News & Politics

Washington’s XFL Team Has a Name: the DC Defenders

The XFL announced the names for its eight inaugural teams Wednesday, and Washington’s team is named…the DC Defenders.

The Defenders, eh? Seeing as we have an NFL team whose name offends a lot of people, maybe that’s pretty good!

DC didn’t have an XFL team in the league’s first and only season in 2001—the closest team to here was the New York/New Jersey Hitmen, who lost their memorably bad opening game 19-0. (The broadcast is worth revisiting, especially its surreal cheerleader sequence, if you’ve got a high pain threshold or happen to be a pro-wrestling completist.)

The XFL season begins in February of next year.

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.