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Antonio Brown's arena football team is in controversy
Antonio Brown. Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Antonio Brown's arena football team is swimming in controversy

After ruining his NFL playing career, Antonio Brown finds himself in another situation. 

Brown purchased an Arena Football team earlier this year, and his Albany Empire team is currently swimming in chaos as players and coaches have not been paid. There was also an incident on the team bus resulting in several players being suspended. 

As a result of this, head coach Damon Ware confirmed to the Times Union that he has left the team.

Alberony Denis, the team's current president, told the paper that the lack of payment was "due to issues with the payroll processor, which had put a hold due to a problem created when former team owner Mike Kwarta and most of the former front office left following Kwarta’s sale of his ownership stake" to Brown's ownership group. 

He added that the processor had been paid and that players should expect payment on Monday. 

Even before he dipped his toes into owning a pro football team, Brown had a long-established track record of not paying people he owed money to and has been sued on multiple occasions. Those lawsuits have come from a wide variety of people, ranging from personal chefs to jewelry makers. 

Brown has been a lightning rod for controversy over the past five years, resulting in the premature end of a football career that at one point seemed destined for the Hall of Fame. 

Brown's dad, Eddie Brown, was a standout player for the Empire many years ago and is a part of his son's ownership group.

Brown purchased the team back in March after it had won back-to-back league championships. They are only 1-2 through the first three games of this season. 

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