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According to Charlie Ebersol, former TV chief, and Bill Polian, former NFL general manager, the two men had the idea of creating the American Football Alliance in March 2017, a year before the ### 39, announcement of the formation of the league and two years before the start of the games, this winter. According to Robert Vanech, L.A. business man, he In fact, she had the idea and was able to build the AAF until Ebersol stole it after a fateful meeting with Vince McMahon.
Vanech filed suit in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, alleging that Ebersol had prevented him from taking a 50% stake in AAF. Vanech says he and Ebersol reached a handshake deal on February 16, 2017 to create a football league in the spring, which they would each own half. According to his complaint, Vanech not only had the idea of becoming what would become the AAF before approaching Ebersol, but he also invented all the exclusive innovations of the league.
According to the lawsuit, Ebersol and Vanech would have started working together shortly after the 30 It was the XFL broadcast on ESPN. The pair originally planned to revive the XFL, and a presentation to potential investors was called "XFL 2.0" and "Project Phoenix". The lawsuit recounts several text messages from Ebersol at first, most of which express an excited excitement for a future project, although Vanech was clearly more enthusiastic about certain things, after sending a text message to Ebersol: "Love it . Every morning I try to write [my] new ideas that will allow us to innovate, pioneer and amaze. This canvas is so blank that it deserves a chef-d'oeuvre. "
The men have continued to meet over the next few months. They agreed that Ebersol "would have ultimate authority over day-to-day decision making," and Ebersol asked Vanech to draw up a ceiling table that would dictate how they would dilute their holdings for future investors. potential. Ebersol and Vanech met with Ebersol's father, legendary television director Dick Ebersol, in March 2017. Dick Ebersol was advised and hired by the tailor, but promised them access to Vince McMahon, but the elder Ebersol refused to invest in the project or sit on the board of directors. .
The lawsuit points to several communications where Charlie Ebersol or potential investors refer to Vanech and Ebersol as a unit, perhaps an attempt to show evidence of a partnership between the two, in the absence of something stronger that a handshake agreement.
In April 2017, Ebersol organized a meeting with Vince McMahon through his father and he introduced Vanech as a business partner at a dinner that he organized. But a month later, after a meeting with Silicon Valley venture capitalist Keith Rabois, Vanech said that Ebersol had started putting it on the table. Rabois allegedly sought out some of Vanech's actions in the league, and Vanech claims that Ebersol knew it and yet "misled him with the aim of plotting the plot to spoil Vanech's actions. maintain without compensation and to incite to incur expenses for the AAF's efforts. "
Ebersol's plans reportedly advanced after meeting with Vince McMahon on May 18, 2017. Ebersol did not respond to Vanech when he asked about the meeting, and the next day he told Vanech that he should not not be Project Phoenix's COO. For nearly two months, Ebersol ignored Vanech's increasingly urgent demands and refused to talk to him until July 5, when he apparently would have put him out of action for good. Vanech provided an SMS exchange where Ebersol denied having an agreement with it.
After that, Ebersol would have stopped responding to Vanech's calls and Bill Polian finally claimed that he had partnered with Ebersol to found the league after the launch of Ebersol in March 2017. Vanech says that He was deceived by his 50% stake in the group's capital. project that would become AAF, and that it was erased from the official narrative and replaced by Polian.
Deadspin has contacted Ebersol and AAF with specific questions regarding prosecution; an Ebersol assistant did not return an email, while an AAF flack sent the following statement.
"Mr. Vanech's Application is without merit Mr. Vanech and Mr. Ebersol have never agreed verbally or in writing on the Alliance."
The complete suit is below:
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