Well - Indian Wells tennis is going to draw a lot more international fans than the XFL. Players literally come from all over the world to play. XFL would not be any different than other domestic sports going on at this time - Hockey, Baseball and Basketball.
Yes it brings players from all over the world- all in peak condition and low risk for catching this- the fans are still 90% locals. I’ve been there. Heck my cousin won the whole thing in 2010
Who is your cousin? Ivan Ljubičić or Jelena Janković?
Ljubicic and thanks to me he is a huge Cardinals fan. you can see him wearing a cardinals hat when he is in Federers coaches box all the time comes to STL about once a year to visit.
Given that McMahon funded the thing for three seasons and crowds were growing each week I think this might still have legs . . . once the pandemic passes us by.
Who knows, maybe he has an insurance contract on the XFL as a contingency against any "Act of God" events for which maybe COVID-19 qualifies. Hell, he could break even or maybe make a little money from the season being cancelled like this if he has the right hedges in place... Here's to Ka-Kawing in 2021.
Given that McMahon funded the thing for three seasons and crowds were growing each week I think this might still have legs . . . once the pandemic passes us by.
The problem is - the season isn't suspended, it's full on ended. No more XFL until 2021. The launch hype will be long since gone. This is pretty much the worst possible thing that could have happened to a nascent sports league just as it was starting to gain popularity. The other thing is that being popular in St. Louis - the only XFL market without an NFL team - won't be enough to sustain the league if it isn't popular elsewhere as well. If I had to guess, St. Louis will probably have the highest fan retention going into 2021, and if every other market was like us, the league might weather the storm. I have serious doubts most other markets will have anywhere near the fan retention that we might have. I know it's "funded for three seasons", but I imagine the funding can be pulled if it becomes obvious at the outset of the 2021 season that the league is going to collapse.
Who knows, maybe he has an insurance contract on the XFL as a contingency against any "Act of God" events for which maybe COVID-19 qualifies. Hell, he could break even or maybe make a little money from the season being cancelled like this if he has the right hedges in place... Here's to Ka-Kawing in 2021.
I know a few businesses that are staying open but hoping the mayor forces them to close so that they can file insurance claims
Given that McMahon funded the thing for three seasons and crowds were growing each week I think this might still have legs . . . once the pandemic passes us by.
That's often repeated in media stories, but I have yet to see any explanation of that statement. There is no money exchange between the league and the broadcasters. Disney and Fox pick up the cost of the broadcasts in exchange for broadcast ad revenue, while the XFL pockets the in-game ad revenue. There is no way they agreed to a 3-year deal with a startup league without some sort of out clause w.r.t. average TV viewership. And I doubt very much that McMahon would have committed to 3-year contracts with any players, coaches, etc., either.
So, that statement probably just meant that McMahon was willing to fund the expected loss for three seasons, but that's a whole different thing when revenue is zero.
From my understanding, you are correct. There is no 3-year TV deal. I forget the details, but for year one the networks covered the production costs and keep ad revenue. The idea that viewership were to determine future deals going forward. McMahon was willing to fund for 3 years knowing it would take that long to get the league on its feet. Unfortunate thing is this cancellation almost negates year 1 and will have to almost start over next season. Question is if he’s willing to fund it for 3 and a half years?
Saw today that someone reported the league is already looking to expand with Chicago and Atlanta as front runners. That could be PR to make the league sound solid.
From my understanding, you are correct. There is no 3-year TV deal. I forget the details, but for year one the networks covered the production costs and keep ad revenue. The idea that viewership were to determine future deals going forward. McMahon was willing to fund for 3 years knowing it would take that long to get the league on its feet. Unfortunate thing is this cancellation almost negates year 1 and will have to almost start over next season. Question is if he’s willing to fund it for 3 and a half years?
Saw today that someone reported the league is already looking to expand with Chicago and Atlanta as front runners. That could be PR to make the league sound solid.
Yeah, probably. I don't even want to imagine sitting in a stadium for 3 hours in Chicago in early February.
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'."
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'.
As in a permanent shut down, or just for this season?
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'.
As in a permanent shut down, or just for this season?
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'.
As in a permanent shut down, or just for this season?
Looks like shut down for good.
File this one under "least shocking sports news of the week".
There was no way a nascent football league was going to survive getting shut down halfway through its inaugural season.
I think it could have if it’s financial underpinning wasn’t tied to another sport. I think Vince had to make a choice, lose this or lose this and WWE, which is also hurting or roll the dice and hope both succeed.
There are conflicting reports on social media about the future of the XFL. The message used the words "suspending operations" and "laid off" employees. This is different than "ceasing operations" and "terminating employees". There are also reports that the C-level of league employees remains employed, with the goal of keeping the XFL brand alive. We shall see how this all unfolds...
I think it could have if it’s financial underpinning wasn’t tied to another sport. I think Vince had to make a choice, lose this or lose this and WWE, which is also hurting or roll the dice and hope both succeed.
The WWE, though not a real sport, is a far more established and stable brand than the XFL. Long term, it will be fine. There's always gonna be a demographic of people that love them some rasslin', and the WWE has a lock on the global market for that product in the same way that Google has a lock on the search engine game. McMahon would have been insane to kill the WWE to try to save the XFL.
There are conflicting reports on social media about the future of the XFL. The message used the words "suspending operations" and "laid off" employees. This is different than "ceasing operations" and "terminating employees". There are also reports that the C-level of league employees remains employed, with the goal of keeping the XFL brand alive. We shall see how this all unfolds...
The XFL informed its employees Friday that it is suspending operations effective immediately and that all team and league workers have been terminated amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to multiple reports.
Employees received the news in a leaguewide conference call with President Jeffrey Pollack that lasted 10 minutes and did not allow for any questions from employees. According to reports, workers will be paid through Sunday and a skeleton crew of league executives will continue to work out of league headquarters in Stamford, Conn.
B.W. Carlin, who worked in the league’s social media department, confirmed on Twitter that the league had laid off its entire workforce.
It’s unclear whether the league is permanently shutting down. According to Sports Business Journal’s Ben Fischer, on Thursday the XFL issued a refund to all its season ticket holders, including money already paid for 2021 tickets.
I know they left a little bit of ambiguity in there, but I have to say that if they had any intention of actually resuming play in the future, they're doing a piss poor job of getting ahead of this story and making that position clear. If I owned a sports league that was going through a tumultuous period but I fully intended to try to keep that league afloat, I wouldn't just let the entire news media write my company's obituary without immediately issuing an unequivocal statement to debunk those rumors. That McMahon is allowing everybody to more or less declare the XFL dead without offering any clarification to push back against those stories suggests to me that it is, in fact, dead. Or at best, it's on life support in a persistent vegetative state.
Here's the message from the Admin of The Official St. Louis BattleHawks Fan Page on Fb. She's turned off comments on the post.
Sandy Johnston
Admin · 1 hr
None of this means this is the end of XFL. It means we are all determined to be there when we get back to normal.
Thank you
What's for certain is there is no XFL for 2020, and there may or may not be XFL in 2021.
There may be reason for the ambiguity, because the execs may be evaluating each city/venue for its viability. We know IF the XFL returns, St. Louis will be back in and so will Seattle. What about the other teams? Would all of them return to -- or would other cities take their place? This pandemic shutdown may give the XFL some wiggle room in contract situations it has -- you know that fine print nobody but the attorneys ever bothers to read. If they shut down due to a pandemic, this may allow the league to back out of some unprofitable markets/situations. This could be why they're being deliberately vague.
Also, when would the 2021 season start? This season they were having workouts and signing players in September of last year already, weren't they? Of course, it was the first season, but I could see why they would already be questioning whether or not the 2021 season was even feasible.
And I can think of a lot of good reasons to announce a complete shut down right now, without publicizing the intention of restarting at some point.
I can't think of any reason to drag things out amidst all the uncertainty, and burn a lot of cash just for the sake of appearances...
Sorry, here's a better view. Personally, I agree with everything you said. I'm sure it makes the most sense, from a legal perspective, to shut operations and be vague about a return date. Although, I'm not a lawyer.
Some players posted this notice on their Twitter accounts. You'll probably have to download it for a full view.
comes to STL about once a year to visit. 
