Gambling, Technology Key to Success of American Alliance of Football

Before the start of the American Alliance of Football’s season, a group of gaming executives, including Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports operations for the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, were flown to San Antonio by the league to watch an exhibition game. That trip gave those in the industry a glimpse into the mindset of AAF executives.

“They’re not promoting gambling, but they understand the landscape has changed,” Kornegay told OnlineGambling.com. “They realize there is room for it.”

The trip was soon after the league had announced a partnership with MGM Resorts to be the exclusive sportsbook to offer authorized in-play betting.

AAF co-founder Charlie Ebersol, son of famed sports television executive Dick Ebersol, told Fox Business that he doesn’t want just a gambling outlet, he is trying to pitch his league as a technology company.

“Quality football is important, but football is not the engine,” Ebersol said. “It’s not the economic engine of this business year one. The long-term goal is to build a technology company that has a multi-billion-dollar valuation, and so we’re going to invest heavily in putting good football on the field that mimics in the NFL in terms of the quality and the type of play, so that our technology can travel to not only the NFL, but other sports and other industries.”

Technological Innovations Key

Ebersol’s business model is not a sports league, but a technology company, and he went to the mecca of tech –northern California – to set up an innovation team, headed by former Yahoo entertainment chief Erik Schwartz. There they work on marrying data and analytics with their sport to create a more interactive product.

One of the concepts they embraced was “wearables.” That is the use of electronic technology that can be worn on the body, either as an accessory or as part of material used in clothing. It is the same technology found in smart watches.

How it helps the league, and the MGM, is it provides real time data that can be utilized to post odds for in-play betting. Ebersol told the San Francisco Business Times that it is an invaluable tool that will help make the league even more appealing to broadcasters, oddmakers, football fans and gamblers.

“‘Real time’ has become this kind of fuzzy, out of focus (thing) — real time is anything within 10 seconds,” Ebersol said. “But for the casinos and for the broadcasts, ‘real time’ has to actually be real time. You have to be talking about milliseconds. You can’t be talking about a half a second or more, otherwise the guy in the stadium with a phone has a massive advantage over the guy sitting at home or at the sports club or playing fantasy or whatever. We’ve solved that problem,”

Early Success

The opening weekend was a success for the AAF. They had a television rating for one game that outdrew viewers for an NBA game. Most sportsbooks reported decent handles for the games. Jay Rood, vice president of race and sports for MGM Resorts International, told OnlineGambling.com that they were happy.

“The AAF opening week went well overall,” Rood said. “We had a watch party at MGM Grand’s TAP restaurant and we will have one at Beerhaus this week at The Park.  As the weeks go along I believe that the lines will get tighter and the wagering activity will increase.  By the time the Championship game is played here in Vegas I think the League will have quite the following.”

Now it is just up to Ebersol to continue the positive momentum, something he believes he can do.

“Unlike all previous attempts of [alternate football leagues] over the last 25 years, we’ve brought in actual football experts, actual general managers from the NFL,” Ebersol said. “The combined level of NFL experience among my executives, coaches, and GMs is over 500 years. We focused as heavily as we could in putting the highest quality at the top of the league to create better football.”