After the Antonio Brown fiasco, Bob Belber, general manager of the arena, stated that New York's exceptionally high
worker's compensation premium, running around $1,500,000, a full order of magnitude higher than other indoor squads, was the main factor in the NAL Empire's sale to Brown and its collapse, and the primary reason the Empire was not included among the inaugural teams in the 2024 Arena Football League relaunch; he stated that if the city wanted arena football to return, the state would have to lower that premium before the middle of August 2023. Belber was nonetheless "optimistic" that a resolution could be achieved and noted he had been in discussions with two reputable groups to potentially bring arena football back to the arena. On September 23, according to an unconfirmed report from
WNYT, the team would revive the brand of the
Albany Firebirds and play in the
Indoor Football League; however, former Empire owner Mike Kwarta and former team president Jeff Levack stated that joining the IFL was not a certainty, as the Arena Football League remained in play, the name was still under review, and that the new team was able to renegotiate a 60% reduction in its worker's compensation cost which, while still unusually high, was good enough to allow the team to move forward. On October 2, 2023, the Albany Firebirds were announced to be joining the AFL. On October 6, the league announced the addition of the Firebirds, as well as the
Southwest Kansas Storm,
Wichita Regulators,
Orlando Predators,
Rapid City Marshals, and a team eventually known as the
Washington Wolfpack. In contrast to several of the other smaller midwestern teams that were covered under a merger agreement with
Champions Indoor Football, the Firebirds indicated they had received the full cooperation of AFL management, which had honored all promises made to the team. Firebirds president Jeff Levack blamed the smaller teams for having "scared off" a television carriage agreement with
NFL Network. The Firebirds returned to the playoffs and made it all the way to the championship game in
ArenaBowl XXXIII being played at
American Dream Meadowlands in
East Rutherford, New Jersey (a neutral site), only to lose to the upstart
Billings Outlaws 46–41.
Leaving the AFL, Joining AF1 On September 4, 2024, the Firebirds, along with the surviving members of the collapsed AFL, left the league and joined the newly-formed
Arena Football One. In the 2025 season, they play in the East Division along with the
Nashville Kats. The Firebirds completed a perfect season in 2025, winning all ten regular season games and defeating Nashville in Arena Crown 2025, the AF1 championship. The team's offensive core signed with the
Memphis Showboats following the season; though all of the signings were eventually voided when the Showboats were folded and all four players went unclaimed in the
subsequent dispersal draft. During the same offseason the Firebirds signed quarterback Ja'Rome Johnson who previously played for the
Indoor Football League's Vegas Knight Hawks winning the league's 2024 MVP and helping them win the 2025 IFL championship. Johnson left the team in the offseason. Josh Kulka, the younger brother of Nashville Kats quarterback Tyler Kulka, joined the Firebirds in early 2026 and won the starting quarterback position after Castronova received a last-minute contract from the UFL's
Houston Gamblers and backup Robert McCoy had been traded to the
Oregon Lightning. == References ==