Former NFL player Michael Strahan says some players live paycheck to paycheck

[Hawaii Hiker]

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/4339491-419/michael-strahan-says-owners-have-key-advantage-in-nfl-lockout.html

That's actually quite startling when the MINIMUM NFL salary is around $300,000...

Hey, i enjoy the NFL as much as anyone, (do the fantasy football to), but if they aren't playing next Sept., then I'll just watch more Netflix movies, I truly won't be crying if games are cancelled....

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. What's the minimum CEO salary?

:think:

[sendero]

22. Who cares?

If you can't live on 300K I have no sympathy for you of any kind. It's called living within your means, it is a rule that has to apply to everyone.

[KeepItReal]

2. No epiphany there....remember the NBA lockout?

Some NBA players were in dire straights.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Or owner salary?

:think:

[MineralMan]

4. I have an idea. Let's just cancel NFL football for about five years,

then start it up again with an entirely new system. In the meantime, we can watch our favorite college teams, instead.

I prefer college football, anyhow. I'd just as soon watch my car mechanic work than an NFL game.

[dennis4868]

5. It's Obama's fault....

[Rambis]

6. Manage the money

Within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke. Also, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress. Sad

[Newest Reality]

7. Well, isn't it all just freekin' relative, ey?

Living large is a hard habit to break. For myself, I would have to try really, really hard to live paycheck to paycheck on $300K per year even in an expensive area. I mean, grossing around $25k a month? How dire can that be?

Time to cut-back, boys. We are doing it left and right in vast numbers out here. Consider it a new fad.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Recovered Repug]

42. There isn't a strike, There is a lockout. Different thing entirely. /nt

[notadmblnd]

9. Oh yeah, it's tough when you have to cut expenses for things

like people cleaning your toilets or mowing your grass. I saw an interview with a woman whose husband makes around 250k. She said that if they were forced to pay anymore taxes, that they would have to go without eating.


You have to laugh to keep from crying when people say stuff like that.

[AnOhioan]

10. If they can't live on 300K, they are idiots

[bluestate10]

14. Try living on $300,000 with the constraints faced by NFL players then

post. The amount is not a large sum of money.

[hifiguy]

26. $300,000 is more than I have made in the last ten years in toto

There is NO reason for someone to be broke who is making that kind of money. Maybe they shouldn't be blowing thousands of dollars in strip clubs as one Vikings player has famously done many times.

And what "constraints" are these men under that are so unusual?

[jacquelope]

46. Athletes or not, they're workers, being exploited.

Look at what the owners are making. Look it up, it's obscene. The players need financial advice, but the owners need a heart.

Oh wait, heart is irrelevant in Capitalism!

[bluestate10]

49. Maintaining two homes in many cases, with support for themselves

and a family added in for some. I have no sympathy for million dollar athletes, but the players that barely hang on team rosters don't fall into that category and are not much better off than working Joes.

[Joe Fields]

37. cry me a river...

I reserve my sympathies for those who truly have it bad off. NFL players are not now, nor will ever be on my list.

And I'm a pro football fanatic, but give me a break.

[AnOhioan]

39. ROFL.....thanks for the laugh

$300,000 is not a large sum of money....right. Please tell, me you forget the :sarcasm:

[bluestate10]

48. I will bring the sarcasm next time you drop the hate and envy.

$300,000 is not a lot of money, sorry to inform you of that, but it is fact.

[frebrd]

11. Couldn't be because they......

1. are living too high on the hog, or

2. didn't bother to get an education while they had a free ride in college.

:nopity:

[hifiguy]

27. rAmen to that n/t

[bluestate10]

12. $300,000 is not a lot of money.

Players making that much probably are living paycheck to paycheck. It's doubtful many live in the cities that they play in, so they maintain two residences during the five and a half month season. I realize there are many on Du that despises anyone that makes $300,000, but that amount of gross does not solve day to day financial problems.

[Obamanaut]

15. One can imagine that there are people in those places where the

players have their two residences who make drastically less than 1/2 of the player's $300,000 - and many get along nicely with their less-than-$150K.

A prudent player who makes 'only' $300,000 must develop budgeting skills. :sarcasm:

[ingac70]

16. It would solve mine in under 6 months....

so I have no sympathy. People making 300k and over need to be paying more taxes, BTW.

[anneboleyn]

18. Yes, I wish we were in the position to claim that 300k wasn't a lot of money.

And I wish we could cry that we were living paycheck to paycheck on 300k a year. Not to mention thst many of the players (and NFL business types of course) make far more than 300k. I want the players to be treated fairly, and to have appropriate benefits and health care, but when so many people in the country are really suffering with minimum wage jobs and unemployment, this strains sympathy.

[bluestate10]

21. Economic inequity is a sad fact of life.

As a society we must work to solve that problem with EVERYONE playing a role. But for the nth time, $300,000 is not a lot of money.

[Chris_Texas]

33. You clearly are well off... PM me to invest in my business!

[Lyric]

40. That's like telling a group of people who haven't eaten for three days

that the pickup truck-bed full of groceries "isn't a lot of food".

In proportion to all the food in the world, or even all the food on the supermarket shelves? No, it's not a lot of food. But it's a FUCKLOAD of food to someone who doesn't have any.

$300,000 isn't a lot of money to SOME. It's an unbelievable fortune to others. If someone dropped $300k in my lap, I could feed, clothe, and house my entire family for years.

Anyone who thinks that $300,000 isn't a lot of money is more than welcome to drop those lowly 300 G's on MY front doorstep. I'll gladly take that little pittance off their hands and put it to good use.

[ingac70]

54. +1

[bluestate10]

19. I agree with you. Their tax rate should be higher. But I stay with my statement,

$300,000 is not much money.

[Chef Eric]

47. Can I borrow $50,000? nt

[These Eyes]

35. You're right...

Plus, there's the expense of agents. I don't understand this notion that anyone who earns a salary that places them in the upper middle class is evil.

[bluestate10]

50. That notion is too prevalent on DU, along with the notion that capitalism

is bad, even when employee and community oriented capitalists practice it. The people that hate capitalism so bad should start businesses and become good capitalists that put employees and their community on the same level with profits. But, alas, it is easier to complain and despise those that are financially better off, even when many of the better off are truly decent people.

[Bluebear]

51. DU really seems to irritate you!

[bluestate10]

52. Actually, I like DU.

My problem is with some of the chronic complainers that hate every vestige of society, but don't come forward with any workable ideas on how to make society work better. Fortunately, those people are in the minority and other DU posters do more than an adequate job of highlighting the complete illogic of their arguments.

[Obamanaut]

13. Many responses, some interesting, at this earlier thread ->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=542586

[Starry Messenger]

17. I think football players usually use a lot of money to

help out immediate family. If they are the sole breadwinner in a poor family who relies on his salary, then 300,000 would probably get distributed around many ways.

[oldhippie]

24. In that case they are not "living on" their salary ......

... or "living" paycheck to paycheck. They're giving it away. That's a lot different to me.

[BobbyBoring]

29. That's one factor

Another is they have "Agents" that usually find clever ways to screw them (just like musicians). They also do the American thing of spending 5 times what they make.

[Dappleganger]

20. Most of these players have no idea how to use money

how to live on a budget or how to say no to the hundreds and hundreds of requests from family members, school friends, neighbors and local yocals who all want a piece of the pie. It's like this for most athletes in the US. From the time they are being noticed by scouts in high school, the vermin come out of the woodwork to feed on their money train. The athletes feel that they owe people so they don't say no. If they get involved with drugs and stupid investments it only gets worse.

[truebrit71]

23. I live paycheck to paycheck too...nowhere close to the NFL minimum mind you...

...sounds like a quality problem to have though...I have very little sympathy for those that plead poverty making 20 times the average salary in the US..

[Dappleganger]

25. Would you have a bit of empathy...

for a young athlete who has absolutely no skills with creating a budget or knowing how to say no to leaching family members and school friends who constantly harass them for money?

I do. Have watched some of them grow up through the ranks and knew they were a financial time bomb waiting to happen.

[truebrit71]

28. Nope. That's what financial planners are for..

..

[Dappleganger]

31. Ok.

If you have no empathy there's really nothing to worth with.

[catzies]

36. ...and a lot of crooked ones take these athletes to the cleaners...n/t

[Joe Fields]

38. no sympathy here. none. zero. zip. nada....

[Johonny]

34. he didn't say it for sympathy, said it makes player union vulnerable to owners

because some people don't manage their money well at all.

[KharmaTrain]

30. Management "Fees"...

One factor not added in here is the money that is taken and controlled by an agent. They're the ones who negotiate the deals...get a nice chunk on the front end as well as other fees along the way. I've seen some less than honorable agents who can suck up a lot of that $300k before the player realizes. Or they play "money managers" that put the players on an allowance and tie up the rest in funds (IRC there was a player who had all of his investments lost in the Madoof mess...wanna bet that was an agent who invested the money).

The sad side of athletics is how young kids become meal tickets or "investments" and are ill-prepared for the expectations and pitfalls of being a pro athlete. It's easy for one to get sweet-talked by a big-money agent and pay dearly for it.

[Dappleganger]

32. Yes.

But too bad there are others here who think that someone who is instantly "in the money" knows what to do next. Even financial planners can take these kids for a wild ride.

[pokerfan]

41. $300K? why that's barely above the poverty line!

according to repubs $250K is just getting by.

unless you're a teacher, than $50K is too much.

[athenasatanjesus]

43. It likely requires a fortune to maintain professional caliber athletic ability.

Especially if you aren't one of the main players that the team looks after,combined with enormous medical bills a 150K salary may not be that great.I am also sure some players come out of poverty,and are spending money trying to get their families out of it with them.

[AnneD]

44. I support my union brothers and sisters....

No matter what. Again what are the owners hauling in. What tax write offs do the owners get on the stadium while the taxpayers foot the bill. These players have a limited time to make a lifetime of wages. The same sharks that go after our 401k's go after these young inexperienced kids, most dirt poor. It is like a teen winning the lottery. Everyone gets a cut off you and there is no incentive to fix the system.

You go guys, get your slice of the pie. I won't be sniping and I am a Nurse that knows a value of a dollar.

[jacquelope]

45. I never imagined I would ever, EVER side with meathead athletes

but when I look at the greed and wealth of the owners I can't help but side with the jocks. They deserve more money than they get.

And those living paycheck to paycheck off of $300K also need financial advisors. Seriously.

I despise the corporate elite so much that I am willing to forget how I feel about pro sports and ask what I can do here to help them beat these owners who are certainly NOT living paycheck to paycheck! Is there anything we the people can do but watch things unfold?

[cottonseed]

53. Every "liberal" here that hates on an NFL worker. Same as freepers hating on WI union workers.

[AnneD]

55. Agent fees....

For one. How would you feel losing at least 10% + every payday to your agent. Increased expenses related to travel. On top of being a walking target for every con man and rip off artist posing as an investor.