Details on XFL Schedule and Financial Arrangement With Fox and Disney

FOX and Disney are announcing their formal agreement to air Vince McMahon’s XFL in 2020 today, and some of the details are starting to trickle out about the financial arrangements of the deal as well as the schedule.

Most of the games will be on broadcast television on ABC and Fox, with the remainder of games airing on FS1 and ESPN. Here is the schedule:

BREAKING: broadcast TV telecasts to be big component for @xfl2020 multiyear deals with @espn and @FOXSports (24 of 43 games on ABC or Fox). No rights fee paid. ESPN and Fox hold streaming rights https://t.co/UEbdcpoL1v pic.twitter.com/USdLtXTmHT
— Sports Business Journal (@sbjsbd) May 6, 2019

Regarding the “no rights fee paid” arrangement, Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal adds details:

"Terms of the three-year deal weren’t disclosed, but people familiar with the matter said no cash is changing hands. Disney and Fox will keep all the television advertising inventory for the games and cover production costs while the football league will sell sponsorships, the people said."

The XFL is certainly launching on more stable financial footing than the AAF, but it remains to be seen if the appetite is there for an adjunct football league.