Alliance of American Football: What went wrong?

[kenobi_65]

Found the old thread:

https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=870490

Go to page 3 of the thread for posts that related to the league’s sudden shutdown.

What I didn’t remember until re-reading the thread was that one of their big selling points at the time was an app that let fans make real-time bets on player performance, which apparently never was really completed.

Also, I’d linked to an SI.com story in that thread about the shutdown. Quoting myself:

@kenobi_65

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.”