Antonio Brown Ripped by Former Albany Empire Players: ‘No Respect’

Antonio Brown and his ownership of the Albany Empire went sideways during his entire tenure. But on Friday, the players spoke publicly for the first time since the Spring incidents. In June, Brown and his National Arena League team, the Empire, were kicked out and evicted from the league.

Multiple odd media press conferences highlighted the tenure, but more so, a failure to pay players, coaches, and even the team’s assessments with the league. After failing to pay their wages, the players planned a class-action lawsuit against Brown, which continues to be drafted.

Before this season, he bought into the team, the successor to the one his father played for in Albany. His season as owner of the Empire was filled with drama from the start. There was a dispute with his co-owners about the percentage of the team that he owed, he was kicked off the field by his security staff, he fired multiple coaches, the team was kicked out of hotel rooms for non-payment, and Brown said that he would play for the team, only to bail at the last moment, citing a paperwork technicality.

Now, the players are speaking out. Darius Prince, the team’s MVP, made about $3,000 per game and approached Antonio Brown once to ask about the wages. By the end of it, Brown threatened to pull out a gun on the players, shocking them. Prince told ESPN, who broke down the entire saga, that Brown has no respect for anybody.

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

That story took place with an associate, Ryan Larkin, and the more heated it got, the more Brown started to threaten the players. According to Prince, they were there to talk and get paid their money, and by the end, he asked his associate if he still had his gun.

“AB looked at Ryan [Larkin] and was like, ‘Hey, man, you still got the AR in the car? Go get it,'” Prince said. “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.”

Even this month, Brown has been in the news for a Florida judge issuing an arrest warrant for him after he failed to make a $15,000 child support payment earlier this month. It’s the second time Florida law enforcement has been sent after Brown to get him to pay child support in recent years. He can have the warrant rescinded if he pays the total amount. With the report out, he took to social media to blast pundits about the reports.