While the recent news that the AAF has closed its doors may be bad news to the players, it is apparently good news for all of those who bet on the Orlando Apollos to win the league championship. While the league itself hasn't declared the Apollos as champions, sports betting website FanDuel is recognizing Orlando as the rightful winner of the league. This means all those who bet on them to win will receive their payouts. FanDuel Group chief marketing officer Mike Raffensperger explained the decision.
"The AAF should be commended for trying to do something disruptive in the sports landscape, and we hope this symbolic gesture shows the players and coaches that sports fans everywhere appreciated the hard work and sacrifices they made for entertaining us with spring football," FanDuel told the Action Network in a statement. "While we've declared the Apollos honorary champions, we think the biggest winners should be our customers and hope they enjoy their payouts."
The decision only makes sense considering the Apollos were first place in the league with a record of 7-1. The two teams tied for second place had records of 5-3 so it was unlikely that they would have caught up wins-wise before the start of the playoffs.
Hopefully, all of you out there who put good money on the Apollos can rest easy tonight. You just made yourself some money.