• by Wayne Friedman , April 10, 2020

The XFL, moving permanently beyond suspending its initial season, is now shutting down completely, according to reports.

The new spring professional football league has laid off nearly all of its staff, according to ESPN. Although some executives will remain employed, the league currently has no plans to return in 2021.

An XFL representative did not respond to Television News Daily by press time.

Late last month, after launching on Feb. 8, the league cancelled its initial season after five games. But it promised a return next year.

TV game airings on the big broadcast TV networks -- ABC and Fox -- average 1.5 million to 1.8 million Nielsen-measured viewers. Viewership on national cable TV network games on ESPN and FS1 has been around 750,000 to 850,000.

Total national TV advertising spending for the league totaled $53.1 million, according to iSpot.tv. The biggest advertisers include Geico, Progressive, Roman, Carfax, and 5-Hour Energy.

Live average in-stadium attendances averaged around 18,000 per game.

XFL suspending its games last month came amid all other major TV-based sports leagues and events suspending operations.

While the NFL season is still set to begin in September currently, analysts are concerned that pre-season and other activities might be affected if there major effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue.

The XFL was started by Vince McMahon, chairman/CEO of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) making his second attempt in starting a spring professional football league. The previous 2001 XFL edition also folded after one year.