Earlier today, it was reported that Vince McMahon's football league the XFL has laid off nearly all of its staff and players as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, ESPN Is reporting that there are no plans for the XFL to return in 2021, and that pretty much confirms the league is now done.
The WWE Chairman earmarked $300 million for the next three years, sold many of his WWE stocks, and started taking a back seat role in the company to make this new version of the XFL succeed.
The hope was that he could land a lucrative TV deal, and with networks having nothing to risk as the league was funding itself for at least three years, it looked likely that could happen. The XFL was drawing higher numbers than both the AAF and a lot of sports programming that airs in the spring, so it looked like that might happen, especially with positive reviews from fans and sports pundits.
Unfortunately, the pandemic closed the door on that, and it looks like McMahon has been forced to pull the plus as a result. Will it ever return? It might, but it's certainly looking like this is the second iteration of the XFL to have prematurely ended.