. . . Maybe the NFL could take 20% off the top and invest it for them as a condition of signing up to play.
Originally Posted by Fast Gunn
Players would at least have a bit of a safely net if a substantial retirement plan of some sort was part of a typical deal.
And most of the guys who sign for big bucks would be far better off if it were mandated that the contracts be annuitized in such a manner that they couldn't outlive the stream of annual payments.
That wouldn't fly with the players' unions, though! People like to get their stuff upfront. And as is the case with so many other issues, far too few people learn from the mistakes of others.
The editorial board of the
Austin American-Statesman weighed in on the Vince Young issue today:
Updated: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, 2012
Published: 7:12 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, 2012
We'd prefer to remember Vince Young leading the University of Texas to victory against Southern California in the Rose Bowl to win college football's national championship, but today we must consider Young as a cautionary tale.
The Longhorn great is out of the National Football League, his playing days over at age 29 unless a team is willing to give a quarterback with 46 career touchdown passes against 51 interceptions and a disruptive reputation another chance.
Young needs the job. Just how badly became shockingly and depressingly clear this week when the Associated Press reported that little is left of the money Young earned in the NFL, including a guaranteed $25.7 million he received when he was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2006.
Whether the money was blown by the quarterback who pulled up in a white limo to announce he was leaving UT to turn pro or, as he alleges in a lawsuit filed in June, purloined by his former agent and financial planner, Young is out the kind of money few of us will ever see.
Young's former agent, Major Adams, a Houston attorney, and his former financial planner, Ronnie Peoples, deny misappropriating $5.5 million of Young's money. (Young's lawsuit calls another $12 million "untraceable.")
Young's financial troubles include a July court ruling that he pay Pro Player Funding $1.7 million for missing a high-interest loan payment in May. Young claims Adams and Peoples took out a $1.9 million loan in 2011 without telling him about it.
For every Magic Johnson or Roger Staubach, to name two professional athletes who took advantage of the contacts and opportunities their sports careers gave them, and then went on to make tons more money than they ever made during their playing days, there are scores of Vince Youngs — big spenders or victims.
In 2009, Sports Illustrated estimated that 78 percent of NFL players are either bankrupt or in financial distress within two years after their careers end. Terrell Owens and Warren Sapp are two notable, recent examples who have seen the millions they earned as professional football players vanish.
Mansions, expensive cars, partying, entourages of hangers-on, back taxes, business scams, child support payments that come with fathering children — the reasons professional athletes struggle financially seem nearly endless. The NFL has programs to help players, active and retired, with financial advice, and it hosts a multiday educational symposium for rookies.
Undoubtedly, more could be done by the league and the universities that profit off players to help them prepare to manage their money. There are limits: What is good advice when stacked against sudden riches, a lack of maturity and attitudes developed by a lifetime of pampering by family and friends, coaches, teammates, fans and, yes, sometimes the media?
Depending on who's doing the measuring — the NFL or the NFL Players Association — and the qualifications used, the average NFL career either lasts just over three years or more than six. Either way, most professional football players have earned most of the money they're ever going to earn by the time they're 30.
In the Associated Press story, Trey Dolezal, Young's attorney, was asked to assess Young's financial situation. "I would just say that Vince needs a job," he said.
Young refused to be interviewed for the story, but he took to Twitter Wednesday, the day after AP's story appeared. "It's a shame to see people revel in and rally around negativity in the media but I guess it's to be expected. Yes, I need a job, who doesn't," he tweeted.
There's no reveling in Young's troubles here. His is a sad story, repeated all too often in professional sports. We hope he soon can turn his cautionary tale into one of redemption.
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/vin...e-2464311.html
