Someone save the XFL
Emailed on May 8th 2020 in The Friday Forward
The XFL has launched a Hail Mary to find a new owner, one month after the filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Investment bank Houlihan Lokey is managing the process, with letters of intent due by June 12, according to a pitch deck obtained by Axios. Formal bids are due on July 6.
The basic pitch, much like other cash-strapped businesses, is that they were doing well before the pandemic so you should bet they'll continue building momentum once this subsides. Personally, I did see some promise in the XFL - especially the evolved rules.
The stats:
The XFL claims to have been on page to generate $46 million in revenue during its debut season, before it was cut short.
This includes average game attendance of nearly 20,000, with an attendee net promoter score of 66. Plus 1.9 million average broadcast viewers for nationally distributed games.
Both attendance and viewership were declining as the season progressed — something not noted in the pitch deck — but not the sort of crashes seen by the XFL in its first incarnation or by the more recent upstart failure of the Alliance of American Football.
I can't imagine a better opportunity for Dwayne Johnson.