General Electric-owned NBC sealed the fate of the fledgling XFL last week when it decided, after dismal ratings, not to broadcast the league next season.
The XFL attempted to reach a deal with Viacom-owned UPN, its second network, but when this too failed the game was up. The league is estimated to have lost its joint owners more than $70m (£49.4m).
The XFL pitched itself as a more violent version of the NFL, blending sex and reality-style television programming. While early viewing figures were good -- the XFL scored 16m viewers for its debut game -- the league failed to secure its position and viewers quickly drifted away.
In March, NBC suffered the ignominy of recording the lowest ever audience for a primetime programme on US TV. Ratings at UPN were also weak.
The XFL was the brainchild of WWF supremo Vince McMahon and NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol. Their target were the young male viewers, who had made the WWF so popular the world over.
For Ebersol and NBC, the failure of the XFL is a double humiliation. Three years ago the network dropped the NFL from its screens after refusing to pay more than $500m (£353m) a season year for the TV rights. With a 50% ownership of the XFL, the new league was seen as a way to circumvent the powerful NFL.
With the XFL counting on more than 40% of its revenues coming from network advertising it was doomed without network television presence, driving home the point how important TV has become to modern sport.