Spring football always sounds like a great idea—until someone has to actually fund it.
The Alliance of American Football didn’t feel like a gimmick when it launched in 2019. It had legitimate football people behind it, a real TV presence, and a style of play that was faster and, in some ways, cleaner than what fans had seen in prior spring leagues. This wasn’t backyard football with funny rules—it looked credible. For a brief moment, it felt like maybe they had finally figured out what leagues like the XFL had struggled to sustain.
And then it disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived.
The problem wasn’t the product. Fans were showing up. The games were watchable. There was even some buzz. The problem was the one thing you can’t fake in any business—money. The league was bleeding cash from day one, and while that’s not unusual for a startup sports league, what was unusual was how thin the financial cushion really was. When Tom Dundon stepped in, it was viewed as a lifeline. In reality, it was a short-term patch on a long-term problem.
And that’s where things unraveled.
There was a fundamental disconnect between vision and reality. The founders seemed to want a sustainable league that could grow over time, maybe even serve as a developmental system for the NFL. Dundon, on the other hand, wasn’t interested in a slow build. When the economics didn’t make immediate sense, the funding stopped. Just like that, the league was done—players stranded, operations halted, and a promising concept left unfinished.
It’s a reminder that good ideas aren’t enough. Execution matters, alignment matters, but above all, capitalization matters. You need the resources—and the patience—to see something through the inevitable early losses.
We’ve seen versions of this story play out in other industries too, including retirement plans. A great concept without proper support structure and long-term commitment is just a ticking clock.
The AAF didn’t fail because spring football can’t work. It failed because you can’t build something meant to last on a foundation that was never strong enough to begin with.
