The National Arena Football League has announced that the Albany Empire, the team owned by Antonio Brown, has been terminated. According to a press statement from the league, "the decision was reached after an emergency conference call of the members in good standing to discuss the Empire’s failure to pay their league mandated and overdue assessments." The Empire had reportedly failed to pay their monthly league dues for May. Furthermore, Brown had reportedly refused to pay a $1000 fine for "Conduct Detrimental to the League."
Furthermore, "the league will be adjusting the rest of the 2023 regular season schedule and will announce the updated schedule in the near future." It wasn't just Brown who was removed from the league. Instead, Brown's failure to pay the league has resulted in the entire franchise being removed. The Empire were back-to-back defending champions of the NAFL.
Antonio Brown Arena Football Saga Ends
And so ends the Antonio Brown Arena Football saga. Brown originally took over the Empire in April 2023. He claimed that he was now the 95% majority owner of the team. However, that appeared to be untrue. Despite claiming he owned the team, investigations have discovered that Brown had no actual control over the Empire. Abigal Rubel of The Times Union found that a “foreign national” named Antonio El-Allah is the actual owner. Furthermore, Brown was simply a representative of El-Allah’s ownership trust. Additionally, Rubel’s investigation uncovered a bizarre web of shell corporations and layers of ownership both linked to Brown and other entities.
Meanwhile, Brown's claims of total ownership led to the threat of a lawsuit. This threat came from the couple who owned a 5% stake in the team. But the scandals have been numerous as one of the league's brightest teams have descended into a laughing stock. There has been reports that players and coaches haven't been paid. Elsewhere, Brown had to pay a $700 restaurant tab after the team reportedly dined and dashed. Amongst all this, Brown was accused of scamming fans after claiming he would play for the team and then failing to file the paperwork to do so. Hopefully, someone else will be able to come in and salvage the team. The Empire means a lot to the local Albany community. However, this is a developing story and we'll have any updates here at HotNewHipHop.
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