16 % of retired NFL players go bankrupt

[tsylvester]

I thought maybe it would be higher. Any time you give young adults that much money, even at the league minimum, when they have no real education on finances, bad things happen. Throw in money grubbing family & friends, bad investments by people one would think they can trust and boom, it is all gone...

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102585929

 

 

 

Success in the National Football League doesn't protect players from bankruptcy.

Nearly 16 percent of NFL players drafted between 1996 and 2003 declared bankruptcy within 12 years of retirement, according to a new working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology, George Washington University and the University of Washington, discovered that initial bankruptcy filings began very soon after players retired from the league and continued at a substantial rate through the first dozen years of retirement.

 

"Moreover, bankruptcy rates are not affected by a player's total earnings or career length. Having played for a long time and been well-paid does not provide much protection against the risk of going bankrupt," researchers concluded. For example, Terrell Owens, a six-time pro bowler drafted in 1996, made an estimated $80 million during his 15-season NFL career and filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

 

 

 

[cravnravn]

You make 80 mil in 16 years and squander it all away, there should be a law that forbids an asswipe like that from filing bankruptcy

[papasmurfbell]

They don't all file for bankruptcy. It was 80% were in financial difficulty 2 yrs after playing.

[vmax]