Many NFL players living paycheck to paycheck

[Rage for Order]

Things are tough all over, I suppose

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41855264/ns/business-personal_finance/

With so many players stretching their finances, time is on management's side in labor dispute

When NFL owners read the opposing defense, they see an obvious soft spot in the line: the free-spending, high-living ways of more than 20 percent of the league’s players. Though a lockout has been threatened for years — and despite an apparent rise in the number of football stars safeguarding their millions — roughly 380 of the NFL's near 1,700 players still live paycheck to paycheck, according to financial experts familiar with the league.

“Therein lies the leverage these owners have to potentially use as an excuse to force the Players Association … to sneeze first,” said Reggie Wilkes, a 10-year NFL linebacker and now a financial adviser who preaches “lifestyle management” to more than 20 NFL clients. “If (union chief) DeMaurice Smith doesn’t have guys saving their money, it’s going to be difficult for them to withstand a potential lockout.”

Many players are "going to be hurting," agreed New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott, 30, a Wilkes client. Scott, who stands to earn, or lose, $6 million next season, is frugal by NFL standards, driving his 2002 Lincoln Navigator “into the ground” and purchasing a $700,000 home — relatively modest by football star standards. Scott said some “young guys” in his locker room “see what the older guys have, and they’re not there yet. They’re trying to catch up and keep up with the Joneses” by buying $2 million mansions.

There is a wide variation in NFL players’ salaries. The average player salary for the 2009-10 season using USA Today's numbers is $1,870,998. But the number isn't particularly meaningful since superstars can earn far more and second- or third-stringers far less. The league rookie minimum salary is $320,000.


***more at the link

I hope this doesn't allow the owners to pressure the weak links who need their weekly checks into settling for an unfair deal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I am sorry, but 320,000 should not have them

living pay check to pay check. That said I know whey they are. We do not teach kids how to manage money... let alone these guys.

[atreides1]

5. That's it

Neither the teams or the NFL teach players on how to manage their money...maybe that's something the players union needs to consider.

[Rage for Order]

10. The NFL actually does hold seminars for rookies

Gives them economic advice and other, lifestyle type advice. Of course, it's up to the players as to whether or not they wish to heed the advice they are given.

http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/11912640

The NFL's Rookie Symposium, in its 13th year, has long been one of the more productive and vital programs run by any sports league. It's not flawless. After all, Vick heard the same warnings from former and current players at a similar symposium some years ago about what it takes to stay out of trouble and he obviously didn't listen.

Relatives and friends seeing a wealthy NFL player as a walking ATM is nothing new. It's been happening for decades across all professional sports. Only now, some NFL sources say, the problem is far worse than it's ever been before because the economy is so horrid.

The symposium has long warned players to be careful about whom they give money to, but Birch explained the league is addressing how the current recession makes matters even tougher on players. There are going to be more requests for cash and loans meaning more stress on players.

"We're well aware then when the economy is tough players are going to hear even more requests for money and loans from friends and family," Birch said. "We're trying to be even more aggressive than normal in telling our players how to handle these situations." One of the quickest ways a player goes broke is by loaning that third cousin thousands of dollars and buying a car for that aunt he hadn't heard from in years. Then, repeating acts of naïve kindness to other family and friends.

[XOKCowboy]

17. Plus these really are just "kids" we're talking about here...

Many in their early 20s and from poor backgrounds who skated through school because they were a star athlete.

I agree with the OP. These guys will be the first to fold.

[customerserviceguy]

44. When I started doing taxes for people in 1981

I learned how badly people could manage money. You ask the "wages" question before you ask the "interest income" question, and people who made two and three times what I made had no interest income, even when money market funds with no minumums were paying double-digit interest rates. I learned from my clients that if you were frugal, you could provide the necessities of life for your family, even on an apprentice's wages, and that there was no income too large to be outspent.

It takes more than money to make a person feel rich.

[upi402]

120. $350K keeps ya living indoors & eating food huh?

Nice doors, good food at that eh?

Sorry to learn they die way too young, however. I wonder if there's a lifestyle component to that sad stat?

[SoCalDem]

8. and that they are all one injury away from working at Target

(the young, lower-paid ones)

They are gladiators.. we don't feed the losers to the lions, but they are only there while they are not hurt, and are better at their job than the hungry ones behind them..

[krispos42]

65. I lived paycheck to paycheck on that much.

If you moved the decimal one notch to the left.

[we can do it]

99. I Have a Hard Time Feeling Sorry For Someone Who Can't Live On $320k

please
make it stop- we are supposed to feel sorry for idiots like this and po lil millionaires who need the tax breaks so they may keep up their disgusting lifestyle (FINALLY a use for that dispcable term)

[HappyMe]

111. Agreed.

And yeah, a player could severely injury himself. But they seem to have the very, very best in health care.


There are plenty of other professions where workers could be injured, and they don't get compensated near as well. Plus they provide services that are essential -- cops, firefighters, emt. Hell, there are plenty of teachers out there that probably take their lives into their own hands just walking into the school.


No sympathy from me.

[Xenotime]

2. NFL = Not For Long

[Jmaxfie1]

3. I don't know, its still hard to fell all that bad for a guy making

$320,000 dollars. But I know what you mean, if they don't get it the owners will. Still wish I was that "unlucky." ;)

[LynneSin]

35. You do but think of what they put their bodies thru to play the game

Many football players sustain injuries that can cripple them for life. Sure it's their choice but I think they have the right to say "I'll punish my body to the max if you pay me the money".

[JuniperLea]

55. Yep... all the more reason...

To stash a ton of that cash!

I'm sure it's very hard... so many go from pauper to prince in an instant. Then they buy big houses and cars... and have big bills that are hard to keep up with. They are very much like lotto winners.

[FLPanhandle]

61. People punish their bodies working at regular jobs for far, far less.

They are still extremely privileged.

[VoteProgressive]

94. Ask a coal miner how he feels after a work week. NT

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

123. A lot of people punish their bodies for a lot less

Produce pickers, miners, soldiers, etc.

All can be injured for life.

None make 300k

:hi:

[Lucian]

4. Then they are living way beyond their means.

How can you earn $320,000 and live only paycheck to paycheck??? Please! :nopity:

They should work a $7.80/hr job and then see what it's like living paycheck to paycheck.

[truebrit71]

7. No shit.

..They make 10 times the average salary for playing a fucking game...

[Myrina]

11. There's your answer ....

... alot of them grew up with families who DID live on $7/hr so when they hit the NFL salary, they think "WOO HOO PARTY TIME" and start paying everyone else's bills and buying all their friends/family stuff, and pretty soon there's nothing left. Out goes the knee or the shoulder and woops - we're broke.

[Lucian]

22. And I should feel sorry for them because of that?

I don't think so.

[SoCalDem]

14. If a poor kid gets to the NFL, he has won the lottery

and expects to be a STAR.. Immediately his family expects him to be the one to pull them all up...and many try to.. and since they are young and foolish, they probably blow a shitload of money on toys & fun..

2 years later, when they are hurt or cut, they are broke, in debt & probably with a diploma (if they even graduated) that was earned by someone else on their behalf..

[Sonoman]

32. Then there is the Rattled Brain Factor.

I have known (and still do) a good many ex-NFL players.

I wouldn't trade places with the vast majority of them. Heck, I like to be able to get out of bed on my own.

Sonoman

[blueamy66]

80. Just watch one episode of

Cribs on MTV. The shit those athletes buy is ridiculous.

They are gambling.....and some lose.

I can't muster any sympathy for someone who is whining over their $320k salary.

Waaa

[OhioChick]

19. Agreed n/t

[truebrit71]

6. Those poor. poor bastards....having to live paycheck to paycheck on $320k/year

..I think I'll save my sorrow for someone that doesn't make almost 10 times the average salary in the US..

[Newest Reality]

9. $320K Should be more than enough to

live very well ... even a little large. No sympathy here.

However, there is an old saying about a fool and his money ... they are soon parted. These folks are playing status games designed to keep them on the ante-up route that cleans them out as quickly as possible. Rather than more money, they might try a little use of the lump of stuff between the ears.

Sheesh!

[xchrom]

12. i don't know why 'workers are workers' is such a hard concept for people to get.

if unions had been more successful at unionizing white collar high tech jobs -- would DUERS still be so upset that someone lives 'pay check to paycheck' and down grade their struggle with management?

[Posteritatis]

33. If they were also pulling down twelve times my annual income? Kinda, yeah. (nt)

[xchrom]

41. That's the same argument republicans use against

Other unionized workers.

It's horse shit.

A worker is a worker and has right to collective bargaining.

[Tansy_Gold]

52. Ditto. n/t

[Tansy_Gold]

53. In fact, it's the same argument in use in WI against teachers and other

public employees right now.

"They make too much," which really means "They make more than I do and I'm jealous, so they must be undeserving and need to be brought down to my level."


TG

[xchrom]

60. +1

[Tansy_Gold]

103. I'm gonna tuck this in here on a thread that isn't really active today

but maybe someone will see it and either reply or alert on me. Either way, though, I wanta put this point out for discussion.

Is there, maybe, even a little bit of racism in the comments about not feeling sorry for players who can't handle $320K a year and blaming them for their own problems? Are most/many of those kids who get their two or three or four years with a shot at the big bucks and can't handle it, are they Black, and are there some of us who think Poor Black kids shouldn't be takin' spots in the NFL from nice White boys who wouldn't squander their money because they don't come from poor families who don't have the background on how to handle that kinda cash, and those nice White boys woudl be good union members and wouldn't be puttin' their union brothers at risk?

Is that really what it is?

I'm sure no one will admit to it, but the discussion didn't start out to be about whether or not NFL rookies could handle their money. It started being an indictment of the owners who were gonna use those younger, lower-paid players as leverage in negotiating. Then somehow it all got switched around to bashing the kids who squandered their money (while at the same time having even bigger bucks dangled in front of their faces as incentives to play harder, condition harder, etc., etc., etc. 'cause it's all for the team, y'know.).

It's all about not feeling sorry for guys makin' more money than the average working stiff, the average drill press operator or coal miner or teacher or social worker (boy, you talk about underpaid!!!). 'Cause they got breaks you or I didn't get, and therefore they get no pity?

But anyway, that's my thought, and I'm just throwin' it out there, 'cause I think there's far too much latent racism in this discussion and I'd like to shine a little sunshine on it, as a nice disinfectant.


Tansy Gold, your friendly neighborhood old white lady

[Lucian]

62. I can't get myself to feel sorry for those making more than $300K/year.

And I'm not going to.

[Common Sense Party]

71. I think there should be a union of Wall Street investment bankers.

They should demand better pay and more hookers.

[blondeatlast]

91. +1. United we stand, divided we all continue to be royally screwed. nt

[KamaAina]

13. So I guess they're not as different from regular union guys

as some here would have us believe. :eyes:

[Yavin4]

24. They're Not Different from Regular Union Guys

They're just making all of their life time earnings in one small chunk of time.

[Occulus]

75. !!!

:thumbsup:

[Withywindle]

77. I've known too many brilliant musicians in all genres who died from lack of health insurance

And many of them could have been treated for a year's worth of pay for ONE mediocre football player.

[Yavin4]

89. And There Are Football Players That Die Prematurely All of the Time

Google the name Dave Duerson, and see how wonderful life is for these guys.

[PA Democrat]

15. Average career is only 3 1/2 seasons.

A lot of these guys have life-long issues from injuries, especially head injuries. The owners are the guys really raking in the money.

[Paradoxical]

23. If they don't want to get injured, they should stop playing football.

The sport consists of two teams essentially beating the hell out of each other.

Even if they only played for 3.5 seasons, they'd have roughly 53 years worth of wealth for the per capita income of the US.

[PA Democrat]

27. If you hate football, don't watch it.

Seriously, there are a lot of very wealthy people who are deserving of our ire, people like Wall Street CEOs, the Koch brothers, etc. I just can't waste energy hating football players unless they are using their money to buy politicians.

Peace.

[Paradoxical]

29. I don't hate football players. But I don't respect them or idolize them either.

They are paid hundreds of thousands to 10s of millions of dollars to play a game. That's fucking absurd.

Just as absurd as the CEOs of corporations raking in obscene amounts of money.

[speltwon]

43. I find it far less absurd than the situation with pop stars or movie stars

First of all, athletes are part of about the only pure meritocracy around. In the case of pop stars, or actors, nobody denies that luck, who you know, who your mommy or daddy was, or even who you schtupped on the way up can and does make a difference. For every A list actor, there are dozens, if not hundreds of equally talented individuals who didn't get that break. The same could be said for pop stars. Heck, we know some pop stars are pure product. Given the right producer and technology, they can turn any moderately talented person into a star. And what's the risk? They may hurt themselves with drugs or such, but the actual act of doing their craft is not physically dangerous like football, does not take the kind of courage to step on to the field while in staggering pain, etc.

Grinding it out on the offensive/defensive line is grueling. The workouts are very difficult, and one is always a hit away from a career ender. I currently work with a former NFL'er and the guy is just such a phenomenal athlete it's ridiculous.

On that note, let me see I have IMMENSE respect for Sean Penn. This is a man who IS a great actor, who HAS been on many occasions (granted, he was younger) a total putz. But, has done something real and meaningful with his fame and his $$$ for the people of Haiti. He's a thoughtful man, he cares, and he's a doer

[Gemini Cat]

48. You said it beautifully!

I've tried to say the same for years.
Thanks!

[speltwon]

50. Thank you. In the words of one famous actor... "you like me. you really like me!" nt

[Tansy_Gold]

51. two words

Justin Bieber

[speltwon]

56. Not a fan, but he's "moderately talented"

and total product, which is my point. Brittany is another example. IIrc, when the Monkees were auditioning (about as pure product as you can get), Stephen Stills auditioned and was turned down for his bad teeth and thinning hair.

Interestingly, the Monkees were the first band to have their first 4 albums all reach number 1. Not even the Beatles did that.

[blueamy66]

81. self delete

[Tansy_Gold]

31. For some of them, this is the only way they know to earn a living

They've been coached and educated and trained to this sport just as others of us are coached and educated and trained to be accountants or nurses or teachers or coal miners. For some of them, the rigors of training never left time for academics, and when you consider that this training often begins when they are literally children, how are they to make the informed decision that hey, this is just a game and I could get hurt and I need a back-up plan?

Even the ones who make the minimum of $320K are part of a team that rakes in millions upon millions for the owners. It's not like tennis or golf, where a single player makes his or her own fortune. Football, baseball, basketball, etc., are TEAM sports, and there's some guy makin' big bucks on the same team as the guy gettin' effective minimum wage.

So from age 12 or 13 or 15 to age 20, they're kept in this culture of the sport is everything and if you make it everything it can bring you millions. And then they're lucky enough to "make it" and they're surrounded by guys who already have made it. . . and if they had any sense beforehand, a lot of it disappears.

I'm sure all of us think we'd do a lot better and be a lot wiser if we suddenly had a quarter million bucks a year, and maybe some of us would. But until you're in those shoes, don't let your jealousy of their income dictate how you see these guys.

They too are workers, whose labor -- and risk -- enriches others. I don't even like football, but I'll stand in solidarity with them.



Tansy Gold

[Gemini Cat]

45. +1

Thanks Tansy, you get it!

[Tansy_Gold]

49. I try.

Tansy Gold, who has a baseball autographed by Luis Aparicio sittin' on her piano

[hfojvt]

57. I am sure if they had to

that they could learn how to run a drill press for $5.4 an hour just like I did, or they could mop floors for $5.5 an hour just like I did.

I don't stand in solidarity with management, and when you are making over $150,000 then you are definitely management. That's not a labor salary any more. The water plant manager, the city department heads, and the school superintendent are all making less than half of $320,000 a year. If those people are management, and they are, then people making twice their salary or more are management too.

[Tansy_Gold]

64. Yes, I'm sure they could

But in the marketplace, they have other skills. Would you expect the youngster who exhibits an early bent toward becoming a cardio-vascular surgeon to forgo the opportunities her skill brings her way? Would you ask the 10-year-old violin virtuoso to stop practicing four hours (or more) a day and spend that time learning instead how to install satellite TV services?

What you're saying is that anyone who makes over a certain amount of money is automatically "management," even if they have very little control over their working conditions, their hours, the time and place of their employment, or even whether they remain employed or not?

The fact that management is intending and expecting to use these people AGAINST THEIR FELLOW PLAYERS AND UNION MEMBERS ought to illustrate just how far from "management" they really are.

And remember, too, that if there weren't fans willing to pay to see the games, willing to watch the games on TV (including pay-per-view or whatever the hell it is), willing to buy the merchandise, then there would be no NFL. The players, like any other workers, are unionized so they can try to get their fair share from millions and maybe billions that flow into the owners' pockets. Owners who get their stadiums paid for by taxpayers, in many cases, I might add.


Tansy Gold, staunch in her solidarity

[hfojvt]

68. you said "this is the only way they know to earn a living"

well, once they get injured or retire, unless they have socked some of that big money away, then allow me to welcome them to the real world.

But most of them will not fall down far enough to end up living like me, or the millions of others who hop around from one low paying dead end job to another because that is all that America offers for a large group of people. Nah, their fame and money will probably leverage them into coaching jobs, announcing jobs, advertising or sales jobs.

Management often does not have that much control either, they are just highly paid middlemen and even the CEO theoretically answers to the board. But yes, that is one of the things that makes them management - more money.

One funny thing you mention is that many taxpayers apparently fund them (and the owners) whether they want to or not, and for years I noticed a "Superbowl bump" in the price of pop. The price was typically a dollar or two higher for a couple months after the superbowl as they tried to recoup their advetising expenses.

Plus, I am not going into arguments about whether there should be sports or whether the players should have a union. All I am saying is that I am not buying any arguments about how they are just ordinary workers just like anybody who punches a clock at a Wal-mart or a Dennys. They don't get sympathy from me for their inability to live on $300,000 +.

I went to a rally for teachers and state workers, partly because it was just down the street, but would not venture out for a pro athlete.

[Tansy_Gold]

88. I'm sorry you seem so bitter

I've never made much money either. My lifestyle is considerably more frugal than that of my friends and acquaintances. I will still side with the football players.

1. They are labor, not management.

2. Management is, by the statement from the OP, trying to pit the lower paid players against the higher paid.

3. The right wing propaganda of jealousy is at work right here on DU.


When I wrote that football was just about all some of these players know how to do, I meant that in the sense that once they showed promise of potentially having a profe$$ional career, they were steered to that. When their playing days are over, yes, then they have to find something else to do, and maybe they have to be re-trained for another career. And maybe some of them do land lucrative broadcasting or coaching jobs. But there are only so many of those jobs around, and far fewer new openings each year -- broadcasters' careers are usually longer than 3 1/2 years -- for the many players who retire, are dropped, are injured.

I'm a big-picture person. I try as hard as I can to see beyond the immediate issue and look at what the environment for that issue is. "FOOTBALL PLAYERS SQUANDER HUGE SALARIES, DESERVE NO PITY!" is a headline/subject line intended to arouse animosity toward them, but the real objective is to arouse animosity toward unions and, ultimately, break the unions. If management can't break the NFL players' union, they can at least stir up more hatred and loathing of teachers' unions and firefighters' unions and plumbers' unions. (As in: "A licensed union plumber may charge 5 or 6 times as much as a local handyman to change that leaky sink faucet, therefore unions are just ways to gouge the consumer and make plumbers rich." Believe it or not, I actually heard this statement a few weeks ago when I had a leaky water pipe.)

There are always people in any walk of life who squander their money, for whatever reasons. Charlie Sheen, Lindsey Lohan(sp) come immediately to mind. (Sheen being a good example of how family connections may be more important in Hollywood than talent.) But I think it's counterproductive to a progressive agenda if we let our criticism of their lifestyle take our focus off the larger issue, which is the exploitation of workers. The NFL player's union is every bit as much a labor union as any other. If you think Peyton Manning makes too much to be in a union, maybe you better ask him for his opinion. Find out how much of that $320,000 minimum salary goes to pay for an agent, a business manager, how much is paid in union dues, what benefits players and retired and injured and indigent former players are eligible for.

Don't let the whole issue be sidetracked by what is essentially a right wing propaganda effort.

It's NOT about some players being profligate with huge sums of money; it's about management using those players to exploit them and their fellow union members, in the players' union and in other unions. Let's not be as narrow-sighted as the pukes, okay?


Tansy Gold,

[Missy Vixen]

117. It's unfortunate that those who bash the NFLPA will not do any kind of

research into the life of an average NFL player.

It's even more unfortunate that there are those who scream when the Republicans attempt to charge "class warfare", but engage in class warfare themselves by bashing a pro football player making league minimum, paying an agent, and absorbing the financial and physical costs that go along with his career, such as permanent and debilitating injury.

As you mentioned above, they'll make money over an average three and a half year period which must sustain them for life. IIRC, NFL retirement plans are less than princely for anyone who does not play for at least ten years, and don't start till age 55.

[xchrom]

84. +2

[Bucky]

90. Or become place kickers. Those dudes never get injured.

[SheilaT]

16. More than two decades ago I was a landlady

to an NBA player. His name and team don't matter in this story. He wound up (for reasons I don't want to disclose because I don't want to give enough clues for someone else to figure out who this was) abandoning the unit. All we wanted was for him to move his stuff out so we could rent it to someone else. The management company we were using (we had moved to another city, so using such a company made sense) called the coach of the team. The coach was quite nice and within a week the player's belongings were moved out and we were able to re-rent.

We were told that basically players like this were children, because from a very early age they were already talented in their sport and so were protected in many ways from "real life". I think that's a lot of what's going on with the NFL players who are living from paycheck to paycheck, despite what most of us here would consider a very large salary.

You also see this in lottery winners who win millions of dollars, and then are totally broke within five years. They have no idea how to handle large sums of money, and it seems like an unlimited amount. It's not. It's a very large amount, but not unlimited.

[XOKCowboy]

34. Thank you...

A little compassion is needed in this thread.

[hfojvt]

58. oddly enough, the minimum NBA player makes about $1.5 million

seems like football players get a lot less for a much more punishing sport.

But the teams are much smaller in basketball as well.

[Gaedel]

121. Basketball is a game where a single player can really make a difference

Football, not so much. Football is more of a team sport.

Football players tend to be more interchangeable than basketball players.

[KittyWampus]

108. My father coached a few football players in junior high who got signed and later came back to visit

him.

They told my father the day they got signed the phone calls started from people trying to sell them drugs, women... you name it.

[Paradoxical]

18. uhhh...$320,000 a year puts them in the 99th percentile.

I have absolutely no sympathy for them whatsoever.

[Lucky Luciano]

96. The guys earning only $320 are probably only going

to be in the league a couple years before they downgrade to a menial labor role. They are not and never will be rich for the most part.

[leftstreet]

20. Probably wasting it on candy and sodas

They should buy rice and beans and cook at home

}(

[Motown_Johnny]

21. wealthy people living beyond their means should not be a concern

if people can't live on 320K a year, fuck 'em!

[CoffeeCat]

25. Our society encourages this kind of financial suicide...

...live paycheck to paycheck, save very little and buy as much house
as you possibly can, keep up with the Jonses and try to impress
everyone with material possessions--and when the economy goes sour--remember
it is your duty to spend EVEN more money.

That's how most people live, regardless of income.

We've been encouraged to do this, by credit-card companies who want us to be enslaved
by their 18 percent credit cards, by mortgage companies and by all of those stores who
advertise and market us into believing that we must have tons of things.

I hope this destructive behavior turns around.

The only ones who win in this dysfunctional scenario are the corporations; and
inevitably we are shackled by debt, chained to low-paying jobs and slaves to
our creditors.

:(

[Kievan Rus]

36. That's absolutely true...it's why even multi-millionaires go bankrupt

[The2ndWheel]

82. Don't forget the government

The encourager of last resort.

[Obamanaut]

26. I cannot conjure up a lot of sympathy for those 'weak links' making only $320K/year. nt

[sadbear]

28. What good is a union of multi-millionaires

if they can't help out the "less fortunate" during a lock-out. It's hard to have sympathy for these guys, isn't it?

[AnOhioan]

30. Not gonna shed any tears...ppl with real jobs that earn.....

1/10th (or less) than the league minimum have my sympathy....not somebody who can blow thru $320,000.00 like it was nothing.

[madrchsod]

37. 1.8 is`t all that great an average for professorial sports.

there`s a lot of years left after their football career is over. if they do`t invest wisely or have medical problems that money can be gone in a heart beat.
dave duerson of the chicago bears and ny giants super bowl teams committed suicide because of debts. friends said that he was having system of brain trauma. he wrote that he wished his brain to be used in the study of football related brain trauma.

[FBaggins]

40. It is when there are 53(+) players per team

and they only play 16 games in a regular season.

It's easier to average higher salaries when you can fill an arena dozens of times and only split the revenue over a handful of players.

[Kievan Rus]

38. Unionized workers are unionized workers as far as I'm concerned

Many NFL careers are only a few years long. For every Tom Brady, there's ten backups and third-stringers that even the most avid football fans have never heard of.

Furthermore, many NFL veterans are plagued with lifelong injuries, especially concussions and the resulting issues such as depression.

[dkf]

39. Just think if we increase their taxes and they only make this type of money for 3 years.

They can't afford to help anyone out. But then I'm sure they will be accused of being selfish if they don't. It is probably true that their parents sacrificed for them too. But a few years in a high income bracket is a trap. They need contracts that provide more deferred comp rather than funds upfront.

[Rabrrrrrr]

42. Not gonna feel too bad for 'em. It's their own damn fault.

people who make $320K+ a year have no excuse at all for living paycheck to paycheck.

People who make $10K a year do.

But not $320K.

[progressoid]

46. Over 6 grand a week.

Gosh, I can't imagine living on such a meager salary.

[JonLP24]

47. Owners got a TV deal

The owners have all the cards.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

54. Fuck these assholes.

Can't make it on $320,000? You're doing everything wrong.

[Dappleganger]

59. They're not the only rich folks living paycheck to paycheck...

whether it's 200K or 20K there are plenty of people who don't live within their means or save. When you are middle class or poor, however, you don't recover so quickly. I don't know why they are so focused on football players as there are PLENTY of folks who are in that bracket who run around spending money like 2 yr. olds in a toy store (completely oblivious to consequences or planning).

[MilesColtrane]

63. A couple of facts that the article doesn't mention.

The average NFL career lasts three and half years.

There are 256 NFL players every year who earn well under the rookie minimum - practice squad players.

For every one of your Peyton Mannings orTom Bradys there is a guy who lasted a season and a half, maybe made a total of $150K, and ended up with a crippling injury.

[theHandpuppet]

83. And got a free college education

What was that for?

[joshcryer]

66. The minimum salary is 45x what my mom makes a year.

And she doesn't even ask for assistance. :puke:

[w8liftinglady]

67. One of my really good friends played for the NFL.

He is a saint,and has used everything he was given for good.
One of the best democrats and men that I have known.
You'd never know he played next to "Mean joe" Green.

My friend,Chuck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Beatty

[lonestarnot]

69. Oh cry me a fucking river. This is ridiculous!

[HEyHEY]

70. What else do you think would happen when you pay a 22-yearold millions a year?

[cottonseed]

72. A rookie minimum getting hurt makes less then a WI union member.

So... ok, we don't like the NFL kid? Then fuck all union folks. Is that what this board and site believes in these days? Kids that have more, especially less educated black kids... especially if they have more. Screw them? That's what I'm gathering from this thread.

[Elwood P Dowd]

73. So many posters here have no freaking clue.

The average NFL player lasts less than 4 years. A large percentage of them are cripple or unemployable before they reach 40. Multiple concussions and brain damage are common. The majority are African-American from poor backgrounds and have little or no guidance about finances. For every Manning millionaire there are dozens of broken men who have nothing to show for their NFL experience.

You people here make me sick. You're as bad as the repukes!

[Hugabear]

74. We're pro-union, except when those unions actually help their members make money!

It's okay for the owners to rake in billions of dollars off the labors of their players, but god forbid the NFL players union helps their players get a decent share of those profits.

[Romulox]

101. Duh...Pro *MY* Union! nt

[Withywindle]

79. And what has the average NFL player achieved during that time?

Not much but selling beer advertisements to a bunch of white guys who are the ideal audience for NFL ads. If someone manages to make a third of a million at once, well, I think he damn well better invest wisely, because obviously it won't last.


For every Manning millionaire there are dozens of broken men who have nothing to show for their NFL experience.

No shit, Sherlock. That's what the corporate sports media-system relies on. Obviously only CERTAIN guys will make the beer-commercial peak, and it's the crab bucket for all the rest. Do you really think the sports conglomerates don't pit working-class young men against each other?!?

Yes, of course young men die. duh. do you think the TV networks and team owners care?

[PA Democrat]

86. Agreed.

People need to direct their anger at the REAL bad guys, people like the Waltons and the Kochs, Wall Street criminals, the big polluters, the people shipping all of our jobs off-shore.

[Obamanaut]

107. Isn't it true that most (but certainly not all) professional football players

came from the college ranks?

And if this is true, isn't it also true that many of them played at college on a scholarship, wherein they paid little or no money for their education, and possibly even rec'd a stipend 'under the table' for expenses?

And if that is true, while in college, they had an opportunity to prepare for a career outside of football while attending classes. Many people going to college do exactly that.

But, some do nothing but play football during their college years and do not prepare for life in the big world. Every single one of them has access to the same statistics as everyone else does about pro football injuries. If they choose to disregard this information and fail to prepare themselves for such an eventuality, well, it's on them.

[KittyWampus]

109. First: 4 years x 300 thousand= over a million in the bank. Second: they got free educations

Third: a lot of the problem with money is spending it on high living. Which means its their choice.

[AnneD]

76. I support the players....

Call it payback for Wisconsin.

For every one dollar they make, the owner probably makes 20. There are so many expenses and these are for the most part poor uneducated kids that have been taken advantage of all their lives.

Honestly, what young kid thinks about retirement when they start out. What kid thinks their career could end in one game. If people were smart with money, they wouldn't have only social security to rely on. They should have a mandatory percent set aside over and above social security. I have had family members come upon large amounts of money and it can be very difficult to manage.

[johnroshan]

78. Oh poor souls..

They earn 320 Freaking grand a year and still can't save some for the leaner times!!



"What would the designer make of crowds of people gathering together and
going into paroxysms of pleasure or despair when a ball goes into a net or a hole or a
basket, while they remain indifferent to other humans dying all around them? A man
who can kick a ball into a goal or sing a catchy song will be valued perhaps a hundred
times more than a man trying to heal or save the sick. A sunflower will cost you
perhaps 20p, but a painting of a sunflower will cost you more than you will earn in a
lifetime. A hero may die in poverty, but the actor who portrays him will be paid
millions for doing so. It seems that reality is not what we want. The artificial world of
made-up values is what we cherish." ~ D.H. Wilson.

[TBF]

85. Solidarity -

many in this thread need to look up the word. Instead of realizing that the owners are the ones holding all the cards in this arrangement, you are determined to be jealous of the players (who may have a good salary for a few years, until injury strikes and they are replaced, with few skills to cope in the working world), and find something wrong with them personally.

This is happening all over the world - workers turning on each other when they should be looking at the ruling class that hold them in bondage.

[JoePhilly]

87. Divide and conquer. Public worker versus Private worker versus NFL Union member.

I should get MORE, and anyone who gets more than me is getting too much.

[xchrom]

92. this thread is just chock full of that vile senitment. nt

[VoteProgressive]

93. If you are living paycheck to paycheck on $300,000 a year then you are..

not managing your money!

[Missy Vixen]

119. Try much less than $300,000 a year

TAXES.

One also has to pay his agent, which comes out of the gross, not the net.

Those who want to last in the league spend a lot of their disposable income on training, etcetera.

Maybe we could also discuss the family members and friends who now think the athlete is a walking ATM.

Those who continue to insist that anyone in the NFL making league minimum doesn't know how to "manage their money" needs to do a bit more research.

[Upton]

95. I love NFL football..

but you're not going to find me feeling sorry for guys making the kind of money most of us can only dream of..

The NFLPA is not your normal union. This battle is big money versus bigger money..

[tjwash]

97. I love the smell of multi-billionaire-generated propaganda in the morning

You know how much freaking money the owners make off of these players, who, on average, are lucky to even get in 4 seasons?

Then, after they get their bodies torn all to hell for these rich fucks, and they have had every last penny possible squeezed out of them, they just get tossed right out in the street like a used piece of toilet paper with no type of health coverage for the beating that they took. So for the rest of their lives, they get to limp, gimp, and have football related injury health problems follow them around for the rest of their lives.

Fuck these owners...bunch of greedy heartless assholes that deserve to rot in hell. I hope the players all shut it down, and cost these jagoffs some real money.

[Arkansas Granny]

98. Well, cry me a river. Tell them to get back with us when their

minimum salary under $50,000.00 (the approximate median wage in the U.S. in 2009).

[bluedigger]

100. I support the players!

But I can't feel sorry for them. That's two different things. They are lucky sob's (and hard working) to get to where they have. They deserve to be rewarded fairly for their success. How they manage their finances is no reason for me to judge their value to society.

[Romulox]

102. *Another* thread in which people with "Solidarity!" avatars attack other workers!

Quelle surprise.

[KittyWampus]

110. Maybe if these workers hadn't received free education, been bailed out from illegal/bad behavior

just because they can throw or run a ball.

And buying a 2 million dollar mansion when you can only afford a $500,000 one? We should have sympathy for that?

[Romulox]

112. Lesson number one in economics: Ain't NUTHIN' free.

"hadn't received free education"

NCAA football players make millions for colleges. They don't receive a "free" education; it's part of their meager compensation.

As an aside, what a surprise seeing you take this position. :silly:

[Bandit]

104. When they say "living" they really mean "Living"

:shrug: Sorry but I just can't feel to sorry for them ...it's a fucking game....

[cliffordu]

105. Well, that's fucking killing me. Telethon, anyone??

[Vinca]

106. If they can't live on $320,000 a year, how is a teacher supposed to live on $50,000?

[Romulox]

114. What part of "average career of 3 years" is giving you trouble?

:hi:

[Obamanaut]

115. Most of them went to college. Most of those were quite likely on some

sort of scholarship.

While in college, they likely had some exposure to information relating to that college/university being a place where learning was going on. It may even been likely that some of it was offered to them.

The fact that football, especially at the professional level, causes bodily damage has not been kept a secret. The players themselves watch one of their teammates get carried off the field nearly every game.

Now, some people saying that these players with short football careers have no other employment skills just seems wrong. They were in a large school, they saw other students with books and may even attended a class or two.

If these players with broken bodies have no skills outside of football they chose that route. Information was available to them.

It is the same as smoking. I watched an old black and white WW2 movie the other day where one of the characters referred to cigarettes as 'coffin nails.' Information is out there, people refuse to let it sink in.

Perhaps a program should be established where the wealth of the star players is seized and redistributed to the 'workers' on the field - give them their 'fair share.'

[Romulox]

116. Umm, does the NCAA sell cigarettes to students? Because it makes MILLIONS off of these players.

For your analogy to work ("It is the same as smoking...") the Universities that make so much money off of these young men would have to have entire departments devoted to supplying cigarettes to students.

"Perhaps a program should be established where the wealth of the star players is seized and redistributed to the 'workers' on the field - give them their 'fair share.'"

Who is John Galt? :rofl:

[Obamanaut]

118. The players who did not grab the opportunity in college to prepare

for a life after college football chose to disregard the information concerning the misfortunes of those who went before them.

People who smoke despite all the published information concerning the dangers associated with smoking likewise choose their probable future.

Two groups of people who disregard information that is readily available.

As to the players who get only a few hundred thousand dollars a year, and live paycheck to paycheck - they chose that route, and could have taken a different one, especially the ones who got their pro football start via college.

The redistribution of wealth of players was supposed to be snide. So many people think it's the right thing to do to seize and redistribute possessions, especially wealth, of others.

Kelo v. Connecticut is a good example. Eminent Domain screwed not only Kelo, but the community as well. The planned development went nowhere. Just another instance of 'you have it, we want it, we'll take it.'

[Romulox]

122. Both smokers and NCAA athletes are recruited as children.

Your "bootstrap" schtick is bizarre and misplaced.

[Romulox]

113. Notice that it's the same people who're liable to attack UAW members who are attacking NFLPA members

Solidarity? :shrug: