XFL insider Mike Mitchell returns to the program to recap and analyze a BUSY week in the alt-football landscape. We cover ALL of the big XFL announcements from the last week including the 8 2023 cities the XFL will be playing in, the venues and coaches attached to those cities, and the XFL’s announcement that they will be housing and training all of their players in Arlington for the first 3 years in a recently announced “hub” format. Which alt-football league has the better plan for the more successful “hub” in 2023, the XFL’s Arlington-based hub with plans to fly teams out to local markets on the weekend, or the USFL’s approach of basing all their team in Birmingham and potentially a second (or third/fourth) market, we get Mike Mitchell’s thoughts. We also cover the latest lawsuit facing the XFL and the surprise collapse of Major League Football (MLFB) just weeks before kickoff. Daniella Ponticelli of 620CKRM also stops by the show to preview CFL week 8 including a match between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and America’s team the BC Lions.

The XFL is FINALLY…making some big announcements that listeners of The Markcast and readers of XFL News Hub have known for quite some time, we now OFFICIALLY know the eight teams the XFL will be playing in when they return to the field in 2023. Mike Mitchell, XFL insider, and XFL News Hub contributor makes a return appearance to the program to give his in-depth thoughts and analysis on everything XFL. We talk about the venues the XFL will be playing in, the head coaches attached to the cities, and get Mike’s thoughts on the “Texas Triangle” of 3 Texas-based XFL teams while the league opted to pull out of New York, Los Angeles, and Tampa Bay. The XFL is potentially learning from some mistakes made by the USFL with their hub in 2022 and looking to spend more to build more connections with fans in their local markets. Will the spending spree of hiring local staff in all eight XFL team markets be enough? We discuss. Also, breaking news today coming into the newsroom also includes the recently filed NEW lawsuit against Vince McMahon, The Rock, WWE, and more over XFL “trade secrets” and the surprise (but not unexpected) collapse of MLFB which has left many of their players stranded without hotel rooms or plans for the future.

Daniella Ponticelli of 620 CKRM also stops by the program to round out our alt-football coverage with a little CFL talk. The BC Lions are headed to Regina for the weekend to take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders, we get Daniella’s thoughts on the match and the rest of the major storylines in the CFL headed into week 8. Should the CFL be scheduling more games on Sundays to take advantage of the recent uptick in viewers following the rescheduled Argonauts vs. Roughriders game? Whom does Daniella have pegged as her early MOP candidates? We tackle this CFL talk and much more!

0:00 The Markcast Episode Promo
2:28 Show Intro
5:20 XFL Insider Mike Mitchell, XFL Announcements Cities/Venues/Hub Analysis
1:23:53 XFL Insider Mike Mitchell on NEW XFL Lawsuit
1:31:30 XFL Insider Mike Mitchell on MLFB Shutdown/Collapse
1:42:47 Daniella Ponticelli 630 CKRM Saskatchewan Roughriders, CFL Interview
2:15:12 Show Outro, Giveaway Update