Antonio Brown’s accountant accuses NAL of unfair treatment with Albany Empire kicked out (EXCLUSIVE)

With Albany Empire kicked out of the National Arena League, former Pittsburgh Steelers star Antonio Brown has once again made a home for himself in the headlines.

Three weeks into his ownership of the franchise, the league officially announced last week that they were officially kicking the Albany Empire out.

The NAL's statement read:

"After exhausting all avenues, the NAL board of owners have decided unanimously to terminate the membership agreement of the Albany Empire. The decision was reached after an emergency conference call of the members in good standing to discuss the Empire’s failure to pay their league-mandated and overdue assessments."

In the wake of the myriad storylines revolving around the team, Brown's accountant Alex Gunaris spoke exclusively to Sportskeeda to provide perspective on the situation.

While the crux of the situation revolves around payment issues, Gunaris pointed out that Antonio Brown was facing the brunt of the failures of the previous leadership. Gunaris said:

"Our workers' compensation policy from the New York State Insurance Fund included a 15,609% additional charge on top of our normal premiums. We are being penalized for the prior ownership and league negligence.

"The State of New York confirmed this to us, and our premium is high because of the arena league's management and prior issues. Our premium is 50 times higher than any other team."

Why was Antonio Brown's Albany Empire kicked out of the league? Ex-Steelers star's accountant provides insight

The league's stance, however, related to a number of issues revolving around payments.

The NAL noted that each team is bound to pay for 1/7 of the league’s operating budget. The Empire, however, stopped short of the same.

Franchise owner Antonio Brown was subsequently fined $1,000 for "Conduct Detrimental to the League," a fine he refused to pay.

Gunaris said on th same:

"We asked the league for proof to show us payments made by other teams, the amounts, and if they were paid on time. We wanted to verify we were being treated fairly, due to some other issues we found with the league and to make sure Antonio Brown was not being taken advantage of monetarily.

"However, the league never provided proof of the other teams paying these fees. They gave us less than 24 hours to comply with their payment demands. They said they had a meeting with other teams in good standing, but we need to find out if they are in good standing because they never provided us proof and held this meeting behind our backs."

While little has been revealed about what happens to the franchise now, the ball is clearly in Antonio Brown's court.

Having faced a rough couple of weeks in terms of coaching staff turnover and player uncertainty (Brown himself promised to suit up on week), the former Steelers star will need to refurbish his image in the press and resurrect the franchise in the weeks and months to come.