The Albany Empire, the National Arena League (NAL) team that was owned by former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, has been kicked out of the league due to the “Empire’s failure to pay their league-mandated and overdue assessment,” per a league release. Brown was also fined $1,000 for conduct detrimental to the league, but the release stated Brown has refused to pay the fine.
Unlike the myth of King Midas, where everything he touches turns to gold, everything Brown has touched has seemed to turn to excrement. Owning the Empire was an ill-fated decision from the start, another move in a long line of them to bring attention to himself. While the Empire became the most-talked-about NAL team, it usually wasn’t for good reason. Whether it was players and coaches leaving due to a failure to be paid, or Brown’s debut from the team being spoiled because he didn’t fill out the necessary paperwork, his tenure as owner was a giant failure.
Now, the Empire don’t have a league to play in. And that’ll likely be the case so long as Brown is associated with the team. You have to feel bad for the players, executives and coaches associated with the team, just trying to do their job and build a career in football only for it to come crumbling down due to Brown’s antics.
The best thing Brown can do from here on out is to sell the team and try to stay out of the news. Brown clearly subscribes to the theory that no publicity is bad publicity, but in his case, it certainly is. The Empire at first at least seemed to be a healthy outlet for his need for attention, and a nice tribute to his father, Eddie, who was a star player for the team and was a co-owner along with Antonio.
But it became consumed with Brown’s antics, and just yesterday he went on a rant that this would be the Empire’s last year in the NAL regardless, and that next year they’ll go to The Arena Football League. You can decide Brown’s level of sobriety in the video.
The news clearly hasn’t seemed to affect him, as Brown still believes the AFL will welcome the Empire, tweeting “Major league not minors.”
But as of now, the future of the Empire is unknown. If Brown somehow does land them in the Arena Football League, it will be a boost to the team’s stature. But after all their issues in the NAL, specifically the non-payment issue, I’d argue the odds of that happening are about the odds of me marrying a Kardashian.
