page_title: XFL (2020)
section_title: Kickoffs
hierarchical_section_title: XFL (2020) / Rule changes / Confirmed / Kickoffs
caption_attribution_description: English: DC Defenders kickoff against the Seattle Dragons in the first XFL game at Audi Field in Washington, DC.
context_page_description: The XFL is a professional American football league. Consisting of eight teams divided equally between an East and West division, seasons run during the winter and spring months, with each team playing a ten game regular season, and four progressing to the playoffs to crown a season champion. The company was headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
  The competition was founded by professional wrestling executive Vince McMahon in 2018, as a reboot and successor to the league of the same name he founded in 2001. McMahon re-founded the XFL to create a league with fewer off-field controversies and faster, simpler play compared to the NFL, as well as one without the professional wrestling-inspired features and entertainment elements of its predecessor. The league and its teams were owned by McMahon's Alpha Entertainment, and spread across the United States in markets currently or recently represented by an NFL franchise.
  After five weeks of play, the league's operations slowly came to a close due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and filed for bankruptcy on April 13.
context_section_description: The league has an active interest in reviving the kickoffs as an element of the game. This is in contrast to the former AAF, which eliminated kickoffs outright, and the NFL and college football, both of which imposed rules minimizing the impact of the kickoff in the mid-2010s to improve player safety. Many of these kickoff rules were adapted from rules created by The Spring League's predecessor, the Fall Experimental Football League.
  The spot of the kickoff is set at the kicking team's 30-yard line. (The NFL and college standard is the 35-yard line.) However, members of the kicking team (excluding the kicker) line up at the receiving team's 35-yard line and blockers on the receiving team must line up at their 30-yard line. Only the kicker and returner(s) can move until the ball is either caught or three seconds after it hits the ground.
  Kickoffs that go out of bounds, or fall short of the receiving team's 20-yard line, come to the kicking team's 45-yard line. (The NFL and NCAA only require a kick travel 10 yards; kicks out of bounds are placed at the receiving team's 40 yard line.)
  The XFL uses two different types of touchbacks. A major touchback occurs when a kick travels into the endzone in the air, which results in the receiving team taking possession at the 35. A minor touchback occurs when the ball bounces into the endzone, which results in the receiving team taking possession at the 15. These rules discourage either team from purposefully taking a touchback.
  Teams can request to attempt an onside kick under more conventional kickoff rules. If a team opts for an onside kick, the ball must travel at least ten yards before it can be recovered by the kicking team (as with other leagues) but may not travel more than 20 yards downfield in the air from the spot of the kick, to prevent the formation from being used as a loophole.
caption: First ever XFL kickoff between the DC Defenders and Seattle Dragons at Audi Field.
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