The AAF is folding, per multiple reports, after just eight weeks of action after investor and majority owner Tom Dundon pulled the plug on league operations Tuesday.
This outcome had been on the horizon for a little while, and Dundon had threatened to pull the plug on Monday citing concerns about not being able to land an agreement with the NFL/NFLPA regarding practice-squad players.
Dundon reportedly lost $70 million on this venture before finally pulling the plug.
However, after the news broke about the league folding on Tuesday, Albert Breer of The MMQB shared a bit of inside information that could explain why he’d be willing to make that kind of financial sacrifice.
The gambling app that the AAF was working on incorporated cutting-edge technology.
“MGM executives said they were most taken by the A.A.F.’s app, which can provide a host of data in milliseconds,” wrote Joe Drape of the New York Times back in February. “The information arrives so fast, in fact, that the league and its partners said it could eventually allow in-game betting on play outcomes — like pass or run — and a host of other propositions.”
Given the way states are increasingly open to legalizing gambling, having a stake in this type of app could be worth much, much more than $70 million.
Whether that was Dundon’s aim all along remains to be seen.