THE Alliance for American Football (AAF) suspended operations Tuesday after eight weeks of staging games and issued an online apology Friday.

It was a sudden shutdown with just two weeks remaining in the league’s inaugural season that caught many off guard despite weeks-long rumblings of financial difficulties and a bailout from Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon.

Players were unprepared emotionally and practically as scenes like Steve Spurrier’s Orlando Apollos locker room the day the news broke paint a picture of disappointment and disbelief.

“Like, it really does hurt — it’s hard to believe,” Apollos offensive lineman Chris Martin told Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor. “You form relationships and a brotherhood with people. We’ve seen each other every day for three months.

“And now, just like that, we may never see each other again. So, it’s a hard emotion to explain. I can’t really even put it into words.”

Other players were faced with more urgent concerns — like where they would sleep. Some living in temporary housing or hotels were kicked out as soon as the news broke and left scrambling for a bed.

Salt Lake Stallions linebacker Gionni Paul wrote on Twitter that he was left with a broken arm from a game and in the lurch looking for an apartment.

For their trouble, former players were met with an online apology the AAF issued via Twitter on Friday night.

“We understand the difficulty that this decision has caused for many people and for that we are very sorry,” the statement reads.

“We are grateful to our players, who delivered quality football and may now exercise their NFL-out clauses in our contract.”

(SD-Agencies)