DARIUS PRINCE AND his two batch Albany Empire teammates sought after their cash.

They’d been owed fee by way of direct warehouse nearest their earlier Nationwide Area League duel — a 55-53 house loss to the San Antonio Gunslingers — the primary since Antonio Brown, the mercurial former NFL big name receiver, turned into the crew’s majority proprietor. The life got here and went without a fee.

For guys on one of the most lowest rungs {of professional} soccer, the place salaries get started at $250 according to duel earlier than taxes, deny pay way deny cash for meals, gasoline or hire. One of the most higher-earning avid gamers — Prince, the league MVP on the day, who had the manage wage at about $3,000 according to duel — would aid help teammates so beggarly that they have been hungry.

Now, on a late-April night, an blank bus waited to pluck them 10 hours south for a Sunday afternoon duel in opposition to the Carolina Cobras, and the Empire confronted a choice: Get at the bus or secure out for his or her pay.

They sat of their rooms, in a 2½-star resort between the Greyhound bus terminal and the interstate, refreshing their banking apps and texting in a bunch chat. Will have to they proceed to Greensboro and after no to play games? What if the league blackballed them? Would it not be the top in their NFL desires?

Prince helped assemble an inventory of the way a lot every participant was once owed and despatched it to newly appointed crew president Alberony Denis, who attempted, and failed, to pay them by the use of a Zelle money switch.

A number of hours next, Prince won a screenshot that perceived to display a pending fee would start by way of refer to Monday, and Empire avid gamers filed onto the bus. Prince scored 3 touchdowns in a 56-49 loss earlier than some other 10-hour experience again to Albany.

4 months next, Empire avid gamers are nonetheless owed reimbursement from Brown’s tenure, in line with a neighborhood legal professional who’s making ready possible court cases. Brown, who raised fanatics’ hopes by way of purchasing into the crew in March, is nowhere to be not hidden, and the Empire are not more. The Nationwide Area League board voted unanimously to kick the crew out in June for failure to pay 3 months of club charges, in line with Alex Gunaris, Brown’s accountant, and two league resources.

Brown’s temporary, doomed tenure because the Empire’s proprietor was once outlined by way of unpaid expenses, unfulfilled guarantees and erratic conduct, in line with avid gamers, coaches, crew staff and fanatics interviewed by way of ESPN.

“You talked to my guy Alex already, right?” Brown stated when reached by way of telephone by way of ESPN, regarding his accountant. “I don’t really got nothing to say. Just talk to my authorized representative.”

Prince and his Empire teammates are left to contemplate their futures and the deflated expectancies of Brown’s tenure.

“He came in promising the world,” Prince stated, “and didn’t show for s—.”

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ON FEB. 21, the Area Soccer League posted a spotlight reel on Twitter that featured the best participant in its historical past, “Touchdown” Eddie Brown, who starred for the now-defunct Albany Firebirds within the Nineties.

“My daddy was a legend,” Antonio Brown tweeted. “Imagine what [that] makes me.”

Ben Nelson, who ran the Empire’s social media and whose folks have been fanatics of the Firebirds, noticed a chance.

“Hey @AB84 wanna make history?” Nelson tweeted at Brown, with a trophy emoji.

Prior to lengthy, majority proprietor Mike Kwarta’s telephone rang.

“It’s f—ing Antonio Brown,” Kwarta stated to 2 crew officers who have been within the room.

Empire executives knew about Brown’s checkered week. For all of his Professional Bowl luck, Brown’s occupation, with the Steelers, Raiders, Patriots and Buccaneers, was once marked by way of controversy, each earlier than and nearest he ran off his ultimate NFL garden midgame in January 2022.

Amongst alternative incidents, Brown has settled a lawsuit by way of a former tutor that accused him of sexual attack, denying the allegations. He has additionally denied a 2d girl’s allegations of sexual misconduct. He settled a lawsuit that alleged he threw furnishings off a 14th-floor condominium balcony onto an in demand lake deck, just about hitting a child.

At the soccer aspect, he additionally again and again overlooked crew conferences and was once passed a three-game suspense for misrepresenting his COVID vaccination condition.

The litany of problems resulted in hypothesis about his psychological fitness, however nearest his let fall by way of the Buccaneers in 2022, Brown denied having any issues to CBS Information: “I never had a mental health diagnosis. I never had an issue or problem. I don’t take pills. I just got a high IQ.” (Then again, in an August social media post, Brown made connection with persistent worrying encephalopathy. “My CTE acting up F— all y’all whoever played on my name,” he wrote.)

In spite of all that, and in large part as a result of they badly wanted a money infusion, Kwarta and alternative Empire house owners entertained the considered bringing Brown into the line.

“COVID crushed us, attendance-wise,” Kwarta stated. “We needed something to jump-start it, and the idea was that he would sign autographs, take pictures, kiss the babies and let us run football. … And his dad is a great dude. That’s why we thought it would be a good idea to give it a shot.”

Lower than a life next, on March 1, Brown was once in Albany to signal the bureaucracy to shop for 47.5% of the Empire for $350,000, in line with Kwarta. At a information convention at MVP Area the upcoming year, there have been extensive smiles, nostalgic communicate concerning the day Brown spent in Albany as a kid and bulky guarantees to manufacture the Empire financially pitch nearest a number of failed iterations.

“It means everything to be back here in the community where I grew up as a kid,” Brown advised a neighborhood TV reporter. “For me, for the most part, it’s about keeping Albany football sustainable and being here forever and offering the community, the kids, the players a great opportunity to be successful.”

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WHILE BROWN WAS making his identify as one of the most highest vast receivers within the NFL, Darius Prince bounced round as a receiver within the enviornment leagues. His bulky fracture got here in 2018, forward of Brown’s ultimate season with the Steelers, when Prince performed one preseason duel with the Eagles earlier than he was once short. He got here to the Empire in 2021 and felt in an instant embraced by way of Albany fanatics.

“They just welcomed me with open arms,” Prince stated. “Definitely a huge family environment. Anybody that puts on those colors and plays for the community, they know you’re away from home, so they try their hardest to make you feel like you’re at home. That’s one of the things I loved about that community.”

The Nationwide Area League, reputedly like each upstart enviornment league earlier than it, is unquestionably small-time, its budget precarious. Franchises are run by way of the house owners of native cigar retail outlets and lights corporations (Kwarta runs a H2O recovery corporate in close by Schenectady). Groups just like the Empire perform on a shoestring finances, partnering with native eating places and alternative companies for meals and products and services in trade for exposure on the video games.

However in a park like Albany, the Empire is extra than simply some other native industry. The town has a proud custom of enviornment soccer that is going again 3 a long time. The Empire drew about 10,000 fanatics according to duel in each 2018 and 2019, and after they gained the 2019 Area Soccer League championship at house, 12,000 fanatics got here. They after moved to the Nationwide Area League, nearest the AFL went bankrupt, and gained back-to-back championships earlier than Brown arrived.

“I had customers [who were] really, really into it. I would meet them at block parties,” stated Rafi Topalian, a neighborhood jewellery gather proprietor. “It’s a release for us. This is our home team. You are rooting for it.”

Jim Malone has been a season-ticket holder since 1990, the Firebirds’ first season, and has simplest overlooked one duel ever. He cherishes the tight-knit population at video games, the place fanatics know every alternative and really feel attached to the crew.

“You go to an NFL game, and you’re further away from the action but also the people around you are from a much, much wider area,” he stated. “Whereas you go to an arena football game and you’re with people from where you live.”

“It’s such a family atmosphere,” he added.

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THREE DAYS AFTER purchasing into the Empire, Brown passed out a couple of footballs emblazoned with a crew sponsor at a Los Angeles hip-hop live performance the place he carried out. Moment he was once onstage, any person threw him a go, which he snared one-handed. A video of the moment went viral, and the crew’s executives have been overjoyed by way of the exposure.

“My sponsor’s name is on the football, so I get to send him a video of Antonio Brown one-hand-catching a football on stage with his logo on it,” stated Jeff Levack, the Empire’s former crew president. “It was perfect. It was great.”

All over the primary spherical of the NCAA basketball match at MVP Area about two weeks next, Brown made the rounds, taking selfies, signing autographs and growing buzz.

Nelson, the social media worker who first tweeted at Brown, stated the untouched possession spouse helped fill workplace whiteboards with concepts for bettering the crew. He talked to native soccer avid gamers and took part in a meet-and-greet at a neighborhood eating place. He promised the avid gamers NFL-level facilities, together with non-public cooks, smoothie bars and Sprinter vehicles.

However avid gamers and staff advised ESPN the tenor quickly began to modify eminent as much as the Empire’s April 16 season opener.

All over coaching camp, avid gamers requested the crew to submit a birthday tribute to Mo Ruffins, a former Empire offensive lineman who died utmost time at presen 38. Nelson posted it, however it was once briefly deleted. The avid gamers sought after to understand why.

“People were a little frustrated because these guys were close to [Mo],” vast receiver Dwayne Hollis stated.

After they couldn’t get a solution, Prince, Hollis and some other participant approached Brown at a neighborhood cigar front room. Brown was once there with Ryan Larkin, a neighborhood sneaker entrepreneur he’d introduced in to the entrance workplace.

“We were there to just talk, to give our views about how that’s wrong,” Hollis stated.

Hollis and Prince stated the dialog briefly were given hot, and Brown threatened to tug a gun.

“AB looked at Ryan [Larkin] and was like, ‘Hey, man, you still got the AR in the car? Go get it,'” Prince stated. “Then I was like, I’m not going to allow this dude to walk out of here after you just threatened us. … After he said that, things did calm down and we had a conversation. But the fact is that he threatened us by telling his assistant to grab his AR.”

Larkin didn’t reply to ESPN’s calls for remark.

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BROWN MADE ONE vital exchange nearest becoming a member of the Empire: He insisted that the crew observe in Albany. Brown sought after the crew to be extra eye within the population, Kwarta and Levack stated. The verdict got here with a significant monetary aftereffect.

The former two years, Kwarta and Levack stated, the Empire skirted Pristine York’s top employees’ reimbursement prices by way of retaining practices greater than an future away in Massachusetts or Connecticut, the place they registered the crew for industry functions.

Transferring practices to Albany got here with an $1.5 million employees’ comp ticket. Brown’s possession companions attempted to barter a decrease top class or maneuver round it, however they couldn’t manufacture it paintings.

“The team itself was days away from not being able to operate this year just solely because of workers’ compensation,” Gunaris, Brown’s accountant, advised ESPN.

“And Antonio flat out said, ‘You know what? I’m going to pay,” Kwarta stated, although he disputed that the crew wouldn’t were ready to perform.

Later Brown paid for the insurance coverage, Levack stated, he began telling public he unwanted owned the Empire. On April 19, 3 days nearest a season-opening victory over the Orlando Predators, Brown purchased Kwarta’s crew stocks for $1, making him the bulk proprietor.

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ON THE BUS again from North Carolina, the avid gamers nonetheless hadn’t won the primary lacking paycheck, and have been now owed cash for a 2d duel, a 56-49 loss to the Cobras. Teacher Damon Ware known as Brown, who stated the crew was once complaining remaining.

“‘Last week it was food. This week, it’s your money. Y’all need to worry about winning,'” Brown advised Ware and the avid gamers on speakerphone.

“[Brown] was trying to tell us, ‘Don’t worry about getting paid.’ If the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t pay you, what would you do?” Prince stated. “This is our livelihood. You can’t tell us not to worry about it.”

A number of avid gamers pressed Brown concerning the lacking cash.

“[Brown] got loud,” Ware stated.

“He was telling us he don’t respect us,” stated Melvin Hollins, an offensive and defensive lineman from Jackson Surrounding. “And we just, in his words, a bunch of broke arena boys.”

Ware stated Brown threatened to fasten the avid gamers out in their rooms on the resort in Albany and fribble away their assets.

“‘And all them old-ass players,'” Prince stated, remembering Brown’s phrases, “‘I’ll tell the bus driver to pull over and kick y’all off my f—ing bus right now.'”

Ware stated he resigned throughout the telephone name, and Brown exempt no less than six avid gamers at the spot, together with Prince and establishing quarterback Sam Castronova. They rode the remainder of how you can upstate Pristine York with their careers putting within the steadiness.

A few of the ones exempt had faced Brown about their cash at the telephone name, more than one avid gamers stated, however others hadn’t. Two avid gamers stated that considered one of Brown’s pals was once recording conversations between athletes.

Gunaris next advised ESPN that the bills have been behind schedule when the crew switched banks.

When the bus arrived in Albany, the public who were exempt couldn’t get into their rooms, a number of avid gamers stated. Their key playing cards didn’t paintings.

“Dude just has no respect for nobody,” Prince stated.

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AS HE CYCLED thru coaches and exempt avid gamers, Brown additionally alienated residue staff and industry house owners round the town who had supported or subsidized the Empire, in line with more than one resources.

Nelson, the worker who had first reached out to Brown, left the crew nearest Brown tagged him in a since-deleted tweet and known as him names — together with a slur — intended to demean his psychological acuity, in line with a screenshot of the tweet reviewed by way of ESPN. Nelson believed Brown mistook him for a tender fan who were essential of Brown on Twitter.

Tom Menas, the schoolteacher who had led the Empire to back-to-back championships however were fired earlier than the season, was once rehired on Might 3 however resigned 17 days next — the 3rd training exchange in simply 5 video games.

With just about no person with enjoy left helming a soccer franchise, John Kane, an Albany local who held stocks in each the Empire and the Cobras, stated he was once requested to advance Brown and his pals throughout the ordinary issues of duel presentation, from the nationwide anthem to offering an ambulance on duel year.

Brown introduced he would play games for the Empire at a house duel in Might, and just about 3,000 fanatics packed MVP Area dressed in black-and-gold Negative. 84 jerseys. However he by no means took the garden, reportedly for the reason that league hadn’t processed his bureaucracy in day.

In spite of his discuss his father’s historical past with Albany, Brown and his workforce gave the impression fed up within the Empire’s legacy, in line with Hal Talbot, an established Empire fan and gross sales supervisor at crew sponsor Fogg’s Car.

Talbot had assuredly with the crew to commemorate Ruffins, the past due offensive lineman, at a duel, and had made hundreds of stickers with Ruffins’s quantity at hand out.

“[The front office] kind of laughed at me and [said], ‘Well, we don’t know who this is,'” Talbot stated.

Talbot had additionally given Denis, the crew president, a automobile to importance in trade for social media publicity. The car disappeared for greater than two days, Talbot stated, till he in the end tracked it ill, unlocked with the keys inside of, in a parking batch akin the bus station. Denis didn’t reply to ESPN’s calls for remark.

In Might, Frank Cappello, a neighborhood eating place proprietor, known as the police nearest Larkin, who known himself as Brown’s supervisor, purchased $1,000 virtue of meals for the crew, in line with a police file. “The food has been delivered but [Larkin] has failed to pay,” the file learn.

Brown apologized and paid Cappello nearest the tale clash social media and the native information, and deny fees have been filed. A number of crew contributors stated native sponsors cancelled offering meals vouchers or pregame foods.

Many avid gamers did ultimately obtain assessments for the video games they performed, although some say they weren’t paid the overall quantities they have been owed. Gunaris advised ESPN that some avid gamers had their pay deducted on account of lacking apparatus like helmets and shoulder pads.

In early June, bills for a 68-24 loss to the Predators, a crew the Empire trounced within the season opener, have been reversed in order that some avid gamers by no means were given their cash, in line with Maurice Leggett, the crew’s fourth and ultimate schoolteacher.

Fourteen avid gamers and coaches say they’re nonetheless owed reimbursement in some mode, 5 of whom weren’t paid for a unmarried duel, in line with Kelly Magnuson, an Albany-based legal professional. Some are in the hunt for supplementary damages.

Round the similar day, Brown was once kicked out of the Peace Inn Categorical for smoking marijuana and enjoying deafening tune, in line with the Albany Occasions-Union. (Lodge representatives declined to talk with ESPN.) In consequence, the crew, which completed the season with a 1-6 file, needed to advance to some other resort, the place the rooms have been grimy and had bedbugs, Leggett stated. Kane attempted to aid, however with Brown in fee, no person sought after to get entangled with the Empire.

“Every connection I had for housing said, ‘Does AB still own the team?'” Kane stated. “I said, ‘Yeah, he does.’ They said, ‘I’m not going to do it.'”

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BY MID-JUNE, ABOUT 100 days nearest Brown arrived in Albany, league management mentioned what to do about his exceptional expenses. Brown owed $21,000 for 3 months of club charges and $1,000 for a wonderful levied for behavior negative to the league, in line with Levack and Kane.

In a information let fall, the league stated Brown had to start with paid his April charges however had due to this fact “challenged” the fee and retracted it. His crew demanded evidence from the league that the alternative groups have been paying their dues, Leggett stated.

The league gave Brown till midday on June 15 to pay up. Later the cut-off date handed, the board voted unanimously to oust the Empire from the league, with seven video games nonetheless left to play games.

League commissioner Chris Siegfried declined ESPN’s request for remark.

Leggett was once in a workforce assembly nearest observe when avid gamers began banging on his door. “Was it true?” they requested. He didn’t know the crew were dissolved till the avid gamers confirmed him a information tale.

Some avid gamers briefly discovered untouched groups, however those that couldn’t have been left stranded in Albany, with out paychecks for the remainder of the season.

“Two guys reached out,” Kane stated. “They were sleeping on people’s fancy couches. I picked them up and gave them a moving job for the day. Just to give them enough money to give them a plane ride home.”

Magnuson, who represents the 14 avid gamers and coaches in the hunt for reimbursement, stated her company remains to be vetting supplementary claims from former Empire staff. It’s concealed when they could document go well with.

“[What the players are claiming they’re owed] is not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things for someone who owns a football team,” she stated. “But it’s a lot of money for these guys who are working class.”

Brown left Albany as all of sudden as he gave the impression. When requested concerning the possible court cases, Brown advised ESPN, “I don’t got anything to say about nobody. People [are] always dragging my name saying they’re coming after me.”

Brown nonetheless owns the Empire’s workplace furnishings and the turf garden, in line with Bob Belber, normal supervisor of MVP Area, however hasn’t got rid of any of it. He’s now specializing in his tune occupation, Gunaris stated, with plans to proceed on excursion, let fall a untouched booklet and origination a file label. In August, TMZ reported {that a} pass judgement on issued an layout for Brown’s arrest nearest he didn’t pay kid help, although he next posted an image of a receipt on Instagram that urged he had paid.

In Albany, the Nationwide Area League, which dwindled to simply 3 groups nearest the week season, seems to be lifeless. Kwarta and Belber, alternatively, are in discussions in order enviornment soccer again to the town with untouched house owners in some other league. If it does go back, Malone the superfan will likely be in a position.

“I’ll be right back in my seats,” he stated.

ESPN researcher John Mastroberardino contributed to this file.