AAF folds before season even ends

I had no delusions of the league surviving long-term, but I truly didn't expect for it to end this soon:

The Alliance of American Football League is suspending football operations as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to a person familiar with majority investor Tom Dundon’s plans. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the development. 

Pro Football Talk and The Action Network were the first to report the news. 

The AAF was entering Week 9 of the 10-week regular season. 

"I am extremely disappointed to learn Tom Dundon has decided to suspend all football operations of the Alliance of American Football," AAF co-founder Bill Polian said in a statement Tuesday, according to ESPN. "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. 

"The momentum generated by our players, coaches and football staff had us well positioned for future success. Regrettably, we will not have that opportunity."

Too bad. I was enjoying following the former UH players who were playing for the San Antonio Commanders, and Corinne and I even talked about making a trip over to the Alamodome to watch a game.

So what happened for the league to get shuttered before it could play a full season? The Sporting News places the blame for the league's demise squarely at Dundon's feet:

It is worth noting that the apparent collapse of the AAF is not related to TV ratings. Action Network's Darren Rovell reported the league’s TV ratings were "respectable" through its inaugural season despite a significant drop-off after its opening weekend. Instead, the collapse appears to be tied directly to Dundon. 

The owner of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, Dundon committed $250 million to the AAF in February, an investment that reportedly kept the league afloat. He became the controlling owner of the league at that point, something Ebersol and Polian might now regret. 

Days before the AAF suspended football operations, Dundon told USA Today he needed cooperation from the NFL Players' Association (NFLPA) in order to feed current NFL players into the league and, therefore, maintain the AAF's viability — in Dundon's mind, at least. 

"If the players' union is not going to give us young players, we can't be a development league," Dundon said.

The NFLPA, citing its collective bargaining agreement with the NFL and the overall safety of its players as reasons, declined to enter into such an arrangement, so Dundon pulled the plug.

Rovell reported Dundon had been funding the AAF on “a week-to-week basis," and that as of Tuesday, he had invested $70 million of the $250 million he committed to the league. 

Which begs yet another question, and one to which even those in the AAF reportedly can't fathom an answer: Why would Dundon waste $70 million and pull the plug on the league over a silly stare-down with the NFLPA? 

According to Pro Football Talk, which cited a source, "Dundon signed on to kick the tires. Once he realized how expensive it was to own and operate a sports league, he initially tried to cut costs. But that resulted in a cutting of functionality. He then pinned the league’s future to a deal with the NFL for permission to borrow its bottom-of-roster players."

Previously, Albert Breer of The MMQB had offered a possible explanation for Dundon's actions: "Perception inside the AAF is that Dundon bought a majority stake in the league simply for the gambling app being developed."

As its primary owner and investor, Dundon is within his rights to pull the plug on the league. However, killing the league before its even had a chance to crown a champion, and leaving in the lurch all the players, coaches, trainers, front office staff and everyone else who committed themselves to the new league, is truly a dick move on his part.

Assuming that no deep-pocketed benefactor swoops in to salvage the league's inaugural season (spoiler alert: they won't), the AAF joins a long list of failed start-up football leagues. However, spring football aficionados should not despair; the second iteration of the XFL is still, as of the time of this writing, expected to kick off in the spring of 2020; it will now be able to do so without competition*. Perhaps the XFL could learn from the AAF's experience if it wants to survive, even if history says it won't.

ESPN's story is here. CBS Sports has more on what went wrong and what happens next. Deadspin tells the stories of players who have been left "high and dry" by the league's sudden collapse. Sports Illustrated takes stock of some AAF players that could get another shot at the NFL. SB Nation surveys the league's rise and fall - "Nobody is better off for the AAF dying, and it’s all a shame" - and offers more lessons for the XFL.

*XFL owner Vince McMahon's was reportedly approached with an offer to buy the AAF, which he declined. That being said, the XFL's buying some of the AAF's better assets - The San Antonio Commanders led the league in attendance (27,721 fans/game) when the league folded, and Steve Spurrier's Orlando Apollos were clearly its strongest on-field organization - and unveiling a ten, rather than eight, team XFL next spring wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.