Every week, Antonio Brown provides the football world with a smoke signal update that reminds us that he’s an agent of chaos. That smoke signal is usually indicative of a fire. Since March, Brown has been running a semi-professional football team in Albany New York like it was George Bluth Sr.’s Original Frozen Banana Stand. The former receiver and sports agency executive who oversaw the demise of the Donda Sports brand recently became co-owner of the National Arena League’s Albany Empire and has been an unstable influence on the franchise almost immediately.
On Monday, The Albany Times-Union reported that coaches and players have gone unpaid since April 21. As a consequence, head coach Damon Ware announced he was resigning amidst the missed payments. Empire players were supposed to receive payment every Friday following each team’s game. According to CBS6 anchor Chet Davis in Albany, food vouchers were also not delivered this week.
Never has the mantra about lying with dogs giving you fleas been more accurate. It should have been expected that the president of a defunct agency would be transmitting his instability from the owner’s suite. Prior to buying the team, the Empire were the reigning two-time champions of the NAL. However, soon after Brown was fired, head coach Tom Menas was inexplicably ousted from his position. Even after getting stiffed on the 28th, the Empire still played Sunday against the Carolina Cobras and fell to 1-2.
AB is recruiting players via Twitter
Additionally following the loss, Albany police responded to the team’s hotel after an incident on the team bus at approximately 9:40 a.m. Monday morning. As a result wide receiver Darius Prince, last season’s NAL Most Valuable Player, QB Sam Castranova, linemen Brandon Sesay, and Melvin Hollins, defensive back Dwayne Hollis, and linebacker Nick Haag didn’t get hotel keys. As of today, the Empire are looking for their third head coach and Brown is recruiting new players on Twitter.
The Empire’s acting president, Alberony Denis blamed the payment delays on the payroll processor, which put a hold due to Mike Kwarta and a majority of the front office’s departure following the sale of 95 percent of the team to Brown and his father Eddie.
Competent management who passed Econ 101 should have foreseen complications and been ready to troubleshoot before this became a dangling embarrassment over the organization’s heads. There’s a slim chance this is an innocent clerical error, but given Brown’s alleged history of stiffing employees and contractors, it wouldn’t be surprising if this were the result of pure neglect or something more nefarious.
His business conflicts have been eclipsed by his wild antics or the allegations levied against him, but he’s left unpaid with personal chefs production managers, and even physicians in his wake over the last decade-plus. Wherever Brown seems to go chaos and unpaid bills seem to follow. How he was even admitted into the league as an owner is bewildering, but it’s too late to stuff that genie back into the bottle. According to Denis, the team has paid the processor, but Brown is the force at the top of the hierarchy that should make everyone shudder.
Follow DJ Dunson on Twitter: @cerebralsportex
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