Tyler Scott
Dr. Kelly Jennings
Composition II
July 2, 2016
Retirement at an Early Age: Professional Football Players Bankruptcy, divorce, and unemployment are some of the most feared and devastating words a person can hear in their lifetime. These are not categories that we typically associate with retirement yet 78% of professional football players will fit into one of those categories within two years of retirement. We will dive into the money problems professional football players face and the simple solution to provide them and their families a prosperous retirement. With the average professional football player making around $3 million a year and contracts worth as much as $160 million, it is hard to fathom the biggest problem facing
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The closest analogue to a professional football player is a lottery winner in his early twenties. Coming off college scholarships, many of these players have barely learned the basics of budgeting or keeping receipts. This causes two major mistakes; hiring the wrong people and trusting them way too much. They hire people not because of expertise but because they’re friends and they fail. In fact, according to the NFL Players Association, at least 78 players lost a total of more than $42 million between 1999 and 2002 because they trusted money to financial advisers with questionable backgrounds. Advisors warn that due to professional football players complete inexperience they are often overcharged and this is the most common form of financial bloodletting. It’s basically large-scale shoplifting because the players don’t know industry standards. Sometimes, though, a jock just can't shake the temptation to try to hit the jackpot. There's something in an athlete's mentality that drives them to swing for the fences financially. The solution to the problem is, without a doubt, education, advisors say. Change won't happen until grown men start wanting to learn. Money troubles are nothing new for professional football players; stars of the past lost their fortunes for many of the same reasons players …show more content…
This is such a huge problem that has a very simple and precise solution, education. You do not have to be the smartest person in the room or the person most willing to write a check, but you do need to surround yourself with individuals that have only one interest and that is to educate you and protect your money. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at risk and the simple task of educating players can make the difference in the overall happiness of these select individuals and give the NFL a better image among those who have retired from the
Former NFL linebacker, Leon Searcy said, “Guys competed just as hard off the field as they did on the field.” Corben includes anecdotal evidence and expert opinions to strength the idea of more money more problems. The sports industry uses meritocracy, the payment method of how well you play is how well you get paid. A large portion of athletes don’t get paid in the millions but buy like they do. Because of this spending technique many live paycheck to paycheck which is an example of expert opinion. An example of Corben using anecdotal evidence is when he included the story of Mike Tyson, Mike had multiple tigers and got sued because a man got mauled. Corben included this evidence to prove to the audience having nice, expensive things don’t always have a nice outcome. A particular athlete wrote a check to a credit card company for $108,000 for one month. With big bucks, it becomes easy to swipe the card. This anecdote strengthens Corben’s argument by giving a personal
Looking at the severity of injuries in the NFL in this day and age, and then looking at what the NFL does to protect players, the NFL is a business. Everything is politics. It has turned into who has the best stadium rather than who has the best players. The NFL is all about who has the best fans, not who has the best coach. The better fans you have, the more money you make, but the better coach you get, the more money you have to pay him. Growing up as a fan of the NFL, it saddens me to see the decline of the sport I love so much, but it is nearly inevitable. Soon enough, everyone in the NFL will be injured, and football will be over. The way things are going, players are dropping faster than we are gaining them. We only draft new players into the league once a...
Greed and the Death of Professional Sports "Show me the money," screamed Rod. "C'mon Jerry, show me the money!" We vividly remember this famous line from the hit movie, Jerry Maguire. The greedy football player, Rod Tidwell, screams these unforgettable lines trying to convince his agent that he will not settle for any less than a top dollar salary as the flashy Arizona Cardinal wide receiver. This scene exemplifies what has happened to professional sports in recent years.
Well first why are people supporting the gambling of the NFL? Gambling could lead to addiction and fans could get carried away and lose a lot of money. If media covers all the teams and players then gambling occurs with who wins games and the coin toss and all the other main things in a NFL game. Also all the youth players have dreams of getting into the NFL, the media is crushing all those dreams by letting out information about brain injuries and concussions. This crazy action is causing parents to become much more involved with news of the NFL and has blocked their child of playing the game. The media needs to stop with the annoying finger pointing, the annoying blaming, and the annoying small issues that no one cares
The fact that they do not get paid is only one part of the problem. College athletes get only very limited health insurance. For example, Jon Solomon of al.com wrote that there was a former Ohio University football player who recently learned he owed nearly two ...
Money Hurts College athletes attend post-secondary schools in order to receive an education and to participate in sports. “Student athletes participate in an organized competitive sport sponsored by the educational institution in which he or she is enrolled. Student athletes must typically balance the roles of being a full-time student and a full-time athlete” (“Student athlete” 1). Additionally, some people believe athletes should receive a salary. However, paying college athletes hurts the school, the sports, and the athletes.
If there’s one thing we dread in the summer more than the heat, it’s the afflicting sentiment that surrounds oneself when one is inhibited from experiencing the thrills of football for six long and gruesome months. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football is a part of many Americans’ Saturdays, but to fewer does it mean their lives. Recently coming under debate, many sporting fans and college athletes believe that players should be paid more than just tuition, room, board, and books. Two articles on this issue that bring up valid points worth discussing are Paul Marx’ “Athlete’s New Day” and Warren Hartenstine’s “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid.” From these articles I have found on the basis of logical,
Fans have such a love for college football, completely different from NFL but paying athletes just like professional ones would change that different environment for both players and fans completely. Fans love the idea that they are watching these young men play with passion and love for the game. University alumni like to see these players have the same loyalty to the schools that they had when they attended. It resembles a big family, which is so different than a professional team that is technically playing simply for money for the organizations. Collegiate sports is not a career or profession. It is the students' vehicle to a higher education degree (Mitchell). Like many say, “you play for the name on the front, not the back.” It is a common argument that that professio...
Tiffany Patterson argues “College football players are already receiving scholarships to pay for their tuition and it is unfair to other students who are juggling between jobs and school.”(Patterson) Although college football players work hard at playing football, it is unfair to other students who are not receiving scholarships and having football players paid will be even more unfair. According to Lauren Horne, the lead author of Bleacherreport, says “College football players cost universities and colleges lots of money and paying them will put the universities in even more financial debt. Universities and colleges spend about $42 million on football players who, except for an elite hundred, will never play in the NFL.”(Horne) Colleges are already have finance issues and if they pay all the players, their trouble will get worse. Rick Burton, the professor of sports management at Syracuse University explains “Student athletes who go to college are already receiving a fair amount of pay by receiving an education”(Burton) The athletes are being compensated for their time on the football field by the professors giving them an
When the National Football League first decided to draft college players in 1936, it was always a possibility that a player would not meet the expectations that the team had set for the draftee. These players that don’t play up to potential, are now commonly known as draft busts. Bigger draft busts tend to happen in the first couple of rounds of the nine round draft because the bar is set much higher for these top picks than it is for the latter picks. These players often sign big contracts and don’t pan out as players, getting cut from the team or not playing much time on the field. This hurts the team financially, and economically, when thinking of opportunity costs. After the players still have the money, and frequently get into trouble with the law with offenses dealing with drugs, or other illegal activities. However, not every draft bust breaks the law; some have other career paths as football analysts, or get away from football completely and find other jobs outside sports.
On Sundays in the fall people all over the world are watching pro football. But do they know how it came to be or how the rules have gotten to be the way they are today? Most people don’t, so I am going to tell you all about it.
Burleigh states, “College ball is dangled as one way out of poverty for big athletic kids. The pot of gold is alluring, and it’s hard not to blame kids for choosing the sport.” (612). Colleges offer scholarships which are a chance at a free education, an opportunity of a lifetime with a possibility of playing NFL. The fact is players will always be the property of the colleges they play for and or team owners who hired them (612). Each and every year there are thousands, upon thousands that dream the dream of playing collegent or professional football. It may be easier to win the lottery, than a spot on an NFL roster. Now add in the potential of serious injury, or a fatality, because the odds without injury are enormous and then a glimmer of the dream dims. There is no guarantee on any level that there will be a success. One devastating injury and the scholarship is rescinded, the player released and the contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Now your education or career is over.
After thoroughly evaluating the positives and negatives impacting the sport entity, The NFL is really in a tough position by far. More and more players continually are being diagnosed and the worst part about it is, to fix the issue of retired players being exposed to this disease the league must fix its current game. Roger Goodell is in a tough position because like Bernard stated if you are going to practice the “safety rule” in today’s day and age, defensive players are going to be more concerned about getting fined then making the plays for its respective team. The game will lose integrity. The NFL must find a way were it can coup with everything because yes older players are suffering, current players are displeased, but what’s going to happen when parents turn away from football? The NFL may see it’s last snap.
players need to have a plan just in case. NFL players generate millions of dollars while playing
classifies Division I football players as amateurs, not professionals, student-athletes, not employees, which is how colleges get away with paying them nothing.” In a way it is not fair with the players that are who are generating most of the profit to the team and the league, but more important is the fact that they are being offered a free education.