The American Football Alliance owes me money.
Last month, I signed a contract to write an article for the fledgling league’s website. I’ve written about Atlanta Legends coach Kevin Coyle and his relative anonymity to other head coaches in the league, such as Mike Singletary, Mike Martz, Mike Riley, Steve Spurrier, and Dennis Erickson. When I finished writing, I went out and spent the AAF money. I just haven’t been paid yet.
I felt pretty smart about the AAF, which, in its first week of play this month, garnered more attention Saturday night for its television debut on CBS than ABC for a big NBA basketball game airing at the same time.
Maybe I’m too optimistic. On the other hand, you would possibly now have a better chance of getting paid.
On Tuesday, news circulated that the AAF, whose project is to expand players for an unaffiliated NFL, was already running at the edge of its wits. It was reported that the fledgling AAF needed an infusion of money to cover their salaries ahead of last weekend’s games, the league’s second weekend. It appears that the money reimbursement the AAF obtained from CBS’s television partners, Turner and NFL Network, fell short of a budget in which players had three-year non-guaranteed contracts worth $250,000, as well as fitness insurance and school assignments.
Tom Dundon, a self-made businessman in his 40s who attended top school in Plano, a Dallas suburb, before moving to the affluent community of Preston Hollow, jumped into the AAF’s dollar gap. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones live within a healthy walking distance.
Dundon, an economics graduate from SMU, got his start in the global business of subprime auto financing. This translates into lending cash at high interest rates to others with weak credit histories. Since then, he has embarked on control of a large-scale investment firm. In 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1. 1 billion.
To this day, Dundon is best known in the sports world as the majority owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. Or if you’re a fan of a more prominent sport, owns a fair percentage of TopGolf entertainment centers and is one of the founders of Dallas’ last wonderful golf course, Trinity Forest Golf Club, which is home to the AT stop
Now, Dundon has his own league for a $250 million cash injection.
The AAF owns and operates its 8 franchises. On Tuesday, as news of his investment broke, Dundon was named president of the AAF. It remains to be seen what that means for the alliance’s co-founders, TV maker Charlie Ebersol and NFL Hall of Fame director Bill Polian.
“The purpose here is to have a wonderful off-season soccer league that provides opportunities for players, coaches, referees, generation and innovation,” Dundon said. “For me, our task is to give other people the opportunity to expand their profession. Obviously, football is very popular. This helps to keep football available to those who need more football. It’s not a replacement for the NFL.
Meanwhile, Northern California-based Ebersol is filming in its own universe.
“It’s been a normal task for us,” he said. It’s a huge challenge and opportunity, and as a startup, you’re constantly looking for some peace of mind. When we finished the first week of gaming, we saw that there was a lot of interest from investors, and if we had a user who could follow us for a long time, that would be fantastic. “