Dundon: AAF Could Fold without NFLPA Support

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Oof, brutal for the rest of that league.

Man, I love what he's doing for the Canes so far, but everything other thing continues to point to Dundon just being a brutal guy. Usury and backstabbing out the wazoo.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

That's some predatory ****.

Yeah, if only there were some signs in his past that he might be a predatory businessman...

It doesn't affect the Canes at the moment, but that "3-year buyout" clause he told everyone not to worry about? Maybe don't take him at face value there.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Now I finally understand. This was a 100% tech buy.

https://api.platform.aaf.com/

This is what he bought. $70m to acqui-hire an engineering team. Very interesting.

And a total dick move to the other AAF folks, holy ****.

I wonder if they have patents/IP attached. If his plan is "smother this stillborn garbage league quickly to rescue the real asset at the cheapest possible price" then he needs to have all the IP locked up with it.

An API driven platform that he can license to every sports league in the world to do real-time player tracking and betting, that no one else has? Give me that, and keep your garbage football league.

 

[Wolfpack Cane]

Oof, brutal for the rest of that league.

Man, I love what he's doing for the Canes so far, but everything other thing continues to point to Dundon just being a brutal guy. Usury and backstabbing out the wazoo.

Just wait until it's the Canes turn.

As far as the AAF is concerned, maybe they shouldn't have been in a position to need someone like him to save their asses so early in their existence.

 

[Ahoy there]

Word is he wanted some of the tracking and app technology and now he has it. Makes sense with the word that the founders aren't behind this. Dick move by Dundon, but smart I suppose.

Major dick move. And, if it's true, then I will never trust him saying the Canes will stay here until we are financially stable. Whatever he agreed to with the purchase cannot be permanent. You have to be absolutely f***ing cutthroat and care only about what you want when you're making your money from Buy-here-pay-here lots. I've owned one and it is as dirty as it feels. I got out, could not in good conscience charge 20+% interest on shit cars hoping they'd miss a payment near the end to repo it and sell it again.

That aside, I'm beginning to wonder if he's impetuous. 1. Passes on Canes over price. Said, f*** it, calls K and agrees. Says later, he's never done that. 2. Commits $250 mill VERY quickly after deal presented to him. League needed part of that money to make payroll THAT week. 3. On whether he folds the league says, I'll decide within two days. 4. Day later folds league.

At the very least, it's something I'll watch. If all his improvements to the Canes are flashy tech shit and marketing fluff WITHOUT a greater commitment to personnel and payroll, then I'll likely believe he's full of shit and will move the team. Part of it will be based on what you posted if it is true. That f***er will have a throwback night in Houston around the anniversary of their hurricane...

 

[Ahoy there]

When your net worth is over a billion and a half, you can take a $70m hit like a champ. Thats less than a 5% NAV hit, which he will probably make up on a good day in the markets.

Um... not true and definitely not how those with net worth's of that size view it.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Yeah, if only there were some signs in his past that he might be a predatory businessman...

It doesn't affect the Canes at the moment, but that "3-year buyout" clause he told everyone not to worry about? Maybe don't take him at face value there.

Well, he continues to invest money in the local facilities, which he's unable to recoup in other ways and provides no other advantage, so it means he's likely planning on keeping them team here -- but that said, what nefarious purposes could he use the Canes for? What kinds of advantages does complete ownership of a fringe sports team give you?

For one thing, it gives you the ability to try any crazy Frankenstein idea you ever come up with. It's a ready-made science lab. Today he starts with No GMs and having Tulsky run big chunks of the team. What does tomorrow bring?

Crazy shit.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Maybe that's what he's driving at with the whole suspend with the idea of closing. Try to force their hand to give him full ownership of the tech, possibly for cheaper, and he'll let them try to save the league however they can.

This all may come down to how bad the original founders were at all this. They seem to have not had the necessary financial backing in the first place, having to court Dundon part way through. And then to either not have a read or proper background on Dundon before bringing him in. None of that looks good on them either.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Um... not true and definitely not how those with net worth's of that size view it.

Yep. The more I dig, the more it feels like an acquisition of an engineering team with proprietary IP. I'd never even looked at any of this stuff before, but that AAF API site is indicative of some serious engineering work. I had literally no idea.

 

[Canes]

Um... not true and definitely not how those with net worth's of that size view it.

I agree but it appears he won't be straight up losing 70 million dollars now depending how the tech company he acquired is valued. Certainly makes his investment seem more sensible.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Of course, yet to see any confirmation on Rovell's scoop, so...

 

[A Star is Burns]

I used the AAF app the first weekend of games, and it was probably the coolest sports app I've used from a real time perspective. You could see easy fantasy and gambling implications. It'll be interesting to see where it all goes.

 

[Incubajerks]

Tom "Bobby Axelrod" Dundon

 

[Ahoy there]

His money, he can do what he wants within the confines of the law. I'll stick to the Canes as I evaluate TD.

Strange to "lose" $70 mill in two months on an infant league with major doubts surrounding it's survival upon your entrance. Especially, since your immediate goal is to keep the Canes' loss to $10 mill A YEAR. There's a lot more to this story no doubt. Those two facts are too incongruent for me to think we know his true purpose behind AAF investment.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Well, he continues to invest money in the local facilities, which he's unable to recoup in other ways and provides no other advantage, so it means he's likely planning on keeping them team here -- but that said, what nefarious purposes could he use the Canes for? What kinds of advantages does complete ownership of a fringe sports team give you?

For one thing, it gives you the ability to try any crazy Frankenstein idea you ever come up with. It's a ready-made science lab. Today he starts with No GMs and having Tulsky run big chunks of the team. What does tomorrow bring?

Crazy ****.

Well, what has he really pushed hard for since his takeover? He's really not shown a lot of interest in the hockey side of things. The two things I can remember that he seemed to push on are an outdoor game and a downtown arena. The arena, especially, when he made the comment about "questioning the future of the team here."

So if we assume that the outdoor game push is simply for publicity, what does gaining a foothill downtown accomplish?

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Yuuuuup, read this article:

Inside the High-Tech Gear the San Antonio Commanders Will Wear on Game Day

"The Alliance raised its original rounds of venture capital from firms that typically fund tech startups. Its more than 45 engineers in the Bay Area have been working to develop the league’s proprietary technology, which could be parlayed into a product that features beyond the bounds of the Alliance gridiron. The AAF is betting on its technology platform finding its way to other leagues and sporting institutions, such as the NCAA and NFL, Ebersol said."

45 Bay Area engineers with awesome tech for $70m? That's a f***ing bargain, let me tell you.

I am impressed with Dundon. This is some Mark Cuban level shit.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Well, what has he really pushed hard for since his takeover? He's really not shown a lot of interest in the hockey side of things. The two things I can remember that he seemed to push on are an outdoor game and a downtown arena. The arena, especially, when he made the comment about "questioning the future of the team here."

So if we assume that the outdoor game push is simply for publicity, what does gaining a foothill downtown accomplish?

#1: new projection scoreboard.
#2: massive branding push in local rinks.
#3: outdoor game at Carter Finley, financed out of his own pocket.

These are splashy moves. If he wanted to gut the team, those are wasted investments.

It seems more likely that he wants to use the team as a science experiment for how sports teams should be run, and this market is just as good for that purpose as anywhere else -- unless he fails, in which case he'll move on to the next toy.

 

[Canes]

Tom "Bobby Axelrod" Dundon

He's so much like Axe it's eerie. Just needs to wear band t-shirts instead of Canes t-shirts.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Heh.

Rovell: AAF Suspending Football Operations Immediately | The Action Network

"When Dundon agreed to back the league, sources say he took unilateral control of the board, meaning any decision he wanted to make, including folding the league, was his to make."

Go on...

"The AAF investment is comprised of a bunch of companies, including a tech arm, which MGM invested in. Part of the league’s original strategy was to use mobile gaming to drum up fan interest. While Dundon is said to have liked the tech component of the business and owns the entire company, sources say it would not be legal for him to shut down the league in order to strip the assets."

Okay, he's the chairman of the board and presumably a 51% investor in the whole enterprise. Unless there's some very interesting legal stuff going on here, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it means.

 

[Ahoy there]

sources say it would not be legal for him to shut down the league in order to strip the assets."

Lol, the Gordon Gecko rule

 

[Blueline Bomber]

While Dundon is said to have liked the tech component of the business and owns the entire company, sources say it would not be legal for him to shut down the league in order to strip the assets."

Is that not what he just did?

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Is that not what he just did?

Exactly. The sources might not *want* it to be legal, and there may be some kind of "poison pill" in the agreement preventing him from doing so -- but I doubt it. They were out of money and options.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Y'all need to read deeper. This turned out to be Dundon bluffing to pressure the NFLPA into an agreement ahead of the XFL starting up.

His investment is also incremental, it's "up to" $250M, but he can pull out whenever he wants without reaching that amount.

Attendance and ratings have improved four weeks in a row, despite March Madness going on. They are adding new sponsors every week. And they have Jerry Jones in their corner which is big, he even got AAF to move their championship game to his new stadium.

From what I have read, most of the league personnel are unhappy that Dundon used this tactic though, and I agree with them. Look at the headline and how everyone here (casual/non-fans) have reacted. This bluff may turn into more truth just by killing off any immediate growth from casuals who now see no reason to invest their interest and viewing time.

Oh, I'm definitely reading deeper now -- and it's *fascinating*.

 

[MinJaBen]

#1: new projection scoreboard.
#2: massive branding push in local rinks.
#3: outdoor game at Carter Finley, financed out of his own pocket.

These are splashy moves. If he wanted to gut the team, those are wasted investments.

How much of those things did he actually pay for? I got the sense from one of the articles I read about the PNC updates, which included some information about the projection system and the new scoreboard, that the authority was paying for all of those things.

 

[Svechhammer]

#1: new projection scoreboard.
#2: massive branding push in local rinks.
#3: outdoor game at Carter Finley, financed out of his own pocket.

These are splashy moves. If he wanted to gut the team, those are wasted investments.

It seems more likely that he wants to use the team as a science experiment for how sports teams should be run, and this market is just as good for that purpose as anywhere else -- unless he fails, in which case he'll move on to the next toy.

Now that you mention it, knowing just how many excellent programmers and developers there are in the Triangle area, and seeing him buy this, you're probably exactly right. Wouldn't be surprised to see him try to move this newly acquired business to the Triangle area to partner directly with the Canes. He could be trying to make this the most tech savvy organization in the major sport leagues.