XFL files for bankruptcy after canceling season

Things seemed to be going well for the XFL in its first revived season, but fortunes have shifted significantly since the coronavirus pandemic forced the league to cancel the rest of its season.

On Monday, the league officially filed for bankruptcy, essentially spelling the end of Vince McMahon’s second run at creating the league.

The XFL has gone down, and gone down hard – today there was a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Delaware. Assets/liabilities both listed in $10-50m range. Lot of pain out there in a lot of different places, but this is still such a sweeping turn of events from where they were…

— Eric Fisher (@EricFisherSBG) April 13, 2020

The writing may have been on the wall here when the league shut down operations entirely at the end of last week. Initially, the XFL had pledged to return to action in 2021, but clearly things have changed. With falling attendance numbers, this day may have been coming without the pandemic, but it certainly accelerated the situation.

Ultimately, the league’s legacy may come in some of its unique rules, which gained the attention of the NFL.