New York Dragons GM Peter Schwartz, rest of front office resign from organization

New York Dragons general manager Peter Schwartz said the entire front-office personnel resigned from the organization early Monday evening. Schwartz, along with Sean Wachter, the director of operations, and Marilynne Rich, the director of business development, sent emails notifying team owner Doug Freeman of their decision to leave.

“We felt it was appropriate to step away given the direction of the league,” Schwartz said. “I wish the league, coaches and players nothing but success.”

Freeman, the founder of the Entertainment Football Association and owner of the Dragons, confirmed the resignations.

“The best way to describe it is that they are no longer with the organization,” Freeman said. “We’ll replace them with an outstanding general manager from a well-known sports organization. We’re making some league announcements on [Wednesday night].”

The start to the inaugural ENTFLA has already been delayed. The Dragons’ first game was initially scheduled on the road June 7 at the Danbury Diesel. That game was tentatively moved to the bye week of July 10.

The league then announced a new start date of June 14 for the Dragons at Nassau Coliseum against the New Jersey Ciphers. That start date will not happen as players were informed of a new scheduling format and a yet-to-be-determined start date.

Dragons head coach Gerald Filardi said he received a call from Freeman Monday night and was told of the resignations.

“I was contacted by our owner, and he told me they are moving in a different direction and that the entire front office resigned,” Filardi said. “I’m not in jeopardy of a new GM coming in here and being replaced. My biggest concerns with the schedule changes are my players and being prepared for the opener. When that happens, we want to be ready.”

Filardi said he was informed that the original eight-game schedule will be reduced to four games with the fourth week of games determining a champion and a third-place finisher. But nothing is definitive until the league meets this week and picks a new start date.

“Whatever they determine in the league meeting is what we’ll go with,” Filardi said. “The coaching staff and the players are getting ready to play football . . . The opportunity is still here and that’s why I’m still here. We’re all hopeful it’ll work out.”

Freeman did not detail any specifics of the scheduling issues or the hurdles that the start-up league faced.

“We’ve all been affected by the global supply chain, and we had to make some adjustments getting started,” Freeman said. “We’re excited about what’s taking place. We love Long Island and everyone that’s been a partner internally and externally.”

Schwartz said he, Wachter and Rich worked very hard to get the team off and running.

“It’s all so disappointing that it didn’t work out,” he said. “We all collectively sent our resignation letters at the same time. I really loved the New York Dragons the first time around. The eight years I spent with the New York Dragons was the best job I ever had in life. The one silver lining here was I made friends for life with Marilynne and Sean. I was proud of hiring Gerald as the coach. He’s the right guy for the job.”

By Gregg Sarra

gregg.sarra@newsday.com@Gregg_Sarra

Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.