MGM Buys Back AAF Player Tracking Technology For Sports Betting

• MGM Resorts was one of the first investors of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), pouring in a total of seven million dollars in September of 2018.
• The AAF was not able to finish its initial season and is currently going through Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
• Real-time player tracking was featured on the AAF’s official app and MGM plans on using the technology for sports betting purposes.

LAS VEGAS – While the Alliance of American Football (AAF) may have been a disaster for most investors, MGM Resorts is looking to come away as a winner.

The AAF is currently undergoing Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings. Part of that process involves surrendering its intellectual property to MGM. The league used the money invested by MGM to develop player-tracking technology which was featured on the AAF app.

Trustee Randolph Osherow submitted the settlement agreement earlier this week in order for MGM to gain the rights to that technology. The bankruptcy judge will have to approve the settlement before the deal can be finalized.

An exact timeline for when that will happen is still unclear, as other investors such as Tom Dundon are also awaiting claims. Dundon is seeking a return of his 70-million-dollar investment into the spring football league that couldn’t even last a single season.

What Exactly is MGM Going After?

MGM initially invested a total of $7 million into the AAF back in September of 2018. In order to acquire the player tracking technology, MGM agreed to pay $125,000 for the AAF sports betting assets and reduce its bankruptcy claim to just $5 million dollars.

This puts the cost of the AAF asset to $2.175 million. That technology was never able to fully develop into a sports betting application on its own, but MGM sees great potential in its capabilities.

“What it will do, which is very important to us from a sports betting standpoint, is it will allow almost immediate transmission of data and what’s going on in an event to your mobile device, which will allow us to have play-by-play gambling, which is non-existent today,” said MGM Executive Scott Butera in an interview with USA Today back in February.

While sportsbooks across the world offer live odds, they don’t necessarily have play by play odds. If MGM were to develop the technology into its full form it would give them a great advantage over their US sports betting competitors.

MGM currently operates sportsbooks in both Nevada and New Jersey, the two biggest sports betting markets in the country as of now. MGM also partnered with GVC Holdings back in July of 2018 in order to create a sports betting and interactive gaming platform.

Whether or not MGM plans to use the AAF player-tracking technology in conjunction with GVC remains unclear. But, given the scope of what it can become, the millions of dollars given up for the technology’s rights look to be a much better investment than in the AAF itself.

News tags: AAF | GVC Holdings | MGM Resorts | Randolph Osherow | Scott Butera | Tom Dundon