Antonio Brown’s arena football team has been sacked.
The National Arena League announced Thursday that it has elected to “terminate” the membership of Brown’s Albany Empire over the team’s alleged “failure to pay their league mandated and overdue assessments.”
“After acquiring the Albany Empire, new team owner Antonio Brown paid the Empire’s April assessment,” the league said in a statement.
“The team then failed to make their May 15 assessment payment and last week just before the Empire’s game in Orlando, the league was notified that the April assessment was being challenged. That payment was subsequently credited back to Mr Brown.
“The league informed his accountant, Alex Gunaris, who in previous communications requested that the league communicate directly with Mr Gunaris regarding financial obligations with the Empire. Mr Gunaris was informed of the league’s attempts to collect the delinquent assessments and he communicated to the league that it didn’t seem like Mr. Brown was going to pay the assessment or fine.”
The whole saga with Brown and the Albany Empire has been typically surreal.
Brown referred to himself on as the owner of the franchise on Twitter, but later his representatives denied that he owned the team.
There had also been allegations of players and coaches getting stiffed.
He also expressed an intention to play for the team, but that never materialized.
Brown has been out of the NFL since he quit the Bucs, shirtless, during a game against the Jets in early 2022.
The league said that Brown’s franchise was booted out after failing to meet a payment deadline.
“Once the league was alerted of Mr Brown’s intentions, an emergency conference call was set up,” the league’s statement continued.
“During the call, it was decided to give the Empire until Thursday at noon to make their payment, after which time the league would be forced to cancel their home game with Jacksonville, and terminate their membership in the National Arena League effective immediately. Unfortunately Mr Brown has failed to meet the deadline to his teams required financial obligations, and as a result the league has terminated his membership Agreement.
“The league will be adjusting the rest of the 2023 regular season schedule and will announce the updated schedule in the near future. We want to thank all of our fans for their continued support.”