The Seattle Sea Dragons were a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The Sea Dragons competed in the second incarnation of the XFL. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment as the Seattle Dragons, and were owned-and-operated by Dwayne Johnson’s Alpha Acquico. The Sea Dragons played their home games at Lumen Field.
History
McMahon Era (2020)
On December 5, 2018, Seattle was announced as one of eight cities that would join the newly reformed XFL, as well as St. Louis, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, DC, Tampa Bay, and Dallas.[3] Former Seahawks quarterback Jim Zorn, who was the first quarterback to start for the Seahawks,[4] was named the team's first head coach on February 25, 2019.[5] The team name and logo were revealed on August 21, 2019, as well as the team's uniforms on December 3, 2019.[6]
On October 15, 2019, The Dragons announced their first player in team history, being assigned former Memphis Express Quarterback Brandon Silvers.[7]
The Dragons won their first game in team history on February 16, 2020, defeating the Tampa Bay Vipers 17-9. On March 12, 2020, The XFL announced that the remainder of the 2020 XFL season had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team finished with a 1–4 record. On April 10, 2020, the XFL suspended operations, with all of the league's employees, players and staff being terminated.[8]
On August 3, 2020, it was reported that a consortium led by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Dany Garcia, and Gerry Cardinale (through Cardinale's fund RedBird Capital Partners) purchased the XFL for $15 million just hours before an auction could take place; the purchase received court approval on August 7, 2020.[9][10] The XFL hired Jim Haslett as a Head Coach on April 13, 2022, with the expectation that he would be coaching the Seattle team.[11] On July 24, 2022, the return of the Seattle XFL franchise was confirmed, as well as the hiring of Jim Haslett.[12] Haslett brought former Hawaii and SMU Head Coach June Jones in as the offensive coordinator to run the Run and Shoot offense. On October 31, 2022, the XFL officially announced that the Dragons would be changing their name to "Sea Dragons", as well as unveiling a brand new logo.
The newly rechristened Sea Dragons' 2023 season saw the team earn their first playoff berth and clinch second place in the North Division with a 7–3 record. The Sea Dragons would be eliminated by the DC Defenders in the North Division title game in the playoffs.[13]
In September 2023, Axios reported that the XFL was in advanced talks with the USFL to merge the two leagues prior to the start of their 2024 seasons.[14] On September 28, 2023, the XFL and USFL announced their intent to merge with details surrounding the merger to be announced at a later date.[15] The merger would also require regulatory approval.[16] In October 2023 the XFL filed a trademark application for the name "United Football League".[17] On November 30, 2023, Garcia announced via her Instagram page that the leagues had received regulatory approval for the merger and were finalizing plans for a "combined season" to begin March 30, 2024.[18] The merger was made official on December 31, 2023, and on January 1, 2024, it was announced the Sea Dragons would not be a part of the merger.[19][20]
