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NFL players gone broke
By Shelly Gigante, Special for CNBC.com
Jan 31, 8:40 pm EST

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Steve Young, the NFL needs you back.

Not so much on the Gridiron per se, though your legacy as a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers will long be revered in the annals of football history, but as the voice of financial reason for dozens of players who can’t seem to manage their millions.

Indeed, Young, who earned his law degree between seasons during the 1990s and now serves as managing partner of a Utah-based venture-capital firm, is a rare example of post-career success.


Slideshow: 10 NFL stars who went bankrupt
Despite their median $900,000 annual salaries, a surprising number of NFL players (some estimate up to 80 percent) squander their fortunes in the years immediately following their retirement.

In 2010 alone, former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Dermontti Dawson joined New York Jets backup QB Mark Brunell(notes), who is still on the field, in bankruptcy court.

But they are hardly alone. The NFL is replete with tales of financial fumbles.

In most cases, the players made bad investment choices, spent frivolously, fell victim to predatory advisors or assigned their less-than-qualified friends or family to handle their affairs.

Some also blame their risk-taking DNA, which is an asset on the field, but a liability when it comes to managing money.

But Susan Bradley, a certified financial planner and founder of the Sudden Money Institute, who works with the NFL to develop life training skills, says it’s a fate that would befall most anyone forced to manage overnight wealth.

“Do they have a problem managing money in their professional career? Sure, you would too,” she says, noting players have a narrow window of opportunity (usually just a few years) to earn enough to last a lifetime.

They also face significant pressure to lead a luxury lifestyle and have virtually no free time to focus on finances with the rigorous demands of professional sports.

Too true. But it’s a challenge most of us would love to tackle.

The following 10 NFL players – who lost it all at one point – unfortunately got sacked.

The list:

1. Marlin Briscoe: Slideshow
2. Raghib ‘Rocket’ Ismail: Slideshow
3. Johnny Unitas: Slideshow
4. Michael Vick(notes): Slideshow
5. Deuce McAllister(notes): Slideshow
• See more athletes

Slideshow: 10 NFL stars who went bankrupt link to stars stricken with poverty



Not that this is news, heck sometimes I make mistakes with my money, but interesting to see someone like Johnny Unitas on here. Didnt players have second jobs back then?

Unitas didn't make the kinda money a winning QB makes today,, not even close to a guy like Manning or Brady. That might be a key for his money woes.

Kosar fits into this mess. Like Brunnel and some others, the real estate crash killed him.

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“Do they have a problem managing money in their professional career? Sure, you would too,” she says, noting players have a narrow window of opportunity (usually just a few years) to earn enough to last a lifetime.

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I call BS on this. Any sensible person knows that if you're an NFL player you will retire by the time you're 35. If I was someone who was an NFL player, I'd use that first contract to buy a modest home and pay off any debt I had. I'd wait until my 2nd or 3rd contract to buy a "luxurious" item which for me would be something like a 2nd home somewhere.

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They also face significant pressure to lead a luxury lifestyle and have virtually no free time to focus on finances with the rigorous demands of professional sports.

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Once again calling BS on this. "Significant pressure to lead a luxury lifestyle" my ass. They spend all that money because they want to show off and be on celebrity shows, etc. Once again, any sensible person would be able to make their NFL salary last. Maybe not forever, but for long enough to life a comfortable life and have enough money to get a degree or something and still live a very comfortable life.

At worst, get yourself a financial advisor with a long history and let them create you a plan so you don't wind up in bankruptcy court.

Well I can understand but not necessarily sympathize with them. Put yourself in their mindset for a minute (but don't think I'm trying to get you to feel sorry for them, just trying to make a point).

Most of the ones going to the NFL were on full scholarship, most are around 22 years old, have just legally discovered bars and the nightlife ... get thrust into the NFL ... and if the average career is 3 years ... let's say they make it 3 years and are a mid level draft pick ... not even someone like David Veikune

3 years at the NFL league minimum (and not even a lower level practice squad) is roughly 1 Million dollars. It was 310,000.00 this year, and increases every year, but I'm just rounding. $1,000.000 with about 40% of personal income taxes for luxury tax says that the nice sticker price was really just 600k ... not bad for me I must say .. but if you are an NFL player who gets caught up in buying a nice house, buying things for your family, getting a few cars, etc ... then if you are cut? Or if you aren't resigned after those years? Heck ... even "regular" people living on a 50-100k salary would blow through that savings in half of a decade ... (assuming that they didn't work anyway)

Once again .. not "sorry" for them, but I can get why if a knuckle-headed kid who is 22 or 24 years old can get into half of the trouble that people do ... finances would seem like a pretty understandable problem.

Oh I understand HOW they blow through their money, I'm just saying the very first thing I'd do if I was them is hire a proven financial planner so I don't become one of those people who goes bankrupt. I certainly sympathize with those who go bankrupt, but with the amount of money even a 7th round draft pick makes in his first contract, they can afford to hire someone to set up a plan just in case.

Haha you are absolutely right on that. Frankly I'm surprised Goodell or the league doesn't make the players pass personal finance tests and take investment (even basic) classes or seminars. When you consider that some of these guys are Juniors and even red shirt sophomores coming out of school ... they not only dont have a full understanding (at least not all of them) but some of them figure out they are going to the nfl and have done little more than acquire a high school eduation...

correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't have to be on pace to graduate to play as far as I know ... just have to have X amount of credits. 3 in Kinesiology/Gym classes ... 3 in a history course which you really just watch movies ... 3 in entry level reading / writing 3 in college algrebra and 3 in art history (not to knock any of those). That could be a full semester for someone.

It really wouldn't surprise me to see Goodell step in and do something to "help" these guys in the next couple of years ..

Here's a question that I just thought of while thinking about this:

Would you guys expect rookies to get more or less time to develop now if the rookie wage scales are implemented?

I think that if you don't have $30, $40, $50 million guaranteed wrapped up in a player then there's going to be a lot less pressure for that guy to be a stud from day one. Hopefully they'll be motivated to get that big second contract. I'd also expect to see rookie contracts at three years if they go to a rookie wage scale, which I think is fair. While I'm all for the rookie scale and making them earn the big money by performing at the pro level, I also don't think handcuffing a star player to a rookie deal for five years is appropriate.

However, you are looking at it through different eyes.

Many of the kids who go to the NFL come from lower income homes. They have never had money. They have been given a lot because of their talent. They are big shots, and they then become even bigger shots when they make the NFL.

They often come from a really ugly "real world" to a fantasy world in the NFL. Everybody loves them. Everybody wants them, and wants to be them. Everyone is their friend. That's pretty heady stuff for a kid just out of college who is (at least) just as likely to have grown up in poverty as not.

Many of these kids are children of children. Their mothers may still be in their 30s even as they graduate college. (If they graduate) They have been raised by mothers who never had a chance to grow up, and they never grow up either. They have no mature adults in their personal lives. Many of their friends may have already lived lives of violence, and died. Other of their friends may be in jail. They remain with a childish view of the world, where they have never had to work for money ..... their mothers, in many cases, have never had to work for money, and money has no "real" value. Spend it, blow it, whatever ..... it's not real.

This isn't all pro athletes, obviously, but many kids fall into this type of socio-economic grouping .... where a million dollars has no real conceptual basis. If you've never made money, and no one in your family has ever made money, then a million dollars is a lifetime of parties, and houses, and cars, and paying for friends, and paying for family, and paying for women, and paying for kids, and after taxes, suddenly, there isn't much left over. A kid making a million dollars over 4 years, with half of that going to taxes is down to half of his "fortune". He's down to $125,000/year. Nice money, but hardly a fortune. $125,000 is a lot of money ... but not hard to blow if you are committed to doing so.

Seems like the info runs parallel with stories about lottery winners who go broke in five years. I worry about trying to keep what we have together solvent. But what seems an incredible amount of money for these folks, seems to disappear in short order like a few years. Pray the advisors and agents do not steal you blind, I guess. But that is why I say I want the cash set up for a lotto or mega: "My family won't wait on the money if I win big." Pretty sure I would set mine up for the remainder of the home stretch at my age.

J/C


It's easy to say you would do this or would have done that, but here is the truth.


I would bet most everybody on the board isn't all that far from going broke if a few bumps hit you....lose a job, make a bad investment or two.

Stuff happens.

Yes, they play with a bigger pile of money, but that really doesn't change anything other than the amount lost.

People spend their money. It's human nature, and the more you make, the more you spend. There is always something bigger and better out there.

These guys have it in reverse. Their peak earning years happen to be during the years they do spend money unwisely and are bound to make money mistakes.....mistakes only experience teaches.

I have spent money on all sorts of stupid things, and have lost a great deal of money over the years. Lucky for me it mostly happened early on, before my peak earning years.

It also lists 10 people. I don't think that percentage is any different than any other group of people. I am sure there are many ex players who managed to save some of the nest egg and lead comfortable, while not extravagant lifestyles.

It would be good to see more players funding annuity's that don't pay out for 25 years, giving them a nice shot in the arm when they hit their late 40's, early 50's...a time(experience speaking here) when a nice shot in the arm is very welcomed.

While I don't have much sympathy for someone who can blow through a million bucks in a couple years cause I could live comfortably for many years if I had a million bucks to drop in my account.

But I can understand how in their early 20's with little or no financial role model to look to that they could spend and not even realize how much they spend.

I made my share of financial mistakes in my 20's, but lucky enough I had someone who sat me down and showed me my mistakes and was supportive in helping me correct it. These guys most likely don't have that support.

These guys aren't rocket scientists. They are football players and had their sights set on this in high school and college. Some are smart and talented, but I would wager that the majority of these guys are knuckleheads in all subjects not football. Without football they would have no future. The players union needs to do even more to educate these guys in finances. The players union can pay the guys going broke to come in and explain to the current players how they went broke.