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Just eight weeks after its first matches, the American Football Alliance (AAF) will suspend its football operations by the end of Tuesday, sources said.
Tom Dundon has actually acquired a majority stake in the league in mid-February, the league announcing his commitment of $ 250 million. It became clear later that Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, was funding the league every week, with a total commitment of about $ 70 million.
After the deal with Dundon, sources said it became clear to league co-founders Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian that Dundon's goals were different from the original plan.
Ebersol and Polian intended to develop the league for three years before becoming a food system for the NFL. Dundon, however, wanted to create this minor league relationship immediately and sought to use the leverage of AAF refolding to get an agreement with the NFL Players Association to better ensure a flow between the leagues.
As it stands, the NFL collective agreement did not allow for several Dundon demands, including a flexible system between AF players and NFL training teams.
According to sources, the AAF received a phone call with representatives of the NFLPA on Monday and a potential relationship showed signs of life. Tuesday's announcement surprised the leaders of the league.
Prior to the arrival of Dundon, Reggie Fowler was the main investor of the league, as the report The Action Network on March 27.
Fowler, which was originally supposed to buy the Minnesota Vikings before it has financial problems, has committed $ 170 million to the FAA, sources said. After being approved and suggested to the AAF by the NFL leaders themselves, Fowler had only invested $ 28 million by the time Dundon broke in.
While Dundon has funded the league payroll, sources say that he has not paid the suppliers who were working with AAF, many of whom are still looking for money. The question of which part – Dundon or the first property group, which was diluted by Dundon's investment – should pay the suppliers' bills.
When Dundon agreed to support the league, sources said he had taken unilateral control, which meant that any decision he wanted to make, including the dissolution of the league, was his .
AAF's investment includes a group of companies, including a technology group, in which MGM has invested. Part of the league's initial strategy was to use mobile gaming to engage fans. While Dundon would have liked the technology component of the company and owns the entire company, sources say it would not be legal for him to close the league in order to dump his assets.
In January 2018, WWE President Vince McMahon announced that he would bring back the XFL only with his name and logo. The new league, presented as a gadget-free version of the one launched in 2001 and which lasted a year, is expected to debut in 2020. Sources have said that McMahon planned to spend nearly $ 500 million for the league . that he had sold $ 361 million worth of WWE shares to Alpha Entertainment, whose only asset currently is the XFL.
Charlie Ebersol announced the AAF two months later, but outclassed McMahon's schedule by launching his league just after this year's Super Bowl.
The first week of the AAF has been widely advertised as Saturday matches on CBS with an average of 3.25 million viewers, far exceeding ABC's broadcast of the Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City NBA match (2.67 million). The AAF has made TV deals with CBS Sports, Turner Sports and the NFL network.
Although television ratings remained relatively respectable, attendance in many markets was mediocre, hovering around 10,000 fans reported per game.
Not surprisingly, the league also interested bettors. Jeff Sherman of the Westgate SuperBook Las Vegas told The Action Network's Michael Leboff that they saw the most activity during Weeks 1 and 2. Westgate has also taken a small amount of futures bets on the winner of the AAF championship game, and all those bets will be refunded if the league officially withdraws.
"We have already seen start-up leagues close, so we wanted to leave nothing to chance and be as definitive as possible," said Sherman.
Public relations were boosted late last month, when former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel was released from his Canadian Football League team and signed with the AAF Memphis Express.
But at that time, Dundon was already threatening to close the league for the attention of the NFL Players Association, although the AAF has created few stars that the NFL would like.
In addition to Memphis, the league had franchises in Atlanta, Birmingham, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego and Salt Lake City. Among the most prominent players, former Texas Garrett Gilbert quarterback, who led the league in assists, and former NFL first-round pick, Trent Richardson, who led the league in touchdowns.
Dundon's decision to suspend business comes as only two weeks remain in the regular season and less than four weeks after what would have been the first AAF championship game, which should be broadcast on CBS.
Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.
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