While walking to the train from my office today, I saw a woman wearing a San Diego Fleet sweatshirt, and I thought to myself, "I have to believe that there’ll be some behind-the-scenes journalism going on, about what went wrong with the AAF.
And, in fact, there’s a long-form article on SI.com this week, by Conor Orr, on it. A few key bits:
- Tom Dundon apparently had no interest at all in the tracking / wagering smartphone app (which turned out to not have lived up to its initial promises before the plug was pulled).
- The AAF was forced to bring in Dundon when one of their initial investors, Reggie Fowler, wound up having his bank accounts frozen, when he was charged with bank fraud.
- When Dundon came on board, he forced Charlie Ebserol off of the league’s board of directors.
- The league filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, “claiming some $11 million in assets against $48 million in liabilities. Cash on hand: $536,160.68.”