ST. LOUIS — St. Louis fans and businesses, like Series Six, say they were bummed when the pandemic wiped out the league during the 2020 season and they’re more than ready to welcome the XFL back with the excitement and revenue these games bring.
“I think just having a team in town is very important,” XFL fan Lee Allen said.
St. Louisans said they’ve really missed football and are ready to head back to the Dome to cheer on the XFL and they’re hoping the new team will take on the same mascot, the BattleHawks.
“I think that people are just ready to celebrate any game that has anything to do with St. Louis. Especially with football I mean it was definitely missed when it wasn’t here and with it being back even for the short time it was a couple of years ago, I don’t think it mattered where they were or what they were doing people were just ready to celebrate them,” Series Six manager Sarah Hummel said.
The St. Louis Sports Commission said even though only a handful of games will be played here and the team will be practicing in Texas most of the time the previous short season had a huge impact on downtown businesses.
“It’ll be good down for downtown businesses. I’m in the restaurant industry so I know that everyone down there would definitely appreciate the revenue that the team would bring,” St. Louisan Elliot Harris said.
Series Six, a local apparel company, said BattleHawks merchandise was extremely popular.
“I mean it was immediate, the team was announced, name was announced and people were like all right let’s get something. So being able to jump on that right away, it was super fun,” Hummel said.
And they’re already seeing a big demand for new shirts they posted saying ‘Back for Battle.’
“It does make a big difference. Of course, there's people that are St. Louis sports fans in general that are going to purchase anything but knowing we can really hit into the niche of the football fans too, it makes a big impact. St. louis is so supportive of small businesses in general and we are just so grateful for the support,” Hummel said.
The new XFL season is set to start after the Superbowl in February.