How's everyone doing?

[XtremeFanForever]

I'm a little surprised how little discussion there's been about the league's possible demise, considering how active the board was during the season. I realize we all have bigger things to worry about right now, but just checking how everyone is processing things.

Frankly, I don't know what to think. Two years of build up, preceeded by 17 years of wishful thinking, and it's over after five weeks. I'm not mad or even that depressed over it. It just sorta feels like the league never even got off the ground to begin with.

I realize there's still an outside chance the league survives all this, but at this point my mindset is basically "this is what I get for all that wishful thinking."

Still an Xtreme fan forever. Now I'm a Wildcats fan forever, but I feel like I barely knew the Wildcats at all.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

I was feeling completely lost, scared, anxious, a lot of negative emotions when this outbreak first started to affect everyday life and ripped sports among many other things away from us. Now that we're starting to look like we're on the downswing, I'm feeling more optimistic. We get past the next couple of weeks, and we'll start getting to the point of discussing what reopens and how we move forward. I suspect we'll get sports—in some form or another—back some time this summer, despite the recent panic-mongering about a "second wave" (which I don't think will be anywhere near as catastrophic as what happened this time, for many reasons).

I'm honestly surprised there are as many people here discussing things as there is. I figured this board would be a ghost town. I guess to an extent it's nowhere near as busy as Opening Day, but there's still discussion going on here.

Yes, I'm disappointed the XFL went bankrupt, and I lament the future of spring football (though if the UFL can survive four years in the midst of the recession of the late 2000s, I suppose there's hope). But looking at the finances the XFL had even in bankruptcy, and knowing that it took a once-in-a-century pandemic to derail a solid hit, I'm damn impressed with this league.

[MarkNelson]

Disgusted by the league going down, and equally pissed about the whole Covid situation. It’s hard to see any silver lining in this.

We are still in a place where we can hope the rest of the sports world will not be affected, but it may be naive to think that other leagues and/or teams will not fold as this thing continues.

[SamTheRam28]

Still very sad. I know it sucks a lot for other fanbases too, but damn it really stings here in St. Louis. For the other 7 cities, there is still football to look forward too. Not here. And the BattleHawks were one of a kind. I've never seen any sports team embraced by a city like that and I've never seen a team embrace a city like they did. It's crazy to think there were only 2 games played in the Dome, within the span of six short days. I looked forward to this league and followed it closely for over 2 years and we got 5 weeks, and only 2 home games. It's like being kicked in the balls. It just sucks and the worst part is that it's nobody's fault.

I feel so bad for Oliver Luck, Jeffrey Pollack, Vince, Kurt Hunzeker and all the other presidents, etc. because they put in all this work to make sure everything was in place. They checked every box and did everything right and a global pandemic shuts it all down after 5 weeks.

And the XFL won't be the only league to fall. I wouldn't be surprised if there are no arena or indoor leagues left after this. The IFL just canceled its season. The CFL will be greatly affected. The only league immune to this is the NFL. It sucks for players the most. If indoor leagues shut down or the CFL folds teams, where do players go? If you don't make the NFL out of college, retire? This is just a terrible time to be a football fan.

But yeah, other than all that I guess I'm fine.

[XtremeFanForever]

Disgusted by the league going down, and equally pissed about the whole Covid situation. It’s hard to see any silver lining in this.

We are still in a place where we can hope the rest of the sports world will not be affected, but it may be naive to think that other leagues and/or teams will not fold as this thing continues.

I fully expect this to send shockwaves though the minor league baseball system. MLB was already lobbying to shut down some teams. I honestly don't see any way minor league baseball has a season. Nearly all their revenue comes from in-stadium purchases. They don't have the luxury of TV deals like MLB, so even if the teams themselves could play the stadiums would be empty and franchises would be hemorrhaging money.

This could permanently alter the baseball farm system.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

And the XFL won't be the only league to fall. I wouldn't be surprised if there are no arena or indoor leagues left after this. The IFL just canceled its season. The CFL will be greatly affected. The only league immune to this is the NFL. It sucks for players the most. If indoor leagues shut down or the CFL folds teams, where do players go? If you don't make the NFL out of college, retire? This is just a terrible time to be a football fan.

Remember, though, that when something burns down, and there's a market for it, someone else will come along and start something new. Will it look the same as 2019? Probably not. But once this is over—and trust me, it will eventually be over—a phoenix will rise from the ashes.

I fully expect this to send shockwaves though the minor league baseball system. MLB was already lobbying to shut down some teams. I honestly don't see any way minor league baseball has a season. Nearly all their revenue comes from in-stadium purchases. They don't have the luxury of TV deals like MLB, so even if the teams themselves could play the stadiums would be empty and franchises would be hemorrhaging money.

This could permanently alter the baseball farm system.

Oh, absolutely. Most of the lower levels were on the brink of collapse as it was.

I know the amateur collegiate summer baseball leagues, which don't rely on ticket revenue as much, are aiming for a mid-June reopening around here, which is realistic given it's a rural area and fewer cases means better chance of extirpating the virus here.

This won't last forever, but 2020 is going to be tough. It'll depend on how quickly the virus goes down, and how fearful leadership is about reopening larger gatherings. Keep in mind when you look at new case totals, hospitalizations, etc., that this data is one to two weeks behind the date of infection, so we're already seeing infection rates drop pretty rapidly right now.

As for all this talk of a second wave, no sports or large crowds 'til we get a vaccine—all that's based on the premise that this virus is seasonal. There might be a seasonal component, but it's overwhelmed by its method of spread (close contact in large crowds), and it hit the whole world at once, meaning it's not going to swarm around the planet like ripples. Plus, the main reason this got so bad in much of the world is that we didn't know anything about this virus and were operating on assumptions from China that turned out to be... well... to put it generously, inaccurate. Now we know much more about it and I suspect during the summer we'll be doing LOTS more research to learn more. IF a second wave materializes, we'll be far more ready than we were this time around. Also remember: for all this talk about Spanish flu coming in waves, there was a reason for that. That second wave came from the soldiers returning home from World War I, having been in filthy trenches and crowded ships and hospitals, and bringing the virus to their communities. I believe Boston and Philadelphia had major outbreaks traced to parades featuring these returning soldiers. There is no such mass migration event happening now. SARS, the closest known relative to this virus, was wiped out forever after a much tinier second wave nearly two years after the first.

The thing about it is that this virus isn't any more contagious than the flu. It's just that it's a longer-lasting illness that's slower to incubate, giving the infected more time to spread it.

[Tank55]

Pretty surprised how little the XFL going under bothered me. Just shows how much the world has changed in the last month.

We were lucky to have it for the time that we did. It was a special time, and this board was a big part of the journey for me.

[Metallifreak10]

Honestly? I’m frustrated with the whole thing. I’m gonna get a lot of hate on here for what I’m about to say. The virus is bad, precautions needed to be taken, including the shutting down of large gatherings. But, most other things should be allowed outside of major cities. This virus was never going to kill 2-3 million, not even the 240,000 the White House claimed. 50,000-75,000 is the likely outcome. That’s bad, but it’s not the worst of the worst.

A lot of my in-laws are medical professionals. My wife is a nurse at major hospital in Chicago, she works in cardiology. She also has 4 years ICU experience working at a hospital in Hoffman Estates. She has had her hours cut, and they just told her that they are laying her off next week despite her ICU experience and ability to work there. The ICU has about 30 COVID at the moment, overall about 80 COVID patients are at the hospital. A few more come, but a few more get released. That number has held steady for a week. Her hospital has over 100 ICU beds plus some other areas of the hospital were converted to ICU areas to handle the overflow that never came.

Travel nurses at the hospital have had their contracts cancelled, and nurses who were cross trained from other departments for the ICU are being laid off. The hospital itself is bleeding money from all of the lost revenue from anything non-COVID related. Her hospitals ER visits are down 50% because people fear going to the hospital. How many people might die from non-COVID related issues that they otherwise may normally get checked out at a hospital? Who knows.

My wife, along with many medical workers at her hospital took it as serious as you can. But a lot of her coworkers (doctors included) do believe most cases are Asymptomatic. Even with the PPE gear, face shields and N-95s, they are not 100% protected from this virus. Every time my wife came into contact to perform tests to do with the heart of a COVID patient she was well protected with PPE. Even so, the majority of medical workers should have contracted the virus if it is as contagious as they claim. Which evidence does indeed say it is.

Lots of unknowns still, but it’s not as bad as initial claims thought it might be. Am I that upset about it? No, just frustrated. I believe we should still continue social distancing and proper hygiene as always. I support wearing a mask outside. But I don’t think shutting the economy down was correct. Sporting events, yes. But places like department stores, or public parks, or golf courses like in my state, absolutely not. 60 years and over should stay at home along with those with pre-existing conditions.

Taking it serious was necessary, but we went from a 2 out of 10 to a 10 out of 10 in a week, when in reality we should’ve been at a 7 out of 10 to begin with.

That’s the end of my political rant. I hope the XFL is picked up by FOX for 2022. I don’t think the XFL is 100% dead yet, but it is on life support.

[steinerfhc]

The thing that make the future worst is today. The WWE has released over 30 people. Wrestlers, Producers/Road agents, and one writer and a referee. To cut money and that is Vince's main company. So it's must hit them harder than we realized. Than again trying to but be judgmental. The fact Vince and Co is doing THIS after being named Essential business by Florida Posting all this awareness about this but turn around laying off talent and reports is the releases is more coming.

[XtremeFanForever]

I know the amateur collegiate summer baseball leagues, which don't rely on ticket revenue as much, are aiming for a mid-June reopening around here, which is realistic given it's a rural area and fewer cases means better chance of extirpating the virus here.

I hadn't heard this. Any leagues in particular? That would be really encouraging given we've had barely a month of baseball at any level this year.