Kemo
04-19-2020, 08:52 PM
AEW broadcaster and Senior Advisor Jim Ross discussed the XFL going into bankruptcy on a recent episode of his Ross Report podcast.
The rebooted league was Vince McMahon’s second attempt to establish an ‘alternative’ to the National Football League (NFL) and bring high-level football to fans during the traditional off-season.
JR has said in the past how much Vince McMahon invested into the original XFL concept, both financially and emotionally. Even after the league folded back in 2001 after just one season, McMahon hinted that he would give it another shot one day.
“I had the first meeting with Vince after the XFL went belly-up [in 2001]” Jim Ross said on an older episode of Grilling JR. “I talked with [McMahon’s personal assistant] Beth Zazza, ‘Is the boss gonna want to meet today?’ She said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah. He’s fine.’ He [Vince] just lost $50 million, I think it was, something like that. I said basically the same thing. ‘What could we have done differently?’ Vince said, ‘Not a god damn thing, JR. The way it was laid out? We did the best we could with what we had, but I wouldn’t change a thing. It was a calculated risk. And I would do it all over again. Because I believe in the concept.’”
It appeared as though this second attempt was at least on course to be viable. The games had been met with generally positive reviews and the quality of the football on show was solid.
The issue with this iteration of course stemmed from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which has seen the majority of sports leagues cancel or postpone their seasons. The NFL, NBA, MLB and MLS have all stopped play, and the XFL had to follow suit. The big issue for the XFL, unlike these other leagues, is that due to its infancy it was operating on a loss.
McMahon was hoping to get strong television rights following the initial success of the opening part of this season, but without the potential revenue coming in from networks? The brand was doomed to fail for a second time, albeit due to matters outside his control.
When asked about the XFL filing for bankruptcy earlier this month, Ross admitted he was “a little bit shocked” by the news.
“I can see suspending play, much like the NFL has and other leagues,” he said on a Patreon Exclusive episode of Grilling JR. “MLB so forth and the NBA Playoffs. All these things that are being suspended based on, ‘Are we going to be able to proceed at some point in time, sooner than later?’ And of course we don’t know that. I think it’s absurd for [government] officials to talk about May 1st or June 1st. They’re just bullsh*tting us. Yeah, come on. They don’t know, right?”
The rebooted league was Vince McMahon’s second attempt to establish an ‘alternative’ to the National Football League (NFL) and bring high-level football to fans during the traditional off-season.
JR has said in the past how much Vince McMahon invested into the original XFL concept, both financially and emotionally. Even after the league folded back in 2001 after just one season, McMahon hinted that he would give it another shot one day.
“I had the first meeting with Vince after the XFL went belly-up [in 2001]” Jim Ross said on an older episode of Grilling JR. “I talked with [McMahon’s personal assistant] Beth Zazza, ‘Is the boss gonna want to meet today?’ She said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah. He’s fine.’ He [Vince] just lost $50 million, I think it was, something like that. I said basically the same thing. ‘What could we have done differently?’ Vince said, ‘Not a god damn thing, JR. The way it was laid out? We did the best we could with what we had, but I wouldn’t change a thing. It was a calculated risk. And I would do it all over again. Because I believe in the concept.’”
It appeared as though this second attempt was at least on course to be viable. The games had been met with generally positive reviews and the quality of the football on show was solid.
The issue with this iteration of course stemmed from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which has seen the majority of sports leagues cancel or postpone their seasons. The NFL, NBA, MLB and MLS have all stopped play, and the XFL had to follow suit. The big issue for the XFL, unlike these other leagues, is that due to its infancy it was operating on a loss.
McMahon was hoping to get strong television rights following the initial success of the opening part of this season, but without the potential revenue coming in from networks? The brand was doomed to fail for a second time, albeit due to matters outside his control.
When asked about the XFL filing for bankruptcy earlier this month, Ross admitted he was “a little bit shocked” by the news.
“I can see suspending play, much like the NFL has and other leagues,” he said on a Patreon Exclusive episode of Grilling JR. “MLB so forth and the NBA Playoffs. All these things that are being suspended based on, ‘Are we going to be able to proceed at some point in time, sooner than later?’ And of course we don’t know that. I think it’s absurd for [government] officials to talk about May 1st or June 1st. They’re just bullsh*tting us. Yeah, come on. They don’t know, right?”