Tom Dundon

Thomas Dundon (born September 5, 1971) is an American businessman, specializing in financial services and entertainment. He is chairman and managing partner of Dundon Capital Partners in Dallas, Texas, and is now sole owner and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League and was chairman of the now-defunct Alliance of American Football.

Early life and career

Dundon was born in New York and raised in Texas. He attended Southern Methodist University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1993 and served as president of Phi Gamma Delta. He soon after operated a restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas. Later, with a number of partners, he co-founded a business focused primarily on subprime automobile financing called Drive Financial Services, LP, which eventually became Santander Consumer USA, a large U.S. consumer finance company majority held by Banco Santander. By the time he left in 2015, Dundon served as chairman and chief executive officer of the company. After leaving Santander, Dundon started his own firm Dundon Capital Partners and bought a 33-story building in downtown Dallas, to house it. Dundon owns via the firm the majority of Employer Direct, a healthcare services company as well as a stake in Carvana. Also after leaving Santander, Dundon cofounded Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, and in 2011, fifty-five percent of TopGolf.

Sports investments

Carolina Hurricanes

In late 2017, Dundon became involved in purchasing the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League from owner Peter Karmanos Jr. who had owned the team since it was the Hartford Whalers. Dundon became majority owner of the team on January 11, 2018, in a transaction where he purchased 52% of the team and the operating rights to PNC Arena for $420 million.

On June 30, 2021, Dundon completed the purchase of all minority shares in the team, leaving him as the sole owner of the Hurricanes franchise.

Alliance of American Football

On February 19, 2019, the Alliance of American Football announced a $250 million investment by Dundon and named him the new chairman of the league. The cash infusion is believed to have saved the league from a short-term financial crisis, as Dundon acknowledged that the AAF did not have enough "money in the bank" to make payroll before he purchased a stake in the league, despite AAF assertions that the payroll issue "was due to a glitch in moving to a new payroll system."
On February 25, 2019, Dundon clarified his previous statements, stating that he had ''not'' invested $250 million in the AAF but had set up a line of credit of sorts for up to $250 million, which would only be fully expended if the league pursued an aggressive expansion strategy (earlier reports stated Dundon was specifically interested in an AAF team for Raleigh, North Carolina). Reports at the same time noted that Dundon reserved the right to end his investment at any time.

Dundon's first publicly visible move as AAF chairman was to move the AAF's championship to the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas, after meeting with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and negotiating the change in venue. The game had already been scheduled for Sam Boyd Stadium in Nevada, and ticket refunds had to be issued for those who already bought tickets for the game. Dundon, according to a press release, saw the AAF becoming a "complementary developmental league for the NFL".
He later expressed willingness to shut the league down if the National Football League Players Association did not cooperate with a proposal for sharing players, which the NFLPA was reluctant to do because of injury concerns.

Dundon stated on April 2, confirming an earlier report from Profootballtalk.com, that he was willing to pull his funding from the league before Week 9's games were played that weekend. That same day, the league was suspended, with all contracts cancelled as of April 3. Vendors largely went unpaid.

Pickleball

On December 27, 2021, Dundon's sport investment firm Dundon Capital Partners LLC acquired Pickleball Central, the largest online pickleball retail site in the world. The acquisition also included Pickleball Central's affiliated PickleballTournaments.com software.

Soon after the announcement of Dundon's acquisition of Pickleball Central, one of pickleball's premier professional tours, the Professional Pickleball Association, officially partnered with Dundon Capital Partners.

References

External links

Dundon Capital Partners
official web site
Thomas Dundon
– Profile at the Carolina Hurricanes' official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundon, Thomas
1972 births
Living people
Alliance of American Football executives
American sports businesspeople
Businesspeople from Dallas
Businesspeople from New York City
Carolina Hurricanes owners
National Hockey League owners