From AAF to OFF

Emailed on April 5th, 2019 in The Friday Forward

Less than two months after playing its first games, and with the postseason just two weeks away, the Alliance of American Football (AAF) has shutdown operations.

About 9 days after a successful debut of a game to over 3M viewers on CBS, news broke that the AAF was on the cusp of not being able to pay its players and was bailed out by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon, who made a $250 million investment and effectively became the league's majority stakeholder.

On April 2nd, the league folded. 

According to The Action Network's Darren Rovell, AAF founders Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian had a plan to develop the league for three years before becoming a feeder system to the NFL.

"Dundon, however, wanted to create a minor league relationship immediately and sought to use the leverage of folding the AAF" to get a deal done. He has also apparently been funding the league on a week-to-week basis, having only committed $70 million of the $250 million so far.

Well....

League co-founder Bill Polian is pissed.

"When Mr. Dundon took over, it was the belief of my co-founder, Charlie Ebersol, and myself that we would finish the season, pay our creditors, and make the necessary adjustments to move forward in a manner that made economic sense for all. Unfortunately, Mr. Dundon has elected this course of action."

And... players are pissed. Check out this insane Twitter thread about players showing up to their hotels with their personal belongings IN THE LOBBY. 

Expect more developments regarding this story over the next few weeks.

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