That’s fine, take his money and give him a stake…but don’t give him control over the entire league
I wonder if that wound up being something he had stipulated as his terms for the $250 investment. “Yes, I’ll put in that much, but in return, I become controlling owner.”
Given that it appears that the league was backed into a corner as far as needing the infusion of cash (and needing it immediately), they may not have been in a position to do otherwise.
I’m betting that’s exactly what happened. That would explain why Polian is so bitter; they were forced to give control to Dundon to keep things going, then he uses that control to shut it down.
It seems like in Bill Polian’s opinion it wasn’t 100% necessary to fold before the season finished, but it might have been done because Tom Dundon saw the writing on the wall and knew if he kept it going it would have been flushing money down the toilet. Which is the right thing to do from a business perspective, but must have felt like a betrayal. Add on stories of players stranded far from home with nowhere to stay, no way to get home, and not much cash to get there, and it must really burn.
Polian seems like more of a football guy, while Dundon is more of a business guy, so you can see how different motives and different philosophies will clash and lead to bad feelings.
Make that “the $250 million investment.” :smack:
Here’s an article from CBSSports.com that categorically states, Dundon didn’t get control of the app.
If that report is correct, and I were someone who sunk $250MM into a money pit venture, and that $250MM** didn’t** buy me the one asset that could make money in the future, I’d probably want to shut it down as soon as I saw its first full month’s balance sheet.
I’m curious who does own the app… Is it Ebersol? The article doesn’t elaborate.
Just a guess here, but looking at the key investors and playing “one of these people is not like the others,” I’m guessing the intellectual property, if not the actual app, is under the control of Keith Rabois and/or MGM Resorts. I’m guessing MGM Resorts own the actual app.
How can 3/4 of the teams be out of it before the All-Star break when a third of the teams make the playoffs?
Anyway… I guess the AAF was lying about their financial backing? The story was supposed to be that they were prepared for several YEARS of losses.
The lead on the AAF website is “Week 8 Power Rankings.” I assume the Finance Department is ranked last.
Sick burn. Someone call the Arizona Hotshots. 
This article on SI.com quotes Bug Howard, a tight end with the Atlanta Legends, that the players found out about the league’s shutdown in the middle of practice.
The article also notes:
Classy all around. 
A few players have been invited to camps, including two from Orlando, which really makes this league folding that much worse because it kinda worked.
I don’t imagine anyone staying on a roster…but they have the chance and that’s all they asked.
Sucks.
you know im wondering if the whole league was just a set up for the fantasy/gambling angle ……
like : programmer "hey I just made this brand new prog for fantasy football and gambling …… investor "well lets make a league to see if it works and we can sell it " well get enough fb types to make it look legit ……
they just didn’t make/have enough money to ride it out until it took off
Today’s I4 Business magazine has a picture of the Apollos with the headline “A Winning Combination!” in giant letters. It features a story on the Apollos and their success.
Ouch.
Okay, I get that the print version of this month’s magazine had already been printed and distributed and they felt obligated to keep the story up on the web version. But you’d think they’d also put up an editor’s note to say, “Funny story, we had this article all ready to go before everything blew up. Oh well”
It might have been WORTH about $250.
I just don’t get this guy’s angle. If he didn’t get this magical gambling app, why did he blow $70 million on this? Was there no due diligence?
The whooooooole thing seems fishy. I think there was a lot of lying a deception going around on all fronts.
I’m starting to feel the same way. I think I won’t be surprised if lawsuits start popping up soon.
The last item in Albert Breer’s Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com today is about the demise of the AAF. In it, he says that, after Dundon became the majority owner of the league, the AAF started becoming extremely frugal: for example, they forced coaches to use their own personal computers (rather than using team-owned computers), they cut back on travel spending, and they stopped doing team meals.
Dolphins signed SEVEN former AAF players.
Every signing makes me more and more angry that the league owners and Tom Coundon did what they did.
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.”