In an article by Ben Fischer of Sports Business Daily, he details the behind the scenes action that took place from March 20th, when the league canceled its season to the fateful conference call on April 10. The call took everyone by surprise and officially closed the doors on the XFL.
Based on our earlier report, XFL Was Looking At Potentially Relocating Three XFL Teams, the XFL was looking to move three of its teams, one was to the city of San Antonio. The other, we now have learned is the Tampa Bay Vipers potential move to Orlando.
On April 2, Pollack met with McMahon. The substance of that meeting is unknown, but others around league offices had reason to believe it was about 2021 planning. Prior to the meeting, Pollack was briefed on venue agreements and the possibility of relocating the Tampa Bay Vipers to Orlando and moving the New York Guardians’ home games from MetLife Stadium to Red Bull Arena.
Ben Fischer
We had detailed in our earlier article about XFL relocation that the Guardians and Vipers had roughly 12,000 fans per home game, lowest in the league. It would make sense to bringing both teams to a smaller more accessible venue.
The Orlando Apollos were the top team in the AAF, lead by head coach Steve Spurrier. Orlando games drew well so it makes sense to look at that market. Oliver Luck had previously stated the XFL stayed away from AAF markets because, at the time, their league was still playing. Since the AAF was no longer competition, those markets were up for grabs.
AAF fans, it looks like you might have had two teams return to your cities if the XFL were to have continued. One in San Antonio, the other in Orlando.
