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Steve Spurrier won the 1966 Heisman Trophy back when he was playing for the Florida Gators, he was picked in the first round to play for the San Francisco 49ers and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Steve Spurrier is a football legend and he had some words about the canceling and bankruptcy of the XFL.
.@SteveSpurrierUF joins @SteveRussell850 to talk about the downfall of the XFL and gives his his thoughts and solution to football season amid COVID-19.#GoGators #ChompChomp #SteveSpurrier #COVID19 https://t.co/nArUySdJGi
— ESPN 98.1 / 850 WRUF (@ESPNGainesville) April 13, 2020
No More XFL
The XFL has been rumoring around that the 2020 season is cancelled, they filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The league cannot afford to pay coaches and players anymore. Spurrier mentions that maybe in two years, if the coronavirus is all the way gone, the league may or may not have a comeback.
Statement by the XFL… pic.twitter.com/YnQNguip3m
— Anthony Miller (@ByAnthonyMiller) April 13, 2020
The league had also rescheduled a four-team postseason. The postseason included a championship game in Houston for late April, that was also canceled.
The XFL had a television package with ESPN and FOX Sports. ABC, ESPN/ESPN2, FS1/FS2 also agreed to telecast XFL games. These stations were bringing in an audience, but of course not like the NFL. The NFL is more than a sports league, it is an American institution.
Spurrier was the head coach of the Orlando Apollos of the Aliance of American Football, which folded midseason in 2019. After the team was on the road a couple of weeks and went 5-0, Spurrier said the team was expecting to come back to 15,000-20,000 fans supporting them. In reality, it was around 8,000-10,000. Local TV stations weren’t advertising their local team like they should have been, according to Spurrier. He added that they didn’t show the Apollos would be playing that night, so how are town locals supposed to know when and where they were if they didn’t keep up.
The XFL would have had a chance is they had started years before this pandemic. Just like other upcoming leagues like March Madness, the XFL was working. With high hopes returning to the 2021 season, the XFL is unsure of this decision. The news is upsetting for the coaches and hundreds of players who agreed to play for lower wages, just to play football again.
