Vince McMahon’s XFL Football Season Is Canceled Over Virus

(Bloomberg) -- Vince McMahon’s XFL football league is shutting down for the season, a victim of the coronavirus and the widening clampdown on nonessential activity.

“The Covid-19 pandemic, and the most recent state and local regulations, have left the XFL no choice but to official cancel the remainder of the 2020 season,” the league said Friday in an email.

The XFL is McMahon’s second attempt at pro football and is shutting down after just a few weeks of play. The league has multiyear television deals with Fox Corp.’s Fox Sports and Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN that were to see more than half of the games in its inaugural season air on broadcast TV.

The season kicked off on Feb. 8, on ABC, one week after the Super Bowl, and the championship was set for April 26 on ESPN.

The original XFL, backed by McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. and NBC, folded in 2001 after just one season. McMahon, the flamboyant chairman and founder of WWE, is funding the new league personally. It launched with eight franchises, in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa, Florida, and Washington.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.