Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown was once the owner of the National Arena League’s Albany Empire, but a number of events occurred that led to the team getting kicked out of the organization.
According to some members of the team, not only were they not getting paid, they were getting locked out of hotel rooms. They also went through four different coaches during the season.
In an ESPN feature, it was reported that Brown threatened three players with a gun when a birthday post dedicated to a former player who died the previous year was deleted from the Empire’s social media account.
Darius Prince, Dwayne Hollis, and an unnamed player, allegedly approached Brown at a cigar lounge, asking about the birthday post that was supposed to be a tribute to offensive lineman Mo Ruffins.
“AB looked at Ryan [Larkin] and was like, ‘Hey man, you still got the AR [rifle] in the car? Go get it,’” Prince told ESPN. “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.”
“People were a little frustrated because these guys were close to [Mo],” Hollis said. “We were there to just talk, to give our views about how that’s wrong.”
For the past few years, Brown has been a part of some controversial moments, including the time he played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and walked off the field in the middle of a game.
