????????????????? (@NovaYonny_) August 21, 2019

Here's the hype video introducing the team's new regalia:

Deep in the heart of Texas beats a different kind of pulse.

A swagger that can’t be denied.

This is hell on wheels, between hash marks.

Raising hell February 2020: The Dallas Renegades. #XFLTeams pic.twitter.com/7QTx0dseYb
— XFL (@xfl2020) August 21, 2019

After the branding reveal, Renegades coach Bob Stoops gave everybody a pep talk.

click to enlarge

Former University of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, speaking in Victory Park on Wednesday, is the XFL franchise Dallas Renegades' first coach.

Stephen Young

"I love it, I think the symbol, the Renegades, all of it, fits Dallas and I can't wait to get going," the former University of Oklahoma head coach said. "This is going to be an exciting, fun team to watch. Offensively, defensively, even with some of the new XFL rules, like double passes, with the first pass behind the line of scrimmage, you can still throw it again. A lot of things, other than that, folks, it will still be great football, football you're used to watching and cheering for."

The last iteration of the XFL featured plenty of rule changes, as well, including allowing forward motion before the snap, eliminating fair catches and having a race for the football instead of a coin toss and opening kickoff. Despite backing from the WWE, the league folded after a single season. This version of the XFL, which is set to begin play in February 2020, hasn't settled on its official rules.

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