COVID-19 doesn’t care about the love of football, apparently.

The XFL said Friday that it would suspend operations indefinitely. All employees were laid off, according to multiple sources. It is unknown whether the league will return, but many view a comeback unlikely.

The league, which was a revival of Vince McMahon’s ‘Xtreme Football League,’ was founded in 2018. There were 8 teams: the New York Guardians, the Seattle Dragons, the Dallas Renegades, the Houston Roughnecks, the St. Louis Battlehawks, the Los Angeles Wildcats, the (Washington) D.C. Defenders, and the Tampa Bay Vipers.

The league kicked off with the slogan “For the Love of Football.” New rules were installed to streamline gameplay, including changes to kickoffs and extra points. Contrary to NFL and NCAA kickoffs, members of the kicking team (excluding the kicker) lined up at the receiving team’s 35-yard line and blockers on the receiving team lined up at the 30-yard line. They could not move until the ball was caught or spent three seconds on the ground. 

The conventional extra point kick was replaced by one-point, two-point, and three-point plays. Point value depended on the distance the team chose to snap the ball from the goal line; a two-yard attempt scored a single point, a five-yard attempt two points, and a ten-yard attempt three points.

The XFL rocketed in popularity, due in part to its unorthodox gameplay, of course, but because of the social media team headed by Bailey Carlin. The XFL Twitter account, known for making memes about the league, amassed about 400 thousand followers, and the Instagram account has 613 thousand followers at the time of writing. 

The XFL was known as unprofessional and blatantly absurd at times when Vince McMahon ran the league in 2001, and several elements carried over to the 2020 attempt. 

During the first game of regulation play, Seattle Dragons OL Dillon Day released an expletive during a sideline interview on live television. 

The DC Defenders crowd created an enormous ‘beer snake,’ drinking approximately 1,237 cups of beer (19,792 ounces of beer consumed!) and connecting the cups from the bottom of the stands to the top. Even XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck contributed a cup. The NFL would have looked at the beer snake with distaste, and yet Carlin chose to create not one, but four posts on the XFL Instagram page about it.

The league was in week 6 of its inaugural season on March 11 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the US, causing indefinite suspensions of several major sports leagues, including the XFL. 

The premature end to a promising young league comes as another casualty of the COVID-19 crisis. Farewell, XFL. While there’s still a chance for the league to return, it is unlikely. Thank you for providing the football fans with a new alternative for the spring. Please come back. Please.

Here is why the XFL will not turn out like the AAF:

The AAF was purely new, with the goal of becoming a minor-league for the NFL, where young players not fit for the NFL’s 53 man rosters could see action. Trying to work with the NFL was the catalyst of this league’s downfall. The idea that the NFL would be unwilling to work together never crossed AAF executives and investors. That is why they had to acknowledge that their league would never work out with such little understanding of league management.

However, Vince McMahon has done this before. In the first XFL go-around, he had to accept that his league back in the early 2000’s was purely entertainment, extremely dangerous, and simply a bad environment. Now, McMahon seems to have started the XFL on the right foot, implementing strict safety rules and new concepts that change the entire dynamic of the game. McMahon has been able to not only recruit NFL free agents, but has almost stole former top college players, including West Virginia’s Kenny Robinson, a projected second round pick in next year’s NFL Draft. The NCAA has a major flaw: they do not pay their student-athletes. Many of these athletes have complicated backgrounds, which lead to the scandals that involve bribing players to commit certain places. The XFL has an easy pitch: “Play in our league, you get paid early.” This offer will become more tempting as the XFL grows and gains more popularity, thus paving the way for exponential growth.

The XFL has some cool new rules, which also include better advanced safety measures than the NFL. These are the main two new principles:

On the kickoffs at the beginning of a half or following a score, the return blockers and kickoff specialists cannot move until the returner gains possession of the ball. They will start five yards within each other. By creating this delay of forces, the XFL takes a step ahead of the NFL in safety precautions against concussions, which primarily occur in special team plays. Plus, since the kickoff team has less momentum, the returner has a higher chance to make a big play and break out a touchdown return, which all fans appreciate.

The point after try consists of a one, two, and three point conversions, all not involving a kick conversion. While this is not a drastic safety precaution, it allows games to be more competitive: no lead will ever be safe without good play from both sides of the ball.

There is one way I believe the XFL can be defeated:

The XFL has a major hole in their case for relevance and success. The fight for the defeat of the XFL will need to be an effort surrounding not just the NFL, but the NCAA and lawmakers as well. The NCAA must pay their collegiate athletes for their participation in college sports. The athletes make the schools millions of dollars, and on a moral standpoint, college athletes are unpaid workers. If college players can get paid, then the major pitch of the XFL diminishes, and no high school player would ever be more compelled to go to the XFL rather than college, even if the XFL could pay slightly more than college.

All in all, the XFL was a great idea. It is 2020. Media is everything, and the XFL looks to be the next great league.

The stone gargoyle that is perceived to be the on-field mascot of the Guardians spewed smoke as the players took the field to cheers from the 17,000+ fans in attendance.

GUARDIANS TAKE THE FIELD (Henry Frieman/Field2Court)

On the first drive, the Guardians immediately got to work. KR Austin Duke was electric, returning the kickoff for 59 yards. QB Matt McGloin connected with TE Jake Powell on 4th down for a 15-yard gain, putting New York in field-goal range. The Guardians continued to drive, featuring a spectacular catch by WR Joe Horn Jr. McGloin capped off the series by rushing into the endzone for a touchdown.

After a lengthy drive by the Vipers led to an Aaron Murray (Vipers QB) interception by Guardians CB Andrew Soroh, the offense could not capitalize off of the turnover. However, the Vipers’ series stalled, and the Guardians got the ball back as the first quarter ended, up seven to nothing.

Austin Duke continued his stellar play, returning the punt for 38 yards. On the very next play, McGloin heaved a 45-yard pass to WR Mekale McKay, who dove to the Tampa 12-yard line on the catch.

McGloin then connected to WR Colby Pearson, whom I spoke to (while writing under the name TakeFlightInsider), for a 12-yard touchdown.

With 2:38 remaining in the second half, Guardians C Ian Silberman and Vipers DT Ricky Walker appeared to be in an altercation. Walker threw a punch and was ejected. That was the first ejection in XFL history.

The defensive performance continued, as Guardians CB Bryce Jones intercepted Murray. McGloin hit Pearson for 32 yards and after a 49 yard Matthew McCrane FG, the Guardians walked to the locker room at halftime up 17-0.

On the first Vipers drive of the second half, Aaron Murray fumbled, a nice summary of his performance that day. The Guardians received the ball, but the drive stalled. Tampa Bay HC Marc Trestman elected to put in his backup, QB Quinton Flowers of USF. Flowers ran the ball exclusively, setting up Vipers K Andrew Franks for a 23-yard FG. That was it for Tampa’s offense.

With 12:09 remaining in the game, Murray passed to TE Nick Truesdell. Truesdell fumbled and Guardians CB Jamar Summers returned the ball for a touchdown. At that point, the Vipers hecklers came out, and I overheard some of their own fans booing. The rest of the game was garbage time, and the Guardians secured a win.

Led by three forced fumbles (one recovered for a TD), two interceptions, and five sacks, the Guardians obliterated the away team. Caesar’s Sportsbook may need to evaluate their odds after this performance – They had the Guardians at 8/1 odds and the Vipers at 3/1 odds to win the 2020 XFL Championship. For the first time I can remember, they were dead wrong.

Next week, the Guardians travel to the nation’s capital to take on the DC Defenders, who defeated the Seattle Dragons on Saturday. It will be an evenly-matched game, defensive battle, and a fun one.

Henry Frieman covers the Guardians and the XFL for Field2Court.

The DC Defenders defeated the Seattle Dragons in the debut of the new XFL Saturday, by a score of 31 to 19. Defenders quarterback Cardale Jones went 16-of-26 for 291 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

“This is for the love of football,” Jones said, addressing the crowd before kickoff. “Enjoy.”

“For the love of football” has been the slogan of the XFL since its creation. The new rules and television broadcasts showed a drastic difference to former attempts at a spring football league.

Viewers of the broadcast could hear Dragons head coach Jim Zorn and Defenders head coach Pep Hamilton call plays, giving an all-access look inside the world of pre-snap football. Sideline reporters had the opportunity to interview players immediately after they came off the field, a new feature that had some viral moments.

Dragons center Dillon Day was one of the players interviewed after a brief scuffle.

“There was just a lot of chatting after the play,” Day said. “We’re trying to make some stuff happen and they’re doing a little extra pushing and shoving. We’re trying to get our [expletive] job done and they’re just —”

ABC cut Day’s audio after the expletive. But the damage was done, and Twitter exploded.

Moments like these, paired with a high-paced gameplay experience, led to an exciting game that quickly harnessed support for the new league.

Dragons WR Austin Proehl caught five passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns, including the first in XFL history. However, two defensive touchdowns for the Defenders sealed the game.

The most electric play of the game was a trick-play touchdown for the Defenders. Down 13-12 at the beginning of the third quarter, Cardale Jones handed the ball off to RB Donnel Pumphrey, who flipped the ball to WR Eli Rogers, who flipped it back to Jones. Jones then connected with TE Khari Lee for a 39-yard touchdown, taking the lead. They never looked back.

Next week, the Defenders take on the New York Guardians, looking to become 2-0. The Dragons look to bounce back against the Tampa Bay Vipers.

Pearson was selected in the XFL draft last October by the New York Guardians. This team, led by HC Kevin Gilbride and NFL-Journeyman QB Matt McGloin, kicks off against the Tampa Bay Vipers on Sunday.

Pearson is listed as a starter on the Guardians’ depth chart. During the Guardians’ preseason scrimmage against Tampa Bay, Pearson snagged a 76-yard touchdown catch. He had lost his footing about 30 yards from the endzone, but after noticing that he was not touched, he returned to his feet and scored.

Pearson is a part of history, being on the first-ever New York Guardians roster. He’ll play in the 3rd-ever XFL game.

“[It’s] really cool to be a part of the first-ever Guardians team, no doubt,” Pearson told me. “[The XFL] will be played like never before.”

This is true. The XFL has made some very interesting rule changes, calling them “less stall and more ball.” There are no more kicking plays on extra-point attempts, limiting “boring” punts, and a brand-new “Double Pass” feature, allowing two forward passes per play. Overtime is a 5-round setup, similar to that of an NHL shootout.

The XFL exists for spring football. But for the players, it’s a chance to relive their dreams of playing pro football. For Pearson, this is an opportunity that he greatly appreciates.

“Getting another shot in [the NFL] is definitely my goal for this season,” Pearson said. “I’m grateful for the XFL for providing me with an opportunity to show what I can do.”

Pearson gets to play in arguably the best uniforms in the XFL, and his personal favorite.

“Man, and I’m not just saying this, we have the best logo and jersey combo no doubt!” Pearson told me. “Everyone will see this weekend.”

That’s also true. Tune in to FOX on Sunday, February 9, at 2:00 PM to watch the game. See if you can spot Pearson. It’ll most likely be easy to find him– he’s a gamechanger and makes his presence known.