Legendary coach Steve Spurrier had his Orlando Apollos poised to win the Alliance of American Football’s first championship. That now won’t be happening, because the AAF has suspended operations en route to a seemingly inevitable dissolution of the league.
“Everybody wanted to play out the season and everybody is disappointed,” Spurrier said Tuesday, via Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel. “Everyone was led to believe that the Alliance was well funded and we could play three years without making any money and this, that and the other. Obviously, everything that was said was not very truthful.”
It wasn’t truthful, because the investor who saved the league’s bacon earlier in the inaugural (and only) season has exercise his prerogative to cook its goose.
“When the new owner came in, we thought we had financial backing and we’d be able to at least play out the season,” Spurrier said. “We never thought it would end like this.”
Few did, including those who founded the league. However, once the founders of the league handed the keys to Tom Dundon, they assumed the risk that he’d choose to park the car, permanently. And he apparently has.