Ouch!

[masher44]

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns


Almost 80 percent of National Football League players are flirting with bankruptcy two years after they retire, according to Sports Illustrated. NBA players aren’t faring much better. 60 percent of former National Basketball Association players end up broke within five years of retirement. Athletes squander millions of dollars due to bad decisions, lavish spending and poor financial planning. Here is a list of athletes that have lost their fortunes through some of the biggest financial blunders of all time.

Scottie Pippen

Known more for his on court defense than his off court business sense, former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen lost $120 million in career earnings due to poor financial planning and bad business ideas. Air Jordan’s sidekick blew $27 million on bad investments and spent $4.3 million on a Gulfstream II corporate jet.

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Evander Holyfield

Four-time boxing champ Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield reportedly made over $250 million in cash during his boxing career, but despite this he reportedly is flat broke. Holyfield lost all his money by making “smart” business decisions look really foolish. You thought buying a house was a smart move? It normally is, but not when you buy a house the size of Rhode Island. Holyfield bought a $20 million house with over 54,000 square feet and 109 rooms. The house has 11 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, a movie theater, a bowling alley and an Olympic-size swimming pool. Imagine how much it must cost to cut the grass on all 235 acres! You could buy a Range Rover with the electric bill payment alone.



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Lenny Dykstra

Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies star Lenny “Nails” Dykstra was a success on the baseball diamond, but in the business field Dykstra has struck out. Dykstra’s failed businesses include car washes, a magazine company, real estate investing and a stock trading website. According to Dykstra’s July 2009 bankruptcy filing, he owed more than $30 million to creditors, including his $18.5 million purchase of Wayne Gretzky’s home. The amazing part is that after two foreclosed homes and numerous failed businesses Dykstra is offering the investment advice that led him into bankruptcy for a mere $899 a year! In the investment world, it is often said that past history does not dictate future performance. Nevertheless, it’s pretty clear Dykstra isn’t the guy to go to for advice.

Latrell Sprewell

Look up the word “shortsighted” in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Latrell Sprewell. He famously turned down a $21 million contract because he said it wasn’t enough money to feed his family. Sprewell, who made over $96 million during his career, lost his $1.5 million dollar Italian yacht, named “Milwaukee’s Best”, in 2007. According to MSNBC, a U.S. marshal seized the yacht after Sprewell defaulted on his mortgage. His $5.4 million house went into foreclosure in May 2008. Don’t blame Sprewell for turning down the three-year, $21 million contract though. I mean really, who could live off a measly $7 million a year?

John Daly

Two-time PGA major champ John Daly gambled away between $50 and $60 million in career earnings, according to his 2006 autobiography. Daly once lost $1.65 million in five hours playing the slot machines at a casino. If you think that’s impressive, there’s more. Daly blew $1.2 million in a mere two hours and 30 minutes at a casino in Las Vegas. He just had his $1.6 million house foreclosed on. Did Daly quit gambling after blowing so much cash at the casino tables? Not by a long shot. Instead, he decided to downgrade from the $5,000 slot machines to the $100 and $500 machines. It looks in John Daly’s world, that is considered sound financial planning.

Jack Clark

Former professional baseball slugger Jack Clark was driven into bankruptcy in 1992 by his appetite for luxury cars. According to his bankruptcy filing, he owned 18 luxury automobiles, including a $700,000 Ferrari and a Rolls Royce. Clark was trying to pay 17 car notes simultaneously, and whenever he got bored with a car he would get rid of it and just buy another one. He ended up losing million-dollar homes and his drag-racing business because of his extravagant spending habits, but despite one of the most publicized bankruptcies in baseball, Clark reportedly got back on his feet in the late ’90s.

Mike Tyson

The king of them all is boxer Mike Tyson, who squandered a $350 million to $400 million dollar fortune. So what did “Iron” Mike spend his fortune on? Everything. He dropped half a million dollars on a 420-horsepower Bentley Continental SC with lamb’s wool rugs, a phone and a removable glass roof. It is one of only 73 Bentley Continental SCs ever built. The sad part is that’s not even the only Bentley that Tyson owned! He spent over $4.5 million dollars on cars alone. Throw in a $2 million dollar bathtub and $140,000 for two Bengal tigers and you can see why Tyson’s fortune is down for the count. He filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

[glassdave]

was just reading that a few minutes ago. Damn them guys burned through some bucks.

[Wrinkleface]

was just reading that a few minutes ago. Damn them guys burned through some bucks.

FK'n crazy!!!!

[phragle]

CAn you imagine how fast they would have gone broke had they been into performance boats...

Can yo imagine Tyson trying to back a big mti into a slip??

[JupiterSunsation]

Pippen has(d) a house in Harbor Beach, behind Pier 66. He built it on two lots (2nd lot being an outdoor basketball court). The taxes alone on that extra lot got to be close to 30K a year! I saw his captain run his new motoryacht aground at the entrance to his canal. The boat (named for his wife) was custom built with high ceilings to accomodate his height. Pippen was aboard and not real happy!

[JupiterSunsation]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...3364/index.htm

A bigger picture of the problem:

1. Big money, low education, short career timeline
+
2. Divorce
+
3. Injury/retirement

= BROKE!


The only guys that have survived the pitfalls were the ones that didn't go crazy with the luxury items and/or had a sizable endorsement income to sustain them after retirement from sports. Dan Marino, Michael Jordan both come to mind.

[cigdaze]

Oh well. I have no sympathy for any of those overpaid goons. Any azzhole that goes from having $Millions to broke is an idiot. I'd like to see any one of them get and sustain a real job.

[Wrinkleface]

Oh well. I have no sympathy for any of those overpaid goons. Any azzhole that goes from having $Millions to broke is an idiot. I'd like to see any one of them get and sustain a real job.

right on!

[Ted]

Oh well. I have no sympathy for any of those overpaid goons. Any azzhole that goes from having $Millions to broke is an idiot. I'd like to see any one of them get and sustain a real job.

It's funny, some of the lesser known players do real well in the business world, it almost seems like the superstars are the ones that get in the most trouble. And I have seen examples where even edumacation or lack thereof didn't seem to make the difference. I think that some of the ethic that comes from being a pro athlete can make you successful later in life, maybe it's the relatively free ride that superstars have all the way up the ladder that dooms them. And certainly having a famous name doesn't hurt when you are trying to make contacts.

[JupiterSunsation]

Years ago I did a renovation for a guy that was a low level NHL player (NHL yes but not superstar) for Florida Panthers. He lived in a 250K house, had regular cars. When I asked him what was up with that, he replied he had grown up poor and A. this was a great lifestyle and B. he never wanted to be poor again. The guy seemed really content and later went on to a broadcast career with the team. I think that is an awesome outlook and a very successful career transition.

[Bobcat]

[JupiterSunsation]

It's funny, some of the lesser known players do real well in the business world, it almost seems like the superstars are the ones that get in the most trouble. And I have seen examples where even edumacation or lack thereof didn't seem to make the difference. I think that some of the ethic that comes from being a pro athlete can make you successful later in life, maybe it's the relatively free ride that superstars have all the way up the ladder that dooms them. And certainly having a famous name doesn't hurt when you are trying to make contacts.

You have to wonder what part of the education sunk in sometimes.....

Warren Sapp was in my graduating class at University of Miami in '97.....did he really graduate or just walk with the class? What degree did he get...Sports Management or Accounting? I suspect he got the easiest degree attainable.

Tiger Woods graduated from Stanford (yeah the west coast Harvard!). However in his "forgive me" speech a couple weeks back I was stunned to hear his poor grammar/ebonics. Obvioulsy most of his commercial stuff was scripted but I still couldn't believe how bad his speech was!

So my point is:

A. Did you get an education?
B. Did you comprehend and use it?

[masher44]

The education they get is a "walk through", even in some of the best schools in the country. I cant say every school but some of the best for sure.

[mustang]

Pippen has(d) a house in Harbor Beach, behind Pier 66. He built it on two lots (2nd lot being an outdoor basketball court). The taxes alone on that extra lot got to be close to 30K a year! I saw his captain run his new motoryacht aground at the entrance to his canal. The boat (named for his wife) was custom built with high ceilings to accomodate his height. Pippen was aboard and not real happy!

Back in the 90's while in Chicago Pippen had a yacht that he kept in Burnham harbor. Can't remember what kind of boat it was but she was around 52' I think. He was so bad at running the boat that the insurance company for the harbor system made the harbormaster talk to Pippen and tell him he couldn't bring the boat to the gas or pump out dock unless the harbormaster piloted the boat. Apparently Pippen took something out at the dock every time he ran the boat.

[Big Time]

Reminds me a lot the lottery winners that end up going bankrupt 5 yrs after winning the lottery, the same principals apply here as well. I have found that money has a tendency to multiply your personality and who you really are. If you were born an a$$hole you are probably going to be a bigger a$$hole with the more money you have. If you are an idiot to begin with, then chances are you will still be an idiot afterwards making the same wrong decisions only on a larger scale. People that actually worked hard and earned their fortunes on their own merit, as opposed to athletic prowess, are naturally going to be able to manage their finances better then someone that was essentially handed it on a silver platter.

I do have some sympathy for some of the younger athlete's. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I was in my younger 20's earning millions (or hit the Powerball or something). I would have been out of control with that kind of discretionary spending money available. I probably would have gone broke after trying to run the turbine class and throwing $100k SeriousOffshore parties after the races!

[masher44]

In 06 I was running a large residential community in Dallas and had a few of the Cowboys living there. We had (forgot his name) come in and buy two of the less expensive sites from us. He was from Dallas and was the starting cornerback for the Rams. I recall him making 5 million that year. My sales guy thought he would be all over some of the 250K+ build sites. He bought two in the 70k range. He showed up in a Z06.
My sales guy got to be friendly with him and asked him why he didnt have lambos etc. I believe he said the NFL has a financial planning arm that would consult the players and basically put them on an allowance for any major purchases relative to their earnings, I do not think it was something he did privately and it was an NFL sponsored program. He had made about 8 million in his career up to that point and was allowed 100K for a sports car purchase and 700k on a primary home purchase. He had a home in St Loius as well but it was considered his secondary home and it was only 300K.

It was an option for the player to join this program and it sounds like most of them do not. This guy knew he had only 5-8 years as a cornerback until some younger faster better guy came along and took his place.

[jayboat]

[...]
after trying to run the turbine class and throwing $100k SeriousOffshore parties after the races!

I like the way you think.