What happened to Antonio Brown’s Albany franchise? National Arena League makes major decision on WR’s investment

Antonio Brown made headlines when he bought National Arena League team the Albany Empire. He made more waves with reported poor ownership and a lack of payments to staff and players. He made headlines again when he said he would suit up. Now, he's making headlines for the final time in this regard.

After all the turmoil, the league announced that the Albany Empire was terminated. The franchise as a whole is completely gone. Brown effectively ran the team into the ground.

According to a statement, the league had an emergency call to discuss the future of the Empire. After Brown took over, the franchise was riddled with controversy, so the league felt the need to act. This was compounded by the fact that the team hadn't paid its league mandated fees.

The statement also said:

"The Empire’s owner, Antonio Brown, was also fined $1,000 for Conduct Detrimental to the League for his recent public comments. Mr. Brown refused to pay that fine."

This trend continued and eventually forced the league to act. As a result of his poor ownership, the Empire have been punished as harshly as a team can be.

---

How much did Antonio Brown invest in Albany's team?

Antonio Brown bought a 47.5% stake of ownership in the Albany Empire. Why he wanted to invest is unclear, but the former wide receiver eventually committed an almost hostile takeover. He paid $1.5 million for that initial stake.

Antonio Brown cost the Albany Empire

Brown bought another 47.5% ownership stake for a single dollar, which gave him 95% control over the team. That's where their issues started. After that, he stopped paying players, had coaches fired and quit all the time and now, they're no longer a franchise.

While the NAL is a small league, it still hurts the citizens of Albany to have their team completely ripped from the league due to inept ownership.