Wikipedia Says Athletes Blow Their Fortunes After Two Years Away

[Dapper Andy]

This is hideous note is despite counseling by the NFL. How stupid are these athletes? What does this say about the "education" they received in college? This is proof that sports are for income to the schools only.

I don't think so.

I think it's proof that professional athletes don't exactly make the money most people believe. Making that money while you're in your early 20's doesn't exactly help much either.

 

[Dapper Andy]

I've been wondering how Marcus Lattimore is going to handle is money (only because he is from my home town). All expectations were for him to be a first round draft pick, with a huge mega million contract, but due to two injuries in two years it didn't happen. I've heard that he did end up with a $300k/yr 5 year contract (but have not verified it). It's gotta be terribly disappointing to him to have to accept that he is not going to instantly become rich. Then to top it off he has no college degree (drafted his Jr. year of college), and will not be licenses/qualified to teach school even if he can wrangle a coaching job after his pro career ends.

So what do you do to preserve $300k/yr (which is only guaranteed for five years)? After taxes, thats maybe $200k at best. Not enough to purchase a mansion or even enough to buy his mama a mini-mac-mansion, and not gonna be enough for a high end Italian sportscar. Maybe enough to purchase a VW Jetta, a darned nice entertainment system, and max out his IRA. If I was a bank, I don't think I would offer him any credit extending beyond a five year term.

NFL contracts are not guaranteed and I have a difficult time believing San Francisco guaranteed him money for 5 years.

He's a good example and it shows how misleading this discussion is. NFL league minimum works out to about $25,000 per week over a 16 week season for a rookie. That's nothing to sneeze at for your Average Joe but if he's cut next week and not picked up by another franchise then his pro career made him $50,000 before taxes. Most of the guys we're talking about will never pull down Alex Rodriguez or Joe Flacco money and a healthy portion of them will spend far less than 1 year in their leagues.

 

[Dr. Chuckles]

NFL contracts are not guaranteed and I have a difficult time believing San Francisco guaranteed him money for 5 years.

He's a good example and it shows how misleading this discussion is. NFL league minimum works out to about $25,000 per week over a 16 week season for a rookie. That's nothing to sneeze at for your Average Joe but if he's cut next week and not picked up by another franchise then his pro career made him $50,000 before taxes. Most of the guys we're talking about will never pull down Alex Rodriguez or Joe Flacco money and a healthy portion of them will spend far less than 1 year in their leagues.

actually it's an issue many top earning athletes had to deal with to the point it's almost a cliche

 

[Dapper Andy]

actually it's an issue many top earning athletes had to deal with to the point it's almost a cliche

Top earning celebrities probably go broke at higher rates than top earning non-celebrities but I doubt the percentage is obscenely higher.

People might not like to admit it but it's hard to make a real lot of money without being fairly intelligent and committed.

 

[Dr. Chuckles]

Top earning celebrities probably go broke at higher rates than top earning non-celebrities but I doubt the percentage is obscenely higher.

People might not like to admit it but it's hard to make a real lot of money without being fairly intelligent and committed.

I'm not sure what you are attempting to convey with the above, but your previous post seems to posit that it's more a function of these athletes not making the type of money many assume. The problem is the average salary in the NFL is still 1.9 mill a year (the lowest of the major US sports leagues) and we have many top earning athletes going broke.

 

[Dapper Andy]

I'm not sure what you are attempting to convey with the above, but your previous post seems to posit that it's more a function of these athletes not making the type of money many assume. The problem is the average salary in the NFL is still 1.9 mill a year (the lowest of the major US sports leagues) and we have many top earning athletes going broke.

We don't have many top earning athletes going broke.

At least nothing that resembles the statistics from the Sports Illustrated article quoted in the OP.

There are exceptions of course but most of the people who go broke are guys who never really made any money to begin with. Football is a bit wonky because they have to work around a cap but almost no one on an NFL roster makes anywhere near $1.9M. There are a handful of guys who make significantly more while nearly everyone else makes league minimum. More importantly, you're only paid for the time you're on the roster and contracts aren't guaranteed in the NFL. A late draft pick added for depth who breaks his leg in Week 1 will be let go almost immediately. He'll make $25,000, have a neat story to tell his friends, and have to figure out a way to make ends meet. These are the people who go broke.

 

[Dr. Chuckles]

We don't have many top earning athletes going broke.

What are you basing that on? I can site numerous top earning athletes who went broke. As I said earlier, it's a cliche at this point:

Mike Tyson, OJ Simpson, Curt Schilling, Antoine Walker, Terrell Owens, Travis Henry, Lenny Dykstra , Lawrence Taylor , Evander Holyfield, Chris McAlister, Mark Brunnell, Jack Clark, Muhsin Muhammad, Latrell Sprewell, Kenny Anderson, Deuce McAllister, Andre Rison, Keith McCants, Rocket ismail, leon Searcy, Bernie Kosare, Allen Iverson, Travis Henry, Scottie Pippen, Scott Eyre, Darren McCarty, Travis Henry

are just a few names that came up on a quick google search