At the beginning of the Empire's history in late 2012, the team almost did not come to fruition, as part-owner Cullen Shaw almost took his Ultimate ownership interest to
Major League Ultimate because of a pending AUDL lawsuit against the
Connecticut Constitution and
Rhode Island Rampage. However, Shaw kept with the AUDL and the Empire because of lower ownership costs and more abilities as a team owner. The Empire's first tryout, in January 2013, attracted 60 players, more than other teams holding initial tryouts. The MLU did eventually create a New York franchise, the New York Rumble, and the Empire became the first AUDL team to have a player play for an AUDL and MLU team in the same year when Isaac Saul joined the Empire in 2014 after the conclusion of the Rumble season that same year. After the 2017 season, Barbara Stevens, mother of then-Empire player Matthew Stevens, became majority owner of the team. Before the 2018 season, the Empire signed
Beau Kittredge and
Marques Brownlee, and before 2019, the Empire signed Jack Williams and Grant Lindsley. These signings, combined with existing talent like Jeff Babbitt and Ben Jagt, created a team that some called the strongest in the league since the 2016 iteration of the
Dallas Roughnecks. The Empire then went 12–0 in the regular season after close calls with
Raleigh and
DC, and went 3–0 in the playoffs to win the 2019 championship and become only the third team in league history to finish a season undefeated. ==Stadium==