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Tom Dundon Rescues AAF, Takes Over as Chairman

Good for TD I guess, but would we say that something like this that divides his attention and money on another sports investment to this extent is probably not a great thing for CanesFan ?
 
StormChaserBH said:
Good for TD I guess, but would we say that something like this that divides his attention and money on another sports investment to this extent is probably not a great thing for CanesFan ?
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I agree, but the article also raises the question if Raleigh could be a site for another AAF franchise.
 
18-19 Canes season ticket prices and invoices along with playoff ticket invoices will be going out in a couple of weeks. Not that there is a connection here, but I'm not expecting good news on the cost front.

I guess my question here is "What does Dundon get for his $250 million investment?" That seems like an awful lot of scratch to risk on a league that couldn't make payroll early in their existence. I guess he is now majority owner of EVERYTHING in the AAF? I know the 8 teams are effectively league owned.

I don't think this impacts money for the Canes or distract from his commitment to the Canes success. The Canes bleed money too, but not THAT much money (only low 7 figures). The guy is filthy rich.
 
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TheBigKahuna said:
Maybe there's a huge new tv contract on the horizon? If not, AAF will be defunct in less than 2 seasons.
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They already have TV deals with CBS and Turner. But the article below makes it sound like time buys (even though founder Charlie Ebersol says they’re not). Time buys is how the NHL got on TV with OLN after the 2003-04 lockout. The league pays the network and gets the advertising revenue. It’s really a no lose proposition for the broadcast partner.

https://xfl2k.com/news/aaf-not-making-any-money-on-tv-deals/


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Did I read somewhere that the NFL is looking to use the AAF as a feeder league/player evaluation league?
 
I have no real opinion on this. I just hope that he doesn't burn a huge pile of cash when this thing goes bust.

I meant to say IF it goes bust. Wait. No. I didn't. Everybody who takes on the NFL loses eventually, even if they do the off season thing.
 
and if he asks for tax money for upgrades this certainly won't help his case that he has loads of extra cash.

AFL survived to merge with the NFL. But that was when NFL money was nothing compared to what it is now.

and who can forget the USFL where one team was owned by an orange guy , whatever happened to him?
 
So, no worries, Canes Fans. Your owner has plenty of cash to ice the best players money can buy. Look for Ferland to be signed to a healthy extension and Aho to receive Crosby money. It's a great day to be a Hurricanes fan.
 
Look ... I don't think anybody has ever doubted Dundon's bank account. It's his commitment to spend out of pocket that he still hasn't really demonstrated on any kind of large scale.

That said, he can spend his money however he sees fit. Free country and all that.

Oh ... and I keep getting assured that we fans don't have anything to worry about because Tom will spend on quality. Of course, the people reassuring me are generally his employees, so ...
 
Can you imagine being Tom Dundon? The guy pays what, almost $500 million for the Canes and then drops $250 million to become the big shot majority owner of the AAF? I cringe when I have to pay $10 for a crappy hot dog and fries at the arena.
 
all sports owners now are billionaires or close to it if you are buying in now. Panthers owner spent $2 bil and many NFL teams are worth way more than that since Charlotte is not a major market.

owning a pro team is a very limited group of people so that drives the price up. It's a big status symbol to own a team. Probably a better idea to spend a lot of money on some startup but that's not as fun. As Bear Bryant said , nobody has a pep rally for a math class.
 
Looks like his retirement hobby is collecting shiny new things.

Well, Tom, I hope you can forgive me if I don't have a lot of faith in your commitment to the Hurricanes!

But it does look and work better if you don't get your midas fingers too involved.
 
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*AH* said:
Looks like his retirement hobby is collecting shiny new things.

Well, Tom, I hope you can forgive me if I don't have a lot of faith in your commitment to the Hurricanes!
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Yeah ... you know what? I'm fine with his commitment level thus far. If we begin to increase payroll over time and continue to build effective management systems then I'm fine with whatever methods he uses to do that. But we haven't seen much of the first part of that "if structure" yet aside from Turbo's new contract, and that's 90% of what I care about. Pay Aho his money this summer, and continue to pay our quality players market rate on new deals AND improve the roster overall. That takes time, and I'm still willing to give it time ... within reason.
 
possible he could sell off parts of the AAF to others if it goes well for the league. I can't recall which FB league it was but I remember a big deal about having 40k fans for a game but then it turned out a large chunk of those tickets were free. That might have been the WFL which was in such bad shape they even had a team move during the season - the NY team moved to Charlotte.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Can you imagine being Tom Dundon? The guy pays what, almost $500 million for the Canes and then drops $250 million to become the big shot majority owner of the AAF? I cringe when I have to pay $10 for a crappy hot dog and fries at the arena.
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Is it ok to wish that Tom Dundon was my Dad??? I’m with ya CMal on the cringe factor at the arena...
 
To Paulie's point ... yeah. The most realistic goal in starting a new professional sports league (aside from World Domination, although I did say REALISTIC goal) is to get it off the ground and then sell off the pieces and parts once you're successfully operating. I don't think this secondary pro football thing makes any sense at all, but hey ... maybe the model of the NCAA being an unpaid development league starts to crumble under the weight of the student/athlete illusion (look ... it's more likely than ever that this will eventually happen) and Dundon is there to offer the NFL a port in a storm. Who knows?
 
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