San Antonio Commanders

Austin already has professional football and baseball.

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Laughing at both your replies. :joy: good stuff.

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It makes no sense the success of the league depends on having practice squad players. They have a decent TV deal with BR, CBS and the NFL Network. They are talking about shutting the league down before the end of the season.

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Sounds like they’ll fold this week, and maybe as soon as today. So, we’ve probably seen the Commanders on the field for the last time.

But then again the AAF only made it this far by a billionaire throwing away his money. Expecting some other company to pay your payroll is no way to run a business.

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SportsCenter ‏Verified account @ SportsCenter 4m4 minutes ago

Breaking: The Alliance of American Football will suspend all football operations Tuesday, according to ESPN and multiple reports (first reported by ProFootballTalk).

Twas not to be.

We’ll see how the XFL does in Houston at TDECU.

Perhaps some of the Coogs on the Commanders will join them.

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That sucks for the players, too bad Johnny Manziel was about to put the AAC on fire

I doubt the XFL even gets off the ground at this point. The AAF shows any pro football league without the NFL’s financial backing is doomed.

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How deep are Vince McMahon’s pockets?

Surely pretty big, but is he going to mortgage the WWE (I forget it’s not the WWF anymore) or bankrupt himself doing so?

Wiki says $3.5 billion. That is serious money. And of course, he doesn’t put his money up without having an income stream from Day One. With the WWE Network, they have a ton of experience in marketing live streams. I think he learned tons from the first iteration. Look for it to at least break even.

Just got off the phone with a source close to the AAF. A few things:

1. No one, I mean no one, gets why Dundon is doing this. Not the AAF, nor its partners, nor the NFL

2. Just because Dundon is the control owner doesn't mean it's his company. Complications on the horizon.

— Ben Kercheval (@BenKercheval) April 2, 2019

3. Source confirmed what I previously thought: The idea that Dundon bought the AAF to steal its technology is out there. There will be lawsuits if he does.

— Ben Kercheval (@BenKercheval) April 2, 2019
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The plot thickens

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This is the owner’s perogative, but shutting down a league with only two weeks left in its regular season seems like a dick move. The players who committed to this league deserve to play out the season with their teammates.

Oh, well. I was kinda looking forward to a San Antonio-Orlando championship game.

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Total dick move. Does not bode well for the xfl.

I have not followed the ownership stuff, can somebody explain it to me like I’m a 10 year old? Right now I got that somebody dumped a bunch of money to buy the league only too shut it down a few weeks later?

Also were details on the tv money ever released? I would have thought that would be some pretty decent money with the coverage they got. It’s not rocket science to figure out expenses for the league. Surely they weren’t counting on huge crowds and big time sponsors just to get through year 1.

Like all upstart leagues it ran into cash flow issues. I don’t know numbers but they had a pretty solid distribution set up. On the tech side they were doing some really cool things in terms of fan engagement and stuff.

Dundon injected a bunch of cash in exchange for controlling shares of the league. Everything seemed to be ok. But he’s now shut it down without warning or seemingly any reason. The theory out there is here bought the league with this intention all along to shut it down and gain control of proprietary tech.

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I think it’s important to note that tech stuff means gambling tech.

I think you would absolutely correct in pointing that out. I did not know that myself.

No more Commanders. :tired_face::tired_face::tired_face: