👀 POV: Your Crazy Boss Won't Pay You

Are you or someone you know between the ages of 19-21, gone to college and live in the USA? If so, you’re eligible for the 2023 NBA Draft!

More on that later…

🗞 The Big Story

The last we heard from Antonio Brown, he was shirtless and waving goodbye to fans at the Meadowlands in a 2022 Week 17 NFL game between the Jets and the Buccaneers.

But this was not the end of the AB Saga:

• In October 2022, Brown exposed himself to strangers in a Dubai pool with a video showing that he had become physical with a female guest.

• In December 2022, a warrant was put out for Brown’s arrest regarding domestic violence charges from an incident with his ex-fiancee on November 28 in which it’s reported Brown threw a shoe at her during an argument.

• And just last month AB was sued by a jeweler who claims Brown owes him $1.1 million for a pair of Shuki International diamond fingers, as well as a white gold chain and a ring.

But ever persistent, Brown has now found his way back onto another football team he can ruin - the Arena Football League’s Albany Empire. Here’s the timeline:

March 2, 2023: Antonio Brown acquires a minority ownership stake in the team with his dad, Eddie Brown, who played in Albany in the 1990s.

April 19, 2023: Antonio and Eddie Brown acquire a 95% stake in the team in what many players and coaches describe as a “hostile takeover” which involves Antonio Brown forcing out the other owners by “just throwing money at them.”

Late April 2023: The Empire (aka Antonio Brown) stop paying their players and staff, missing multiple payments that month leading to team captains addressing team officials.

May 1, 2023: Antonio Brown requests that the team hotel locks the Albany players out of their rooms and forces them to beg the cleaning staff to let them back in just so they can retrieve their belongings.

May 2, 2023: Head coach, Damon Ware, and a number of key players leave the team - with Ware stating that when he texted Brown about the missed payments, Brown replied with threats of physical violence.

May 5, 2023: Antonio Brown says he doesn’t own the Albany Empire and any claims that he does are “completely false.”

May 27, 2023: Antonio Brown fails to appear in the Empire’s May 27th home game after advertising his appearance on the team’s website and subsequently doubling ticket sales.

May 28, 2023: Brown actively recruits Cam Newton to play in Albany for one game. He offers to pay Newton $150,000.

May 29, 2023: Antonio Brown fires the second head coach of the season after just one week. He cites poor attendance and team management.

FWIW, Antonio Brown is making a fool of himself while likely actively losing money.

A report from 2021 notes how the Empire likely lost $2 million in 2019, the year before the Arena Football League folded.

The article goes on to estimate that the team needed to average 8,500 fans per game to break even. The team is only averaging about 2,000 fans per game so far this year.

📉 Biggest Loser

If you’re a student at the University of Kentucky, it costs you around $58.70 per night to stay in your dorm for a school year.

If you’re a college baseball player playing in Lexington’s NCAA Regional Tournament this weekend, it’ll cost you $92.50 per night to stay in that same dorm.

That’s because the NCAA’s DI Baseball Committee decided to put one of their 16 Regional Baseball Tournaments in the same city that’s hosting TWO music festivals this weekend.

This has reduced hotel capacity to the point where athletes have to pay close to $100 per night to stay in a shared dorm room while parents and fans have to stay an hour away in Louisville.

And the worst part? The NCAA knew about this issue before it picked Lexington as a host city but went with them anyways.

🏆 Winner’s Circle

Jordan Haber is an NBA draft prospect, but he also hasn’t played organized basketball since middle school.

How is that possible, you might ask?

Jordan, a future law student, read through the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement and found that the requirements to join the 2023 NBA Draft were shockingly basic:

• Must be over 19 years old

• Must have completed an undergraduate degree

• Must be born in the USA

Jordan just so happened to check all three of those boxes after graduating from the University of Florida last winter and so he decided to submit all the paperwork required to become draft-eligible.

A few weeks later and he became part of the list of several hundred basketball players eligible to be selected in the 2023 NBA Draft on June 22.

The only problem? Now he’s got to get himself to NYC where the draft is being held.

Usually, a player’s agent will pay for the trip out since the NBA isn’t allowed to compensate undrafted players, but Jordan doesn’t have an agent.

Just a dream of meeting Adam Silver.

💰 Money Talks

My new best friend is Indiana Pacer’s rookie star, Benedict Mathurin.

Ok, well probably not - but he was nice enough to answer some questions I had about his first NBA contract (worth $30M).

Go listen to our conversation:

New episodes of Sportonomics release every Thursday on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

👋 If you haven’t already, go look at what AFC Richmond and Ted Lasso are doing on Twitter, it’s brilliant. See you next Friday!