XFL COO Jeffery Pollock announced on a call today that all employees would be laid off and the league is suspending operations according to Field Yates of ESPN.
NEWS: on a call today with COO Jeffery Pollock, XFL employees were just informed that the league is suspending operations and all employees have been laid off. Another sport impacted further by the current COVID-19 crisis.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 10, 2020
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media added one word that was used a lot during the conference call was “shut down.”
The XFL just held a conference call in which all employees were told the league is suspending operations. Said one: "The word they used was 'shut down'."
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 10, 2020
The XFL had already given players under contract to sign with an NFL team, which signaled the end of the 2020 season. After canceling the 2020 season, the XFL did say they were still committed to playing a full season in 2021.
“Currently, the XFL will not be playing its regular-season games,” XFL commissioner Oliver Luck told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. “However, all players will be paid their base pay and benefits for the 2020 regular season. All XFL ticket holders will be issued refunds or credit toward future games.
“The XFL is committed to playing a full season in 2021 and future years.
The XFL got off to a strong start in terms of TV rankings, but as the weeks went on, the interest in the league dropped. ABC and ESPN networks averaged 2,084,000 viewers per game in Weeks 1-4.
The XFL is owned by Vince McMahon who also owns WWE and put a lot of money to get the league started. The big question now is will they try to come back for the 2021 season? Or is this the second football league to start up in the last couple of years and to fail before they were even able to complete a season.
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