Concurrent with that announcement, the league also reported that the newly formed Empire had acquired the rights to former world number 1 male player Andy Roddick in a trade with the Orange County Breakers.

The NY Empire debuted on July 31, 2016, with a home match against the five-time defending WTT champion Washington Kastles.

[10][11][12] After opening the season with three straight losses, the Empire secured the first win in franchise history on August 4, 2016, when it defeated the Springfield Lasers, 19–15, at Forest Hills Stadium.

Irigoyen and Skupski held all four of their service games and managed a break to win the fifth set of mixed doubles, 5–2, and close out the victory.

"[16][17] On March 1, the Empire named International Tennis Hall of Famer Gigi Fernández as the team's new head coach, replacing Patrick McEnroe.

Fernández said, "This is going to be a fantastic summer for the New York Empire with a really strong team that already includes John [Isner], Genie [Bouchard] and Mardy [Fish].

The next night, the Empire traveled to Philadelphia and beat the Freedoms once again, with Mardy Fish taking down Young in a winner-take-all tiebreak in the final set.

Fish overcame a two-game deficit to push the match into a deciding supertiebreak, but came up short against Frances Tiafoe to hand the Empire its first loss of the season.

The match was eventually decided in a Supertiebreak, where New York's Kirsten Flipkens lost to Sorana Cîrstea, ending the Empire's playoff hopes but at the same time clinching the franchise's first top three finish.

On March 6, 2018, the Empire announced that Fernández would return to coach the team for the second season in a row, in hopes of guiding the franchise to its first trip to the WTT Finals.

This year, we hope to improve on that by making the finals and having a chance to bring the King Trophy to Billie Jean's home city."

At the 2018 World TeamTennis Draft in Indian Wells, California, the Empire filled out their roster by selecting Tatjana Maria, Dennis Novikov, and doubles specialist María José Martínez Sánchez.