Charlie Ebersol attributes the failure of AAF to "different visions" between the founders and Tom Dundon – ProFootballTalk

The American Football Alliance filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday. The day after the liquidation of the league began, co-founder Charlie Ebersol broke his silence.

"I know everyone has conspiracy theories," Ebersol told John Urand of the SportsBusiness Journal. "Unfortunately, this may have just disappeared, because the lead investor and the founders had a different view of what the company was supposed to be. . . . Our long-term vision of building something slowly and gaining value for the company was not aligned with [Tom Dundon’s] vision of how he saw the league. "

It is not clear what Ebersol means by "conspiracy theories"; The prevailing view is that the FAA behaves as if it has enough money to fund several seasons when in fact it has not done so. He had commitments, first from lead investor Reggie Fowler and then from Tom Dundon. But the FAA did not have the money at the bank to pay the bills, even for a full season, let alone two or more.

"We raised more than $ 170 million in the second quarter of last year," said Ebersol. "We finally raised more than $ 200 million before the football league was launched. When it became clear that our main investor [presumably Fowler] was unable or failed to comply with signed contracts that had been approved by several banks. . . we went on the market after the success of the first weekend and we offered to let others join. Finally, Tom made an offer to buy. "

In other words, the FAA has never had the money at the bank to pay the bills even for a full season, let alone two or more.

Even after Dundon committed $ 250 million in operations, reports quickly showed that he could unplug at any time. He ended up doing that, and that's where the mismatch arose between Dundon and co-founders Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian. Ebersol and Polian wanted Dundon to stay the course, but Dundon decided not to spend any more money.

Now, there is not enough money to pay the bills. And there never was one. With debts of more than $ 48 million and assets of less than $ 12 million, most creditors will remain stranded – unless they can develop legal arguments to prosecute anyone who creates the impression that money was in the bank was not.