Antonio Brown doesn’t play in Saturday’s Albany Empire game

Albany Empire owner Antonio Brown did not play in Saturday’s Albany Empire game after all, NewsChannel 13’s Rodger Wyland reports.

The reason is because paperwork for his physical did not come through on time.

Brown – who used to play for teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – had been vowing all week to play in the game. The average crowd at an Albany Empire game is 2,500 fans. However, 4,500 fans showed up.

However, National Arena League Commissioner Chris Siegfried has said that since Brown’s an owner of a team, he can play without a physical. That did not happen.

As the owner of the team, Brown also admitted he could have overridden this decision, but said he wasn’t because he wanted to set a good example for his players.

“Stay tuned, AB’s coming. There’s proper procedures you’ve got to do to play football,” Brown told NewsChannel 13’s Rodger Wyland. “You’ve got to pass the coach, the commissioner. You’ve got to be in physical condition. You can’t just pop up, so I’ve got to get my feet wet. We’ve got to get the proper equipment. We’ve got to do the right thing.”

“But I am going to be playing. You didn’t lie. Everything is going to fall in place,” he added.

NewsChannel 13’s Rodger Wyland and Tessa Bentulan are following this story. We will have updates on WNYT.com and our later newscasts.