2022 X League season

The 2022 X League season was the inaugural season of the Extreme Football League (commonly known as the XLeague) in the United States. It began in June and concluded in September with the Chicago Blitz winning the inaugural "X Cup" championship game. The league had most recently operated in 2019, branded as the Legends Football League (LFL).

Season summary The inaugural X-League season was shortened, with each team's regular season reduced from four games to two. The truncated season kicked off on June 10, with a match between the Chicago Blitz and Kansas City Force. Preferring a matchup between two capable teams instead of a one-sided contest between a more-established team (the Blitz succeeded the Chicago Bliss, four-time LFL champions) and a team of rookies (the Force were created after the Nashville Knights were suspended from the league), the league decided to replace the Force roster with coaches and players from the Atlanta Empire; Chicago won and Kansas City was assessed the loss while Atlanta personnel returned to the Empire.

However, the next two matchups weren't as evenly matched. The Los Angeles Black Storm (formerly the Los Angeles Temptations) played the Austin Sound (formerly the Austin Acoustics) and lost, 19–50. The seemingly one-sided matchup was much like the next game against the Denver Rush (formerly the Denver Dream, a rookie team that has started over every season and played in only 4 season of the LFL and only 3 seasons back to back) and the Seattle Thunder (formerly the Seattle Mist and three-time LFL Champions). Denver lost to Seattle, 84–26. Denver played the more-established Atlanta Empire next in their two-game season and lost, 0-28.

The Arizona Red Devils, another new team in the league, suspended operations in June without playing any games. Their scheduled contest against Kansas City was canceled, and a squad from Mexico took their place in a contest against the Los Angeles Black Storm; Los Angeles won, 48–8, in the final game of the regular season on August 13.

The season saw two major upsets as the Empire defeated the top-ranked Austin Sound on July 9, 50–34, and the Chicago Blitz upset the Seattle Thunder (successors to the 2019 LFL champion Seattle Mist) on August 6, 34–28.

Postseason The playoffs saw Atlanta (2–0) seeded first, Chicago (2–0) second, Seattle (1–1) third, and Austin (1–1) fourth; point differential was used as a tie-breaker. On August 27, Atlanta survived Austin, 34–32, while Chicago held off Seattle, 34–33. The season concluded on September 10 with the newly restructured league's first-ever "X Cup" ending in a 19–12 victory for the Chicago Blitz over the Atlanta Empire.

Schedule Regular season Week Date Visitor Score Home Venue Ref. 1 Friday, June 10 Chicago Blitz 40–34 Kansas City Force Cable Dahmer Arena, Independence, Missouri 2 Saturday, June 18 Los Angeles Black Storm 19–50 Austin Sound H-E-B Center, Cedar Park, Texas 3 Saturday, June 25 Denver Rush 26–84 Seattle Thunder accesso ShoWare Center, Kent, Washington 4 Saturday, July 9 Austin Sound 34–50 Atlanta Empire Gas South Arena, Duluth, Georgia 5 Friday, July 15 Kansas City Force Arizona Red Devils Bell Bank Park, Mesa, Arizona 6 Friday, July 22 Atlanta Empire 28–0 Denver Rush Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colorado 7 Saturday, July 30Bye Week 8 Saturday, August 6 Seattle Thunder 28–34 Chicago Blitz BMO Harris Bank Center, Rockford, Illinois 9 Saturday, August 13 Mexico National All-Stars 8–48 Los Angeles Black Storm Championship Soccer Stadium, Irvine, California Notes: In week 1, Kansas City was represented by players from the Atlanta Empire. In week 9, Arizona was originally scheduled to face Los Angeles.

Source:

Standings At completion of the regular season

Rank Team Record (Win pct.) 1 Atlanta Empire 78 34 +44 2 Chicago Blitz 74 62 +12 3 Seattle Thunder 112 60 +52 4 Austin Sound 84 69 +15 5 Los Angeles Black Storm 67 58 +9 6 Arizona Red Devils 0 0 0 7 Kansas City Force 34 40 -6 8 Denver Rush 26 112 -86 Team qualified for postseason

Source: Point totals reflect scores as listed in the table of regular-season games. Online table includes postseason semi-final games.

Post-season Round Date Lower seed Score Higher seed Venue Ref.Semi-final Saturday, August 27 (No. 3) Seattle Thunder 33–34 (No. 2) Chicago Blitzaccesso ShoWare Center, Kent, Washington (No. 4) Austin Sound 32–34 (No. 1) Atlanta Empire Final Saturday, September 10 (No. 2) Chicago Blitz 19–12 (No. 1) Atlanta Empire H-E-B Center, Cedar Park, Texas

References

2022 X League season

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