AAF suspending operations, but not folding up its tent just yet

By Phil Watson | Apr 2, 2019

TEMPE, ARIZONA - MARCH 24: General view of the north scoreboard before the AAF game between the San Diego Fleet and the Arizona Hotshots at Sun Devil Stadium on March 24, 2019 in Tempe, Arizona. The Hotshots defeated the Fleet 32-15. (Photo by Christian Petersen/AAF/Getty Images) /

The Alliance of American Football, the AAF, has been in financial trouble almost from the beginning and reports are the league will suspend operations today.

The AAF seemed to have the right blueprint to at least have a chance at succeeding as a functional professional football minor league, but according to a report, the league will be suspending operations Tuesday.

Pro Football Talk reported the league is not folding — yet — but the inaugural season of the AAF will be put on hold with two weeks still remaining on the regular season schedule.

All @TheAAF football operations will be suspended in the next few hours, per source with knowledge of situation. League is not folding, yet. But it's heading that way.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 2, 2019

The league opened to decent television ratings in February, but reportedly needed a big financial boost from Tom Dundon, majority owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, just to meet payroll after the opening weekend of play Feb. 9-10.

Dundon was named the chairman of the league in return for his injection of operating capital.

The league, co-founded by television producer Charlie Ebersol and veteran NFL executive Bill Polian, seemed to have the right plan in place.

It struck TV deals with CBS Sports, Turner Sports and the NFL Network and had a plan to keep salaries relatively low, with players all signing non-guaranteed three-year contracts valued at $250,000.

One problem the league had in attracting talent was balking by the NFL Players Association, which was concerned that allowing practice squad and active players on NFL rosters to participate in the league would be a violation of the collective bargaining agreement, which prevents teams from holding mandatory workouts or practices in the offseason, per Forbes.com.

Without the backing of the union, a large pool of available talent was denied the AAF experience, which could be important for the more than 82 percent of practice squad players who never made a roster for at least three games.

Agent Leigh Steinberg pointed out that statistics, as well as claiming that 365 players on rosters never played a snap and that 600 played fewer than 10 plays.

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The big key, Steinberg said, would be players being able to get game experience under rules and play styles similar to the NFL, as opposed to the Arena League or Canadian Football League, which use dramatically different rules.