Pier Oddone, director of Fermilab, told the AFP news agency: "In our field we don't keep beating our heads if we have been outdone by another machine."
Yes, that's what Fermilab's administrator said. Here's what the scientists working on the Trevatron and the expert panel of scientists who were assembled to make recommendations about closing the Trevaton said.
Researchers have repeatedly stated that they are closing in on the Higgs, which - if found - would explain the origins of mass and is the last missing jigsaw piece in the most widely accepted theory of particle physics - the Standard Model.
A bid to extend the Tevatron's lifetime by three years was denied in January 2011 because the US Department of Energy could not come up with the extra $35m per year required to keep the machine running. An expert panel recommended the extension but its advice was not followed, turning the quest for the Higgs into a one-horse race.
"In the Higgs game, we are still competitive and we hope to have our final results next year," said Professor Stefan Soldner-Rembold, spokesperson for the Tevatron's DZero experiment.
He told BBC News: "There are always reasons for and against an extension. I still think especially in terms of the Higgs it would have been nice to have another three years. We can see now that we are so close."