diff --git a/asv_bench/benchmarks/io/excel.py b/asv_bench/benchmarks/io/excel.py
index 80af2cff41769..96f02d37db1e1 100644
--- a/asv_bench/benchmarks/io/excel.py
+++ b/asv_bench/benchmarks/io/excel.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def time_write_excel(self, engine):
 
 class ReadExcel:
 
-    params = ["xlrd", "openpyxl", "odf"]
+    params = ["openpyxl", "odf"]
     param_names = ["engine"]
     fname_excel = "spreadsheet.xlsx"
     fname_odf = "spreadsheet.ods"