“The four highest-attended games in the Alliance of American Football were all San Antonio Commander home games and I think that says a lot for the city of San Antonio,” ESPN San Antonio host Jason Minnix, who was also the play-by-play voice of the Commanders, told KTSA News. “For San Antonians, the way they embraced the San Antonio Commanders, you feel bad for the fans because we want pro football in this city and every time there is a league, San Antonio demonstrates that it will support a pro football team.”
The Commanders were by far the attendance champions in the league, drawing an average crowd of 27,721 fans. The next two were Orlando and San Diego, which were both averaging just under 20,000 fans per game.
When it comes to future football for the city, Minnix said the XFL should seriously consider San Antonio.
Currently there’s no good answer. It’s unclear why Dundon felt the issue needed to be forced with the NFL just a year out from the league needing to negotiate a new CBA with the NFLPA. Trying to play hardball with the NFL at a time its hands were tied seemed misguided, at best.
The league now needs an estimated $20M. That would keep the AAF operational for the remainder of the season and through the playoffs, but that seems unlikely unless a Hail Mary investor emerges immediately.
There’s an alternate timeline here where the AAF could have continued its operations until the NFL/NFLPA negotiations and attempted to be added to the CBA as a viable play alternative to young players, securing Dundon’s longterm goal, instead of pushing for it early.
However, there’s speculation that none of this was really about football. One of the AAF’s most valuable assets was proprietary gambling software the league had built into its app. This combination of real-time fantasy football paired with sports gambling had attractive potential, especially at a time where more states are legalizing sports gambling. Some believe that Dundon’s interest in the AAF was only to secure the technology behind the gambling app.
There’s some rumblings that the XFL may never get off the ground. Rumors are that Vince McMahon was upset about the AAF trying to start up and get contracts with CBS and the NFL Network and basically announced the XFL in order to take away publicity from them. Now that the AAF is dead, Vince may decide the XFL doesn’t need to exist.
But would you rather have it start have UH host and spend some it’s money in the hope the XFL will pay only to have them shut it down and stick UH with unpaid bills?
My understanding was that UH doesn’t pay for anything, gets a per game fee as well as a piece of concessions and parking. The XFL will apply temporary signage and sell their merchandise.
We now know why the AAF folded. Dundon stole an app for $70M. Again and again Karma will come around.
Now why did the AFL or USFL made it (We know all about the NJ Generals) vs the XFL or AAF? The biggest factor was economics. These non NFL leagues signed the best players out of college right away. The product was not only exciting but actually very good. The XFL or AAF were not able to do that.
The other factor imo is what N.F.L. G.M.'s do year in and out. The truth is that if you take away about ten Teams the N.F.L. product is so diluted that it is almost unwatchable.
Could the N.F.L. adopt an MLB minor league system? It could but very few G.M.'s emphasise the role the OL plays into achieving success. With that mindset of “immediate success” there is no way an XFL or AAAAFL can succeed. I take that back. What if Vince McMahon throws $50M for the highest rated player? Then yes they can. Unless the NFL agrees to give first to late round draft picks to the XFL or other Spring league there is no way they will succeed.
The average career in the NFL is 3 years. No chance there is ever a developmental league. It would just be 52 guys that couldn’t make a roster playing to develop a QB.
I’ve heard an argument for no preseason, a schedule extension but a limit on quarters / games played. That would be interesting.
The AAF seems to have adopted a different interpretation of the law. On Apr. 3, the AAF announced it had “authorized” AAF players to sign with NFL teams. Several dozen players haves since signed with NFL teams. Again, a sensible interpretation of the facts is that the AAF could not block players from signing with the NFL and thus no “authorization” was needed.
The AAF has apparently adopted a more exclusionary approach with respect to AAF players who want to play in the CFL. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, CFL executives have notified teams that the AAF “will not allow its players” to sign with CFL teams. Schefter also reports that the AAF sees its players’ contracts “as assets in potential bankruptcy proceedings.”
AAF was a sham, how in the world do you go into a season without SOLID funding in the bank, not some promise, to at least make it through first season ? Read some articles that said it almost folded in 2nd week…missed payments, etc.
So few actually make it to NFL, that any chance to get paid doing what you love means players will always be lined up to give it a go. How many independent indoor leagues are there now or have come and gone in last decade ? Baseball dwarfs football when it comes to minors…guys in the Pecos League make roughly $50 per week…yep…FIFTY DOLLARS per week
It would be easy to paint Ebersol as the naive hotshot in over his head. Or Dundon as the league’s heartless executioner. The whole story, though, is far more complex. Conversations with more than a dozen people connected to the operation (most of whom asked not to be identified as they sought new employment) paint the picture of a corporate drama straight from the white-knuckle world of Silicon Valley startups. Of questionable funding that would suddenly dry up, and an early investor allegedly wrapped up in shady banking practices. Of secret software that promised to change sports gambling as we know it. Of players, coaches and execs serving as stagehands for the real grand design, a company that would use live football to experiment with and eventually sell off its technology—or, as one AAF engineer put it: a “petri dish for the NFL.” And a “boon for gambling companies.”
Who is to blame? A better question might be, What the hell was the AAF?