Football is the king of American sports, as long as it's one of the big 3.

The NFL is a billion dollar empire. College football is (halfway) jokingly referred to as a religion. High school football is covered by newspaper beats like a big league sport.

Minor league football is not king. It's usually DOA.

Trying to start and fund legit minor league football is difficult.

The AAF (Alliance of American Football) kicked off their inaugural season 8 weeks ago, the first Sunday after Super Bowl 53.

Drawing better than expected TV ratings in week 1, the league believed it to be a sign of a promising future.

Now, the future of the league is an empty one.

According to multiple reports from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal, the AAF is ceasing all operations, and could be folding entirely very soon.

The reason? Money.

Stories have run rampant for weeks of the league's financial problems, with players missing a paycheck, only to have it blamed on a computer glitch.

Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, helped bail the league out in mid February with a $250 million investment, helping the league make payroll that week.

Fast forward to today, the league is suspending all operations.

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