The Million Dollar Game was the XFL's

XFL

The XFL was a professional American football league that played for one season in 2001. The league was founded by Vince McMahon, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of WWE...

 championship game at the end of its only season in 2001. At first it had no special name, then was going to be called "The Big Game at the End," but eventually received the name it ended up with because a pot of one million dollars was to be split among the players of the winning team. The game was played on Saturday April 21, 2001 at the LA Memorial Coliseum.

The game was between the Western Division champion Los Angeles Xtreme

Los Angeles Xtreme

The Los Angeles Xtreme was a professional American football team based in Los Angeles, California. The team was a member of the XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States. The team played its home games in the Los Angeles...

 and the western runner-up San Francisco Demons

San Francisco Demons

The San Francisco Demons were a short-lived springtime American football team based in San Francisco, California. This team was part of the failed XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States...

. The Xtreme defeated the Eastern Division runner-up Chicago Enforcers

Chicago Enforcers

The Chicago Enforcers were a short-lived American football team based in Chicago, Illinois at Soldier Field. This team was part of the failed XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States...

 33-16 in the first round while the Demons beat east champs Orlando Rage

Orlando Rage

-Statistical leaders:* Rushing yards: 387, Derrick Clark* Receiving yards: 659, Dialleo Burks* Passing yards: 998, Brian Kuklick-Awards:-Honors:...

 26-25. Orlando had finished the 10-game regular season with the XFL's best record, 8-2. Los Angeles was 7-3 while both Chicago and San Francisco each finished 5-5 (Making Orlando and L.A. the only two of the eight teams to finish with winning records in the regular season; the Memphis Maniax

Memphis Maniax

The Memphis Maniax was an American football team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The team was part of the XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States...

 were also 5-5 but San Francisco won the playoff berth on a tie-breaker).

The Xtreme, led by regular-season Most Valuable Player Tommy Maddox

Tommy Maddox

Thomas "Tommy" Alfred Maddox is a former football quarterback in the National Football League, the XFL and the Arena Football League. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the first round of the 1992 NFL Draft. He played college football at UCLA.-Early years:At L. D...

, won the Million Dollar Game 38-6. The game's MVP was Xtreme kicker Jose Cortez, which was ironic considering the reduced role a kicker had in the XFL, which did not have a point after touchdown (extra point) kick in its rules and also paid kickers the least per game on its salary scale.

After each had been released by National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 teams earlier in their professional careers, both Maddox and Cortez eventually found themselves back in the NFL. Maddox signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

 in 2001. He replaced Kordell Stewart

Kordell Stewart

Kordell Stewart, nicknamed "Slash" , is a former American NFL quarterback. Stewart attended the University of Colorado and was drafted 60th in the 1995 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers...

 in the 2002 season and led the Steelers into the playoffs. That performance earned NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors. Maddox lost his starting job to Ben Roethlisberger

Ben Roethlisberger

Benjamin Todd "Ben" Roethlisberger , nicknamed Big Ben, is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Steelers in the first round in the 2004 NFL Draft...

 in 2005, and was released in 2006, however still became the first former XFL player to be a part of a Super Bowl

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

 champion after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL over the Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...

.

Cortez, however, has not enjoyed the degree of success Maddox has. Although he scored over 100 points in the 2001 and 2002 NFL seasons, he has mostly been a journeyman

Journeyman (sports)

A journeyman or journeywoman is an athlete or professional sports player who is technically competent, but unable to excel. In certain parts of the world the term has less negative connotations and the inability to excel is not needed for a player to be labelled thus.-Definitions:Alexandra Allred...

, called in to fill in for a team's injured kicker (For this reason, he played for four teams in 2005).