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The AAF to cease football operations


RaidersAreOne

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4 minutes ago, TheKillerNacho said:

The most surprising thing about this is it didn't even get through one season. I thought if it was going to fold, it would be after the season.

It's kind of an interesting situation since it sounds like Dundon probably shouldn't have had the authority to just flat out say "ok it's all cancelled everyone go home" as his own sole decision, but at this point it would probably be hard to reverse that decision even if they decide it shouldn't have been followed initially.

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Just now, Bobikus said:

It's kind of an interesting situation since it sounds like Dundon probably shouldn't have had the authority to just flat out say "ok it's all cancelled everyone go home" as his own sole decision, but at this point it would probably be hard to reverse that decision even if they decide it shouldn't have been followed initially.

It's a complete mess.

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Just now, TheKillerNacho said:

And no, the XFL isn't going to fare any better lol

I mean, it probably will last longer this time just out of sheer stubborness and higher initial interest in the novelty of it, but it will also quickly flame out like every other minor league most likely.

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1 minute ago, Bobikus said:

I mean, it probably will last longer this time just out of sheer stubborness and higher initial interest in the novelty of it, but it will also quickly flame out like every other minor league most likely.

The only way a minor league will ever work out is if it is officially endorsed and sponsored by the NFL. The NFL Europe was this for awhile, surviving 17 seasons. It was ultimately undone by the NFL changing its strategy in expanding the game internationally.

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26 minutes ago, kyle21121 said:

$70m for a gambling app? Seriously? Was that his master plan?

In 2017, legal gambling was a 4.5 billion dollar industry. $70 million is probably a solid investment to get an app that can take a good chunk of that money.

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Maybe it's like interactive live gambling tech that could could really take off. You bet who scores the first td or who hits next the next home run as the game is going on. You can do that already but a bunch of people in the crowd doing it is what they're picturing 

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18 minutes ago, The Gnat said:

In 2017, legal gambling was a 4.5 billion dollar industry. $70 million is probably a solid investment to get an app that can take a good chunk of that money.

So with the several already established gambling apps that people are currently using what is the hook with this? Yea gambling is huge I get that but this just seems excessive to lose $70m to get this technology and when it’s fully legal all across North America presumably in the next 5-10 years every notable casino and Sports book will probably have an app. 

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23 minutes ago, EL Guapo said:

Maybe it's like interactive live gambling tech that could could really take off. You bet who scores the first td or who hits next the next home run as the game is going on. You can do that already but a bunch of people in the crowd doing it is what they're picturing 

I can already live bet those things on an app while I’m at the games though. 

 

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17 minutes ago, marshawn lynch said:

I feel the AAF rushed it. They honestly should have waited a couple years. XFL I think is gonna be more successful. Especially now that their main competition just folded

This is my exact thoughts. it all seemed rushed. i know nothing about the original financial backing, but maybe it would have been wise to spend a good long while accumulating solid investment and reliable backers. it looks like the panicked to get their product out a year before the XFL. 

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10 hours ago, iknowcool said:

It was a mutual thing.  Hogan was well-known before he went back to the WWF, but the WWF and his presence in it absolutely helped make him an even greater mega star.  At the very least, he certainly isn't remembered at the level he is now if his career ended at Rocky III.  He was famous and then he became an absolute superstar. 

And I don't even know what you mean saying he wasn't planning on pushing Austin?  Upon signing, he was immediately paired with one of the greatest talkers the business has ever seen, won the King of the Ring in less than a year of signing, and immediately went into a feud with arguably the biggest face in the company at the time - Bret Hart.  In 2 years, he won the Royal Rumble, and that was even before he turned face.  So how exactly was he not planning to push Austin?  He was pushed from the start.  He got popular because the company gave him an opportunity to shine and Austin is talented as hell, so it worked.

Some of McMahon's success was luck... but you could literally argue that for any billionaire.  Damn near every billionaire achieved that with luck.  At the end of the day, he took a product most people didn't seem to respect/understand (and considering some of the comments in this thread, some people still don't) and turned it into a global phenomenon.  WrestleMania, McMahons' creation, is consistently one of the biggest sporting/entertainment events every year.  It's been 34 years since the first WrestleMania and the company is more successful, at least financially, as it has ever been.  It's worth a crap-ton of money.  I mean maybe it would make sense if the company expanded and that was that, but they have just kept growing and growing ever since.  

He's made some poor decisions as has any billionaire and I'm not suggesting his success with the WWE guarantees success with the XFL (probably won't watch regardless), but it seems like some of you are either not giving him enough credit or your standard is that every millionaire/billionaire has achieved or should achieve success with perfect decision making or complete self-dependence.  And that is rarely if ever the case. I'm far from his biggest fan considering how bad the on-screen product (to me anyway) can be nowadays not to mention the backstage stories and his morale compass, but objectively he's obviously doing something right.  They keep making a crap-ton of $$$ and have for a long time now.  I don't think you could just sum that up to luck.  Hell I'd reckon to say that Vince, compared to other billionaires, had far less to work with to begin.  He started with a territorial wrestling promotion in 1982.  Most other billionaires started off with a lot more than that.

Austin was originally given the gimmick of an ice themes wrestler. That’s how the “Stone Cold” nickname occurred. Austin only won King of the ring that year because HHH was being punished for the Curtain Call. The goal was never to make him the top guy. Circumstances happened and he ended up making the most of it. 

A lot of his success was luck. He was a young guy who inherited an established territory and broke an agreement with a bunch of older guys who were stuck in their ways and beat them. Then one company got its stuff together and nearly bankrupted him until they imploded our of incompetence 

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27 minutes ago, lancerman said:

Austin was originally given the gimmick of an ice themes wrestler. That’s how the “Stone Cold” nickname occurred. Austin only won King of the ring that year because HHH was being punished for the Curtain Call. The goal was never to make him the top guy. Circumstances happened and he ended up making the most of it. 

Just because they were going to choose another future legend of the business to win KOTR, one who A) is a backstage politician and B) was best friends with the ultimate master politician in 90s HBK, doesn’t mean they weren’t going to push Austin.

Again, he was paired with Ted DiBiase.  And he was still their #2 choice to win KOTR.  At the time, while obviously he got even more over after that, he still wasn’t the most over guy on the roster.  They continued to push him and he was Hart’s first program upon his return.  Suggesting they had no plans to push him is an absurd suggestion. 

Besides, what billlionaire do you know that became that without other extremely talented people working for them?  You can’t put all the “mistakes” on him and then not give him credit for any of the success.  

Also, you’re acting like their growth just stopped after expansion and after the Monday Wars (and acting like the WWF’s dramatic increase in product wasn’t a huge reason they won is discrediting too much).  They have continued to grow since and have seen a huge growth in the last 5 years alone.  If what you are saying is true and Vince’s success was only because of WCW’s failure and expanding in the 80s, then WWE would have either long started to falter or remain stagnant.  That hasn’t been the case at all.

If we are saying a billionaire can’t be a good businessman if he had resources to begin with, made mistakes, and at one point struggled against great competition backed with a crap ton of money, then nobody is a good businessman then.  

 

Edited by iknowcool
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