[3] However, by April 2021, both had left to join the Indoor Football League's Iowa Barnstormers, stating they did not have the same plans as the owners.

[4][5] The team's head coach during their inaugural season was Tom Menas,[6] who led the Empire to a 7–1 record and an NAL championship.

A letter addressed to a Times Union reporter described Brown as "not the owner of this team" and also "not a citizen of the United States at birth", which caused confusion.

[15] On May 3, Antonio Brown announced that Tom Menas, who had left the Empire before the start of the 2023 season, had been rehired as head coach.

He also fired his associate, Ryan Larkin, for "bad representation of the brand" after a local restaurant complained on Facebook that the team had not paid for a food order delivered to the arena.

[19] Two days later, the team announced that Foster had not accepted the job offer, and that former Empire player Maurice Leggett had been hired as an interim head coach.

[23] Belber was nonetheless "optimistic" that a resolution could be achieved and noted he had been in discussions with two reputable groups to potentially bring indoor football back to the arena.