I’ve found it fascinating how so, so, so, so many retired pro athletes end up having huge financial problems later in life. It seems that just recently I’ve stumbled across a bunch of stuff that highlights just how bad it really is…
+ A few months ago I laughed at and enjoyed a piece done by ESPN’s Rick Reilly. It was called Weighed Down by too much cash. Don’t worry, i’m here to help. I came across it again just recently. It’s as funny as it is sarcastic, and true as it is unfortunate. Here’s his intro paragraph:
Congrats, newly minted NBA rookie!
Now you’ve been drafted. Next comes the delicious multimillion-dollar contract. And that’s when you must do what most NBA players do: start going through cash like Jack Black through the Keebler factory.
+ Just yesterday I was reading about Evander Holyfield and how he can’t make child support payments and how his 54,000-square-foot, 109-room, 17-bathroom home was set for auction due to a $10 million loan default. Here’s an excerpt from the article, The Real Deal with Holyfield:
Consider it the curse of being a world-class athlete, the maddening sense of invincibility and entitlement that simply seems to come with the territory. It’s a formula that’s proven as deadly as any opponent. One that can cut short careers as quickly as it depletes bank accounts.
+ In January, Toronto Star ran a piece about how horrible the NBA situation was looking. Here’s a piece from the article, NBA players financial security no slam dunk:
60 per cent of retired NBA players go broke five years after their NBA paycheques stop arriving…
…”You see how guys live,” said Kapono. “A lot of players get in trouble because they want everyone around them to lead the same lifestyle. So you fall into a hole. You buy this big house now for those people, and they no longer want to drive the low-end car to go with the big house. So the big house leads to the big car, to the better clothes, to the better restaurants and stuff. It’s a snowball effect. That’s why the stat isn’t as shocking, because I’ve witnessed it.”
+ Mark Cuban (Dallas Maverick’s owner and billionaire) has a brother (an attorney, works with Mark’s companies) who wrote a great article, Why Athletes Go Broke. It highlights a few other famous athletes who have gone broke, including Mike Tyson, Dorothy Hammill, Johnny Unitas and Latrell Spreewell.
On Halloween 2004, Sprewell, who was in the final season of a $62-million five-year contract with the New York Knicks, said he was insulted by the Minnesota Timberwolve’s offer of a contract extension that was reportedly worth between $27 million and $30 million for three seasons. Sprewell stated, “I’ve got my family to feed.” That quote become a national moniker for the public perception of athletes as greedy, out of touch individuals. Apparently, Sprewell still can’t feed his family. His yacht was recently repossessed and his multi-million dollar mansion is about to be foreclosed on.
+ A few days ago my wife was flipping through the channels and she came across a show, Real Housewives of Atlanta. It chronicles the life of a group of rich women in Atlanta. Two of them have husbands who are professional athletes — Eric Snow of the the NBA and Ed Hartwell of the NFL. These women spend, spend, and spend. Huge mansions. Dozens of imported cars. Bling to the max. The whole shabang. After seeing just a glimpse of how they live, it’s no wonder how millions and millions of dollars can get spent so quickly.
My Thoughts
It’s such a sad situation. No matter how hard the leagues try to educate and train these guys, it’s still gonna be a huge problem. So many of these guys come from tough economic backgrounds. Making millions of dollars overnight can’t be easy for anyone — think of how hard it must be for people who grew up with absolutely nothing. Yes I feel bad for the way many of them were raised and the circumstances they grew up in. But still…seems to me like so many of them simply make poor financial decisions. They seem to forget that they can’t play ball forever.
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