Vince McMahon’s XFL suspends operations and terminates all employees

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

ESPN’s Field Yates reported today that during a conference call with XFL employees, the league’s COO Jeffery Pollock notified them that they are suspending operations and all employees are being terminated.

Vince McMahon announced the return of the XFL two years ago and the league started in February after McMahon pumped over $100 million of his own money into it. Just like all other sports, the XFL had to stop mid-season due to the coronavirus pandemic and it looks like it will not be revived for a second season, with the new XFL suffering the same fate of the first one.

XFL promised to be back for a second season when the league stopped but that is now completely out of the window and there are no plans for a restart. The league has also opted to pay all its employees and players the money they’re owed for what was remaining for the 2020 season.

While they were airing on FOX, FS1, FS2, ABC, ESPN, and ESPN 2, the league did not get any money from television rights. Viewership for the first week averaged 3.1 million, but by the fourth week the average dropped to 1.4 million.