Great story on NFL players and finances
The statistic is downright alarming: By the time they are out of the game for two years, 78 percent of NFL players are bankrupt or financially distressed.
By Tim McManus in Philly Sports Daily
The current NFL labor strife has been labeled a battle of billionaires vs. millionaires. The lockout could begin at 11:59 p.m. Thursday night, so the clock is ticking quickly now.
In reality, it is a battle of wildly successful businessmen vs. young athletes. Some players are millionaires, some are dead broke, and the rest are simply racing against the inevitable end. Almost all of them are outmatched and undereducated compared to the wolves that begin circling the campfire well before the first paycheck is deposited.
History has shown that the union will fold a couple strides into a work stoppage, and will be forced to concede to the owners’ demands. They will do so because they hold almost no leverage. The men cutting the checks have enough money to survive not just a lost season but a nuclear winter, while a bulk of the players cannot endure even a small dam in the revenue stream.
Think that’s an exaggeration? Just look in your own back yard.
Despite warnings from the NFLPA, there are players on the Eagles who are financially ill-equipped for the looming lockout. Brandon Graham is not one of those people. Thanks to a first-round contract that reportedly guarantees him $14 million, as well as the guidance of a trustworthy management team, the former Michigan Wolverine is set up for long-term wealth despite short-term hurdles.
This makes him attractive to the needy and the greedy seeking some liquid – including his own teammates. By Graham’s count, at least two fellow Eagles have asked him for substantial loans to get them through the lockout.
The most he’s gotten hit up for?
“100K,” said Graham.
“They try not to make it awkward. They’ll come to you like they’re joking, but they’re serious. They’re trying to feel you out, to see what you’ll say.”
Graham always has the same reply: No.
“I’ll be like, ‘What are you going to do with it, other than blow it?’ I don’t want to be beefing with guys on my team because they owe me money,” said Graham.
It is hard to grasp that, with the league minimum around $300,000 a year, any player could be so strapped that he couldn‘t afford to temporarily do without one bonus check. How can it come to this?
For that answer, you have to go back to well before they hit the big leagues, when only a small group (which included friends and vultures alike) knew that stardom was on the horizon.
Ganglands, Jim Brown and a bike ride to Berkeley
A gangland undesirable wanted to do DeSean Jackson a favor.
Heading into his freshman year at Cal, Jackson didn’t have a car to take to school nor the means to buy one. Seeing an opportunity the shady character stepped in, and offered his vehicle free of charge.
His father – the late Bill Jackson – was concerned, and sought the counsel of a local writer whom he had grown tight with. It was suggested that DeSean go speak with Jim Brown, and a meeting was soon arranged.
It is through this meeting that the Jackson family connected with Mike Ladge, senior vice president of investments at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney who oversees the finances of some entertainment luminaries.
According to Ladge, Brown told Jackson: “OK you can take the car if you want it, but you’ve got to think – if it is ever found out that the car was bought with drug money, are you willing to throw away your college career over a vehicle?”
Jackson ended up riding his bicycle around Berkeley that fall.
“It was hard growing up in a gang-proven town and it was even harder to stay away from that environment,” said Jackson. “It was more difficult to make it to the NFL. Lucky for me I had a strong mom and dad to keep me grounded and focused. I’m successful because I was able to stay away from that environment and work hard to make my dreams come true.”
Jackson was able to make it out of Cal clean and debt free. And even without the big pay day to date, he is more than comfortable financially thanks in large part to the guidance of Ladge and Compass Management (More on them later).
He is one of the lucky ones.
Many of the future stars get sucked into the underworld of collegiate sports, where “financial advisors” dig their claws into an athlete with the lure of money now while they await their first big pay day. Before his first NFL check is even cashed a player can be in debt upwards of six figures. Best-case scenario, he starts his career having to fight out of a financial hole. Worst-case, an injury or other unforeseen circumstance prevents his first pay day from ever happening.
Of course, the greed often comes from within as well.
“I’ll have players that tell me, ‘I want to get a credit line; I want to go to Hawaii; I want a Mercedes,’ ” said Ladge. “I say, ‘You are not going to spend a dime until you get signed. You’ve been broke for 22 years. Suck it up another six months.’ But most aren’t willing to do that.”
Riches to rags
The poor decision-making and mismanagement only begin on the collegiate level.
The statistic is downright alarming: By the time they are out of the game for two years, 78 percent of NFL players are bankrupt or financially distressed.
Many fall victim to the same type of sharks who feasted on them in college. There are countless stories of money being funneled out of a player’s account without his consent, and scams that have players invest in a business that does not even exist.
“People see them as uneducated targets and they take advantage,” said Daniel Sillman, founder of Compass Management Group, which safeguards athletes through a comprehensive service ranging from financial management to marketing. Both Graham – a college friend of Sillman’s – and Jackson are under Compass’ stewardship.
Sillman explains that players are led to believe that having a financial advisor is protection enough, when in reality all that does is guarantee that your money will be played in the market. Compass’ goal is to provide a business management platform that covers tax-planning, estate-planning, trust work and education funds, for starters. Essentially, all the benefits usually allotted to the wealthy, which are inexplicably all but absent in the juggernaut NFL world.
“I will ask a client, ‘Alright, how old do you want to live to be?’ ” said Sillman. “And they will just about always say, ‘100’. I will say, ‘Alright, we have to assume that this is the only contract you will ever get. You’re 25. Let’s spread the wealth out over 75 years. All of a sudden, they say, ‘Wow. I don’t have much money.’ ”
Most don’t get that message, or simply don’t want to hear it.
A new age
The concept that the money you make in the NFL should carry you for a lifetime is a new one.
Former Eagles running back Keith Byars, for example, started working two years after his retirement in 1998. He is now the head football coach at Boca Raton High School in Florida. When Philly Sports Daily caught up with him he was swamped, his office that day filled with college coaches as he worked to find homes for his players.
“I was born 10 years too soon,” he joked.
Byars, selected 10th overall in the ‘86 draft, inked a four-year deal worth under $2 million, he said. To contrast, Graham – the 13th overall selection by the Eagles in 2010 – signed a five-year contract worth a reported $22 million.
“Less than two million over four years, that didn’t set me up for life – it gave me a great start on life,” said Byars. “I have to work.”
Byars has a unique perspective on the current NFL environment because he was a second-year player during the strike in ’87. That year, the league was forced to cancel one week of the season, and played three more with replacement players.
“We sacrificed a quarter of our paychecks that season,” Byars said. “Is anyone today willing to sacrifice a quarter of their paychecks? I don’t think so.”
Still, many of the same vulnerabilities existed in that era as they do now. A lot of the players crossed the picket lines and played on the “scab” teams. The union was ultimately broken because of one major factor – money.
“Players become dependent on checks every two weeks that have a whole lot of zeros,” said Byars. “The owners are banking on that.”
In Mom We Trust
There are those who spend lavishly, and those who are like Graham that try and not spend at all. In fact, he doesn’t even like to splurge on food, and instead has his mom cook for him every night.
She is part of a small nucleus of people around Graham that he knows he can trust. The Detroit native has seen the way the behavior of some friends and family members have changed since he began earning an NFL wage. It has gotten to the point where he can’t hang out in certain crowds like he used to, because the only topic that will be discussed is the money in his bank account.
“People say that we change when we get to this level, but it’s the people that are changing,” said Graham. “People have the wrong idea of how they think we’re living out here.”
From loved ones to strangers; entourage members to former lovers; there is a long line of people who are looking to dip their hand into the Armani pockets of these athletes.
And as Graham has discovered, sometimes the digging comes from within their own locker rooms.
“Some guys still think like a kid, like nothing bad can happen to you and somebody is going to help you,” said Graham.
“I only give out money I am not expecting to get back. I don’t want to create no monster.”
Loser! Man these guys are dumb.
