As reported two months ago, MGM will acquire the gambling technology of the failed Alliance of American Football. Now, we know for how much.
MGM Resorts International Operations, Inc. is getting the app at a steep discount. It will pay $125,000 and reduce its secured claim from $7 million to $5 million, Daniel Kaplan of TheAthletic.com reports via a Wednesday filing from the trustee overseeing the AAF’s bankruptcy.
The AAF spent at least $40 million in creating the app by some estimates, via Kaplan, and it used at least 50 developers.
The device tracks players in real-time and transmits data regarding their movements within a matter of milliseconds to cell-phone devices. Users could predict play calls.
The app, though, did not appear to live up to league co-founder Charlie Ebersol’s predictions, via Kaplan, after Ebersol described an app “that would wow and even track players’ biometrics so gamblers could use that data.”
MGM paid $7 million for a secured interest in the technology on Sept. 28, 2018, according to the trustee’s filing. The league used the money for operations and app development.
MGM and the AAF signed a permanent and irrevocable license for the IP on April 1, via Kaplan, a day before former league owner Tom Dundon pulled the plug on the AAF.
The Chapter Seven filing April 17 lists liabilities of $48 million and assets of $11.3 million, with MGM’s agreement reducing liabilities by $2 million.