| NEWS Report: AAF was in danger of missing payroll last week before NHL owner invested

[18Champs]

Report: AAF was in danger of missing payroll last week before NHL owner invested $250M

Though the AAF had a positive first weekend, the league needed an investor to help with a financial crisis before Week 2.

sports.yahoo.com

For all the good publicity the Alliance of American Football received early on, it’s still a startup business.

Like plenty of other startup businesses, the AAF might have been underfunded to start. The Athletic’s David Glenn, citing multiple sources, reported that the league was in danger of not making payroll last week, just the second week of the league’s existence.

The crisis was averted. Glenn wrote that Carolina Hurricanes majority owner Tom Dundon will be introduced as the AAF’s new chairman after investing $250 million to the AAF. The NHL owner’s investment allowed the league to meet its financial obligations.

It’s a reminder that, while the AAF isn’t necessarily competing with the NFL, the previous pro football leagues that tried to go head-to-head with the NFL could never come close to competing with the established league’s vault of money.

AAF’s financial issues sounded tense
From the Athletic’s story, the AAF’s situation last week sounded tense.

“Without a new, nine-figure investor, nobody is sure what would have happened,” one source told Glenn at The Athletic. “You can always tell people their checks are going to be a little late, but how many are going to show up on the weekend for games when they don’t see anything hit their bank accounts on Friday?”

That’s a stark contrast to the good feelings surrounding the league after its debut. Ratings were good, and a lot was made of the AAF’s first set of games drawing more viewers than an NBA game on ABC between the Rockets and Thunder. Overall the reception to the league was positive, which is rare for anything in the social media age.

The league clearly has done some things very well, but it was in trouble financially out of the gates. Dundon’s infusion of cash should help.

An AAF team to Raleigh?
The Athletic reported that Dundon could be positioning himself to get an AAF team in Raleigh, N.C., though a source told Glenn that while Raleigh is an option for an expansion or relocated franchise, it would happen until 2020 at the earliest.

The new league will have its struggles. There was far less buzz about the league in Week 2, which is what happened with the XFL in 2001. Everyone knew that Week 1 interest and ratings didn’t mean the AAF had arrived, though they were promising signs. Now the challenge is to try to keep the momentum going through the rest of the inaugural season.

Hopefully for the league, the financial bumps of the first couple weeks were averted due to a large investment. It’s a reminder what the AAF, or any new league, is up against as it tries to establish itself.

 

[TerryP]

or all the good publicity the Alliance of American Football received early on, it’s still a startup business.

A startup business that hasn't set aside payroll for week two? Yeah, that sounds like a solid business plan!

 

[planomateo]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/02/19/aaf-reportedly-needed-million-bailout-stay-afloat-after-just-one-week/?utm_term=.0a943cb0864f

 

[50+yeartidefan]

@TerryP ..thats right...dont start a business and sign contracts if you arent financially able to honor contracts....nothing ruins things worse and quicker than bad publicity...and the press loves anything bad they can write about,....beats good 10-1....for them... ie in the news all the time
....i think its got a chance....its spring football..... and better then NBA anyday...

 

[bama alum]

A startup business that hasn't set aside payroll for week two? Yeah, that sounds like a solid business plan!

I've been a life-long fan of the Iron. This stinks...

 

[JoshB]

I'm not going to outright say the story is wrong, because I mean its a brand new league. Im sure they suffered a ton of costs they didnt see coming, but I just find it VERY hard to believe some billionaire is just going to throw 200 million at a league that isn't able to even make payroll. Seems a bit far fetched.

Regardless, a 200 million dollar investment is MASSIVE whether it was in desperation or something they had been working on it for awhile.

 

[planomateo]

...$250 million...

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

Sounds like the Athletic story is BS unless Joe Pendry is a liar...……. I will go with Joe

Iron GM: Alliance's finances are fine

"You cannot say the league is not in position to pay players," Pendry said today.

www.al.com

Pendry said players are scheduled to be paid on the Friday after each game, but the league changed payroll companies last week. That change, he said, delayed players' weekly check until this week.
That meant players were not paid last week -- the week after the first weekend of games and just before suiting up for Week 2.
Since banks were closed Monday for Presidents Day, Pendry said players received payments today. Players will presumably receive pay for Week 2 games on Friday as scheduled.

Coach Bryant...……."here's a twenty bury two"...after being asked to chip in 10 dollars to help cover the cost of a sportswriter's funeral

 

[TUSKtimes]

Was a time, not long ago, that 250 mil would have gotten you an NFL team and some change. The TV contract has all the teams on the big screen, the spring is a great time to play and they just need to be careful they don't get spread too thin in too many markets. I hope they are smart enough to stabilize the 8 franchises they have.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

I hope they are smart enough to stabilize the 8 franchises they have.

I would hope they would wait a few years before even thinking of expanding but there are already rumbles.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

I would hope they would wait a few years before even thinking of expanding but there are already rumbles.

Fables should be required reading... anyway...i will help....
there once was a goose that laid golden eggs.... but someone thought t...just cut the goose open and get all the gold...well you know how that ends...
Its a great story of greedy and stupid...

 

['65 Cobra]

I'm not going to outright say the story is wrong, because I mean its a brand new league. Im sure they suffered a ton of costs they didnt see coming, but I just find it VERY hard to believe some billionaire is just going to throw 200 million at a league that isn't able to even make payroll. Seems a bit far fetched.

Regardless, a 200 million dollar investment is MASSIVE whether it was in desperation or something they had been working on it for awhile.

I agree, BBJ. In addition, everything else about the first two weeks of this league including the TV coverage, uniforms, staff, and web coverage is fairly well-done and professional and you have to keep in mind the association with three networks and the NFL. I really find it hard to believe that they "couldn't meet payroll" in absolute terms. Remember to always ask yourself, "does this make sense to me?"

 

[PurlJam]

My understanding is it's a developmental league for the NFL, so why not have the NFL teams designate the AAF teams like major/minor league baseball does... I'm sure there's more to it than that, but it does look like the NFL has interest. I believe that would solve the finance issues.

 

[rick4bama]

This is telling me that the AAF just came out to early. Two week and this leadge can't pay the players?

 

[JoshB]

My understanding is it's a developmental league for the NFL, so why not have the NFL teams designate the AAF teams like major/minor league baseball does... I'm sure there's more to it than that, but it does look like the NFL has interest. I believe that would solve the finance issues.

It is not a developmental league for the NFL. The NFL has no stake in this league at all. The AAF wants it to be at some point, more so as an official one (they dont want to have to share ownership with the NFL). The NFL clearly wants it to work and has given them support in certain ways (giving them coverage on NFL.com, the NFL Network TV deal, etc. and I even noticed that the first week live stats were done via an app owned by the NFL but they had their own app the next week). Bill Polian said that his hope for down the line is that the NFL allows their practice squad players to play and be developed by the AAF.

This is telling me that the AAF just came out to early. Two week and this leadge can't pay the players?

It looks like this story was no true. Someone got small pieces of information and jumped to conclusions, because that is the day and age we are living in. The frustrating part is that media outlets that have given little to no coverage (outside of that viral hit on the QB the first week) were the ones to jump on this straight from the jump. I looks like the real story is that Ebersol and the AAF had been working on getting his billionaire to invest in the league for almost a year now. After the success of the first couple of weeks he decided to jump on board finally. The AAF changed the system they use for payroll (they were supposed to get paid the Friday after each game) right before the first game, which caused the first checks to not come on time and instead the following Tuesday. A reporter got bits and pieces of this stuff and put it all together without attempting to do the leg work to confirm anything.

 

[planomateo]