The New York Dragons’ season has yet to begin, and the team’s future is now in doubt following the resignation of many of its top front office personnel.
Peter Schwartz, the team’s general manager, Sean Wachter, the team’s director of operations and Marilynne Rich, the team’s director of business development, all resigned from the organization on Monday, June 2.
Schwartz said the league’s format may be changing once again, with reports suggesting that the season may be cut down to four games and that the start of the season may not be finalized.
The four teams were expected to play eight regular-season games, four at home, four away, and one at a neutral site.
“I’m disappointed,” Schwartz said. “It was something that I was excited about, but it just wasn’t working out.”
The Entertainment Football Association announced Uniondale as one of four hosts for the league’s inaugural season in January. The league had already formed three other teams: the Danbury Diesel, Fitchburg Heroes, and New Jersey Ciphers.
The rollout to the league’s debut has not been smooth.
The Fitchburg Heroes have already moved to become the Garden State Heroes. The opening weekend of the season was delayed after initially being set to begin during the first weekend of June.
The Dragons’ first game was supposed to be on June 7, which has now been moved to July 10, when the Dragons’ original bye week was supposed to be.
The Dragons have yet to publicly announce a finalized roster. The team introduced two former Dix Hill standouts as its first two players and said that training camp was expected to begin on June 1.
Schwartz worked for the original New York Dragons that played arena football at the Nassau Coliseum from 2001 to 2008. He said he was “delighted” to continue the former team’s legacy when the Entertainment Football Association team was named in February.
Schwartz said he had not left any of his other positions to take on being the Dragons’ general manager, and that he will continue to fulfill his other duties, headlined by being a radio host on WFAN.
Wachter and Rich both joined the Dragons in early March as two of the team’s top front office members.
Wachter briefly played for the Dragons in 2008 before playing in the Continental Indoor Football League. He had previously called the opportunity to work for the Dragons “a dream come true.”
Rich began her career in sports marketing and previously worked for the Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Ravens. She said she wished the organization the best in a LinkedIn post announcing her resignation.
Efforts to reach the league and the team were unavailing.
