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USATSI

It's still not clear if Antonio Brown is ever actually going to suit up for an arena football game this year, but if it does happen, he apparently wants Cam Newton to join him. 

Brown is so serious about getting Newton on the field with him that he's willing to pay the former NFL MVP $150,000 if he's willing to suit up and play one game for the arena team that Brown owns, the Albany Empire. 

"If anybody seen Cam Newton let him know he haven't thrown me a touchdown in a game yet and now we finally can make it happen," Brown wrote on Twitter. "I'm offering Cam 150k one game play with me please spam his account."

Of course, even if Newton were to accept this deal, there's no guarantee he would get paid. Brown bought the Empire in March and his tenure as owner was nothing short of a disaster early on. According to multiple reports, players and staff weren't being paid as recently as late April and the team's former head coach (Damon Ware) ended up leaving the Empire over the missed payments. The team claims that the missed payments were due to a change in payroll processors that happened after Brown purchased the franchise. In an interview on May 3, Brown said that everyone had been paid what they're owed.  

Although Brown seems to have fixed the payroll problems, it's still not clear if he's ever going to take the field. The controversial former NFL star had promised to play in a home game on May 27, but he didn't even suit up. 

"Stay tuned, AB's coming," Brown told WNYT.com after the May 27 game. "There's proper procedures you've got to do to play football. You've got to pass the coach, the commissioner. You've got to be in physical condition. You can't just pop up, so I've got to get my feet wet. We've got to get the proper equipment. We've got to do the right thing... But I am going to be playing."

After skipping out on the May 27 game, it seems that Brown's new plan is to suit up for Albany's June 17 home game and based on his offer to Newton, he clearly wants the veteran NFL quarterback out on the field with him. Based on his track record though, it will be a surprise if Brown actually plays and it will be an even bigger surprise if Newton takes him up on the offer. 

There's a good chance that Newton isn't interested in playing in arena right now and that's mostly because he's still trying to make his way back to the NFL after taking the 2022 season off. Newton recently revealed nine teams that he'd be willing to play for and you can check those out here