I blame the Union for failure to supply professional financial assistance to these players. The player earn enough to have a great life but in many cases are unable to control their finances. Same problem with many doctors and lawyers. So if the Union really cared they would have licensed, insured financial consultants the players could use.
They went to college but did not educate them selves. They are just lazy
> So if the Union really cared they would have licensed, insured financial consultants the players could use. <
A side story: I was a member of a union for decades. And yes, my union had licensed and insured financial consultants ready to help us.
All of them recommended high cost, high fee investments. I did some looking into this. It turns out that these “consultants” paid money annually to the union to get on the union-approved list.
I guess that’s better than no consultant at all. But it’s just another example of how corrupt unions are.
“You can lead a horse to water but...”.
The NFL and the players union have plenty of resources regarding financial planning for players as soon as they get in the league. Unfortunately, its up to the individual player to take advantage of them.
Actually, the NFL offers financial planning and advise to everyone in the league as part of the deal with the players union. They are advised that their NFL career is very short. That they need to invest that money to last potentially a lifetime.
However, I believe the statistic is that 50% of NFL players are broke five years after leaving the league.
Again, that is misleading statistic because most players never make much more than the league minimum which is $400K. Plus the average player is only in the league for 2 1/2 years.
Even the star players other than Quarterbacks maybe get one contract after becoming a free agent paying $4MM - $10MM for a few years.
The issue with not being able to handle new found wealth is not exclusive to just professional athletes. The same thing happens to most lottery winners.
Even the children of very wealthy typically squander the money earned/created by their parents. Cornelius Vanderbuilt was the richest man in the world. He built an empire. His children all built huge mansions. Literally some of the largest homes in the US. His great grand children got nothing except the name.
I have known briefly by association two former NFL players. Both defensive linemen.
The first one was the star of his college team. He had a 4.0 GPA while being the captain of the team at a large university.
He was drafted into the NFL and played as a starter for eight years. He retired, wrote several novels after regarding sports. He also owns several rental properties.
The other one was also a star on his college team. He was drafted and played as a backup lineman for six years. He retired from the NFL and was hired as a rookie lumber trader by a sister company of mine. He worked for them for about ten years then transferred to another sister company. He is still in the the industry today and has been a lumber broker like me for over 35 years.
BS!
Most of the problems of our country come forom blaming somebody else for our stupid choices and mistakes.
We’re eradicating personal responsibility.