You could call it Deja vu. In 2001, Vince McMahon tried to launch the XFL, but it only lasted a single season. Yes, teams did play 10 games each nearly two decades ago, with a semifinals and final in the postseason, but at the end of the day it was clear there was room for only one professional football league in the United States, and that was simply the National Football League.
This makes what McMahon did next over the last couple of years even more puzzling. Knowing that the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and NBC (National Broadcasting Company) lost $35 million each in their first attempt, and McMahon even admitting the XFL was a “colossal failure,” efforts were made by McMahon to give the XFL a second try in 2017. This time McMahon stated he learned from his prior mistakes. Among the changes McMahon made were dropping cheerleaders and prohibiting players from kneeling during the national anthem as he did not want the XFL to be political.
Each team in the XFL got to play five games each starting February 8. In the first game, the DC Defenders defeated the Seattle Dragons 31-19. The Houston Roughnecks were the only undefeated team as they had a perfect record of five wins and zero losses. However within a month, the world was hit by coronavirus. The XFL, like almost every other professional sports league across the globe needed to stop play.
McMahon cannot be blamed for the XFL not being able to finish its inaugural season the second time round. However, while other professional sports leagues are able to stay afloat during these challenging times when the world is being hammered by the worst global pandemic ever, the XFL filed for bankruptcy on Monday. The biggest beneficiary of the XFL’s demise will once again be the NFL.
