By Michael Heilman
A day after the XFL refunded all 2021 season ticket deposits to fans, the XFL has suspended day-to-day operations due to Covid-19. During a conference call by COO Jeffrey Pollack, Pollack announced that all employees were laid off. There will be a limited skeleton crew at the XFL headquarters in Stamford, CT.
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
NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo tweeted that all XFL employees will be paid until this Sunday with the future up in the air.
Employees are being paid through Sunday. After that, could be curtains. There was no discussion of when operations could restart, source says. https://t.co/nfaRuVPngC — Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) April 10, 2020
The XFL played five weeks of the 2020 season before canceling the season due to the outbreak of Covid-19. Before the suspension of the season, the XFL was committed to playing in the 2021 season and beyond. As NFL Senior Writer Albert Breer tweeted, “So no word at all on whether this is a permanent shutdown.”
The XFL conference call with their employees was light on details. They explained that the COVID-19 crisis was to blame for the league shutting down. And didn't really address where things go next. So no word at all on whether this is a permanent shutdown. — Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 10, 2020
One can only hope that this suspension is temporary and that they will play again either in 2021 or possibly the 2022 season. Right now, no one knows when sports will resume, and it’s just a matter of time before other leagues start laying off their people as well unless the coronavirus lapses sooner rather than later.
In 2018, Vince McMahan sold nearly $300 million in stock to fund Alpha Entertainment to relaunch the XFL. At the time of the stoppage, the Houston Roughnecks were the only undefeated team left in the season. The XFL had strong television ratings on Fox, FS1, ABC, and ESPN networks. This announcement comes to just shy of one year since the AAF folded back on April 17th. If this is indeed the end of the XFL, they gave us a great five weeks of the season that helped many players get recognized, and some have already signed with NFL teams because they played for the love of football.
Comments