Last month the Professional Fighters League became one of the first sports leagues to delay its 2020 season until 2021. Donn Davis, the tournament-based MMA promotion’s chairman and co-founder, explains how the organisation plans to stay relevant for the rest of the year.
The Covid-19 pandemic has left every sports league around the world scrambling to figure out whether they can either squeeze in the remainder of partially completed campaigns or even begin their season at all this year.
One organisation that has not waited to see how the coronavirus crisis plays out is mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation the Professional Fighters League (PFL), which has already taken the decision to reschedule its 2020 season for 2021.
Donn Davis, the chairman and co-founder of the PFL, which has had just two seasons to date, says the league “considered all options” before deciding to postpone the 2020 campaign, admitting that it was a “benefit” that the organisation had not yet kicked off its slate of events. The league has committed to paying its contracted fighters a monthly stipend to support themselves during the shutdown period, which has taken away their opportunity to compete for US$1 million this year.
“Spring of 2021 was clearly the best thing considering all the swirl and all the issues and all the dislocation that’s going on in the world,” Davis told SportsPro. “That was a very clear decision.”
