RIP XFL

[Shelbyville Manhattan]

Staff laid off, no plans to resume play in 2021.

Didn't even play as many games as the AAF.

Sources: XFL staff laid off, no plans for 2021

 

[Spartan Squad]

I can't wait for the 30 for 30 on Vince's bad luck.

 

[FileNotFound]

Very, very high on the list of non-essential businesses.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

I can't wait for the 30 for 30 on Vince's bad luck.

Vince will be modeling the HE HATE ME jersey on Raw next week.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Cool.

I anxiously await whatever league is going to launch in 2022 with breathless coverage about why THIS is the one that's really going to make it.

 

[DanOregon]

Man - it was just starting to gain some momentum too.

Seriously, I feel bad for all involved. Fans just didn't show up. Virus or not.

 

[DanOregon]

Then again - maybe it will come back on Sunday...

 

[HanSenSE]

What was the over/under on how long a league that encouraged gambling would last.

 

[Batman]

Man - it was just starting to gain some momentum too.

Seriously, I feel bad for all involved. Fans just didn't show up. Virus or not.

They were averaging about 15,000 per game. A couple of markets (St. Louis and Seattle) were pulling 25-30K per game, and Houston and Tampa were doing OK. New York and Los Angeles might have been underperforming, but I think on the whole attendance was right around what they expected for a first-year league. Several franchises seemed to be getting a buzz going as a fun party atmosphere, and the league was smartly leaning into that a bit to gain a cult following.
If the virus hadn't hit, they would have been back for a second season. They were staying in their lane as a quirky start-up league and gaining a following.

XFL Attendance - 2020 Season - XFLBoard.com

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Viewership dropped by double digits every week.

 

[sgreenwell]

Man - it was just starting to gain some momentum too.

Seriously, I feel bad for all involved. Fans just didn't show up. Virus or not.

Eh, you know, the reported attendance wasn't as bad as you'd think. Even with week five, when **** was starting to go down across all of sports, the average per game was 18,571. (Higher than the AAF, but it's hard to make a one to one comparison because there are differences in stadium capacities and markets and what not.) I felt like there was enough "buzz" that a second season seemed logical. It was fun to tune into the games on weekends.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Just a guess here: The possibility that the NFL will extend through February has become greater. That would force the XFL to move its 2021 calendar back into the NBA and NHL playoff territory. Its brief window of prominence is closed.

 

[sgreenwell]

Viewership dropped by double digits every week.

This is obviously true, but 1) it probably would have stabilized at a number at some point, and not dropped to 0.0 and 2) it was on Saturdays and Sundays during a typical dead period. I imagine it was pulling in more males 18 to 45 - what advertisers want - than the usual fare available on those days.

 

[TigerVols]

"Do I still get a Championship ring?"
- Ol Ball Coach

 

[TigerVols]

That league was so short-lived, the St. Louis team didn't even have time to move to Memphis.

 

[Shelbyville Manhattan]

Working beyond the usual Presidential bluster, one wonders what the actual tenor of the conference call among the commissioners was last weekend. Vince McMahon was among those on on it.

A report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Future of BattleHawks doubtful after XFL suspends operations, informs teams of layoffs) noted that refunds for 2021 season-ticket deposits began being issued to customers early this week. The XFL was looking at a) closed stadiums due to the likelihood of no vaccine by next February, b) the notion of college football delaying its season to the winter and spring, c) the NFL potentially having a later start with a longer training camp, and thus pushing the season a few weeks deeper into February (as mentioned by tapintoamerica).

If I'm McMahon, I put the league on ice, maintain all trademarks and logos and purchase some AAF trademarks and logos. Then punt until 2023, assuming relative normalcy has returned by then. Return with a reshuffled league that incorporates some of the more successful AAF markets: San Antonio, Orlando and San Diego. If costs can be kept in control, there's a market for this.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Another spring league bites the dust.

{yawn}

 

[goalmouth]

Like it was never even there.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

This is obviously true, but 1) it probably would have stabilized at a number at some point, and not dropped to 0.0 and 2) it was on Saturdays and Sundays during a typical dead period. I imagine it was pulling in more males 18 to 45 - what advertisers want - than the usual fare available on those days.

Yeah, but the numbers were already dropping to a point where it wasn't really a viable league... and they were still going down. It pulled terrible numbers with no competition.

If they thought there was any future they wouldn't be folding. This league is an ex-parrot.

 

[playthrough]

What was the over/under on how long a league that encouraged gambling would last.

My only regret was not getting on the under and riding it. I think it cashed in two-thirds of the games.