DARIUS PRINCE AND his two dozen Albany Empire teammates wanted their money.
They'd been owed payment by direct deposit after their previous National Arena League game -- a 55-53 home loss to the San Antonio Gunslingers -- the first since Antonio Brown, the mercurial former NFL star receiver, became the team's majority owner. The week came and went with no payment.
For guys on one of the lowest rungs of professional football, where salaries start at $250 per game before taxes, no pay means no money for food, gas or rent. Some of the higher-earning players -- Prince, the league MVP at the time, who had the top salary at about $3,000 per game -- would help support teammates so broke that they were hungry.