The XFL has suspended operations and laid off its entire workforce, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The XFL was already on the ropes thanks to the COVID-19 epidemic and this could prove to be the knockout blow. 
Vince McMahon attempted to reboot his football league with a ten-game (re)inaugural season, but he was forced to shut things down halfway through. Initially, the XFL expressed confidence that it would return in 2021, but McMahon might be forced to close up shop on the XFL for a second time.
Similar to the first time around, the XFL received mixed reviews from fans. The league did well in TV ratings to start the year as viewers looked for post-Super Bowl entertainment, but interest tailed in the following weeks. Still, the XFL featured a host of notable names and those players were released from their contracts on March 12, freeing them to pursue deals with NFL teams. Quarterbacks Josh Johnson, P.J. Walker, Jordan Ta’amu were among those who were in, then out, of the XFL 2.0.
XFL employees will be paid through Sunday, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. In his conference call with employees, COO Jeffery Pollock did not provide a timeline for when operations might resume.
Hopefully it’s back in 2021.
Absolutely. Vince McMahon deserves some praise for giving players a chance to showcase their talents for the NFL. I think he’s about 100x smarter than Goodell.
It was also a lot of fun to watch, the uniforms werent terrible either
I like those quick sideline interviews with a player immediately after he’s made a big play. They do a bit of that in the CFL too.
Alternate leagues will never last
The old USFL might have, if they had more closely adhered to the David Dixon plan. In any case, one thing that league did have was real talent, unlike the other alternate leagues.
Donald Trump took over the New Jersey Generals and destroyed that league.
Read “Football for a buck.”
Or watch the 30 for 30 about it. Trump ruined the league.
That 30 for 30 was absolutely garbage. It was a fact free tear jerker written and narrated by a guy who had an emotional attachment to the league and wanted to blame big bad Trump rather than acknowledge the league had enormous problems from the beginning.
Total nonsense. The USFL was in deep trouble from the beginning. The USFL actually WON the lawsuit but the clueless jury didn’t properly compensate the USFL. Even if they had the league was in so much trouble financially that their best hope was to have a couple of their teams become expansion franchises in a negotiated settlement w/ the league.
Um, no. The league was in profound financial difficulty from the very start. Why do you think they expanded so fast and so recklessly? They were desperate for cash. No one was going to the games. They had teams that were averaging under 10k fans per game. The best team in the league – the Stars – didn’t even have a real home in their third year when they “moved” to Baltimore. And on and on and on.
That’s what NFL owners said in 1960 but ten years later they were desperate to strike a deal with the upstart AFL which was kicking their a$$.
There aren’t many good players willing to play for peanuts instead of real money. Big difference in pay scale alone. There weren’t as many teams either and a couple franchises moved from what’s essentially the NFC to the AFC.
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore (Now Indianapolis) moved from the NFL to the new NFL – AFC.
I wonder if it would work in Europe and 2-4 North American clubs.
that’s a travel nightmare
I actually hope it comes back. It was a nice product that gave players a chance to showcase themselves. Personally I think it would good for the NFL to have the XFL back.
Actually, in my youth I saw better play in street football than what I saw in the XFL. If they are gone….YAWN….
dont know what you were watching, but it certainly wasn’t what the rest of us were
Maybe he was talking about XFL from 2001
ESPN reporting the league has no plans to return in 2021.
RIP XFL 2.0
McMahon should stick to what he knows best…
Having men in tights grab each other to entertain guys who don’t admit the truth to themselves.
Brilliant comment! Except isnt that kinda what football is? Men in tights strong arming each other? Do you have a pent up secret you would like to reveal here?
Well…
A) In that the uniforms are a fair bit different, no.
B) In that only one of them is scripted, no.
C) In that I actually stopped watching football years ago anyway, no. Perhaps you can try again using hockey.
D) There are various reasons one can point to for watching football that don’t exist (at all) in WWE.
…no. Not quite.
Bahahaha!
Why so defensive? No surprise really. It’s usually those making lame homophobic jokes that are hiding something. Not that there’s anything wrong with that
Spends time on a “pro football rumors” site, but claims to not watch football, no
All irrelevant, your point was men in tight outfits grabbing each other.
Trust me, sweetheart. There are much better options for that than watching the WWE, and not just Sammy Guevara, Jungle Boy Jack Perry and Kip Sabian in AEW.
Vince needs to pay his players more than $50k a season for the league to be viable. The non-QB players can make more driving Uber.
They would have in time. You can’t have huge contracts for a start up league.
They were trying to get it off ground first.
Exactly. And $50k isnt bad for 2 months of play.
Hope it comes back. Had season tickets for the dragons. Fun games, decent product and family priced.
Agreed
“Family priced,” and isn’t that refreshing.
Shame. It was a good product this time around.
It was a good league this time. Good coverage and people took it for being real football. I think the NFL could still benefit because it can serve as a minor league system. If every NFL team owned a Xfl team, it could take strain off of the league itself. Every pro team should buy into the XFL and finances should be kept separate from NFL payrolls and costs.