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How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

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Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#71

Post by SheepSlapper »

talmand wrote: post #70
Kluny wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, taking their adult autonomy away is the first step? How about education? This might be anecdotal, but I feel like we don't hear these athlete bankruptcy stories as often about hockey players. Why? Because they're all white, not black. Putting a kid through junior hockey is expensive and hockey players tend to come from privileged homes with much better financial education than young black football players. Th…

I'm curious as to how hockey is any more expensive than any other sport that has player equipment and a privileged background is more beneficial to making it to the professional level than any other sport. Could it be that black kids as a group just isn't that interested in playing hockey?

Skates are more expensive than cleats. Hockey sticks break or are grown out of, and decent ones are a few hundred bucks.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#72

Post by lazerpants »

efa wrote: post #69

I don't know all the tax implications around huge salaries like these, but every time I read one of these stories I always wonder why they don't just stick their money in t-bills or CDs. Something completely risk free that will get a modest return. If you have 20 million in the bank do you really need to invest in high risk stuff to try to double your money? The problem is everyone they've ever known comes out of the…

This is why there should probably be an early age pension system for these athletes. The major sports leagues could certainly afford it (and it would lower players upfront salaries some).

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#73

Post by rrdharan »

talmand wrote: post #70
Kluny wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, taking their adult autonomy away is the first step? How about education? This might be anecdotal, but I feel like we don't hear these athlete bankruptcy stories as often about hockey players. Why? Because they're all white, not black. Putting a kid through junior hockey is expensive and hockey players tend to come from privileged homes with much better financial education than young black football players. Th…

I'm curious as to how hockey is any more expensive than any other sport that has player equipment and a privileged background is more beneficial to making it to the professional level than any other sport. Could it be that black kids as a group just isn't that interested in playing hockey?

Especially given that it's Black History month, it sounds like you might be interested in watching this movie:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_on_Ice_(film)

And consider this criticism of the somewhat rosier picture portrayed in that film:

https://hockeyinsociety.com/2017/03/06/soul-on-ice-the-day-t...

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#76

Post by vanjoe »

talmand wrote: post #70
Kluny wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, taking their adult autonomy away is the first step? How about education? This might be anecdotal, but I feel like we don't hear these athlete bankruptcy stories as often about hockey players. Why? Because they're all white, not black. Putting a kid through junior hockey is expensive and hockey players tend to come from privileged homes with much better financial education than young black football players. Th…

I'm curious as to how hockey is any more expensive than any other sport that has player equipment and a privileged background is more beneficial to making it to the professional level than any other sport. Could it be that black kids as a group just isn't that interested in playing hockey?

Ice is more expensive than fields, but there is probably a feedback loop as well.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#77

Post by varenc »

crescentfresh wrote: post #63
dangerboysteve wrote: post #24

ESPN's "30 on 30" sports docs looked into this matter and did a really goof job and worth watching. The episode is called "2 Broke". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elfw0ESih-A

What a bunch of goofs. Edit : downvotes, really folks? You don't see the parent's typo?

I think most downvoters get the joke! It’s just that your comment seems a bit snarky to the op and doesn’t contribute much to the discussion. The HN community puts value on civil and substantial comments. (most of the time...)

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#78

Post by potta_coffee »

talmand wrote: post #70
Kluny wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, taking their adult autonomy away is the first step? How about education? This might be anecdotal, but I feel like we don't hear these athlete bankruptcy stories as often about hockey players. Why? Because they're all white, not black. Putting a kid through junior hockey is expensive and hockey players tend to come from privileged homes with much better financial education than young black football players. Th…

I'm curious as to how hockey is any more expensive than any other sport that has player equipment and a privileged background is more beneficial to making it to the professional level than any other sport. Could it be that black kids as a group just isn't that interested in playing hockey?

Just about every high school has a football team, equipment is often paid for via fundraisers/carwashes etc if it's not in the budget. Hockey is generally not a high school sport, young people have to pay to participate and do so completely on their own time outside of school.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#79

Post by majormajor »

Kluny wrote: post #49
ggm wrote: post #13

In many situations, people who are identified as being at risk have somebody else placed in control of the finance, by court action. Brain injury patients for instance. Hmmm.. hang on.. whats the major risk factor in the football circuit again? Seriously: the recruitment of minors for major league with giant cash benefits should require them to sign a consent form for arms-length management of their capital for some…

Really, taking their adult autonomy away is the first step? How about education? This might be anecdotal, but I feel like we don't hear these athlete bankruptcy stories as often about hockey players. Why? Because they're all white, not black. Putting a kid through junior hockey is expensive and hockey players tend to come from privileged homes with much better financial education than young black football players. Th…

Seems pretty anecdotal. Hockey tends to get less press in general than baseball, so I know of a lot more broke white baseball players than broke white hockey players. There's some broke white golfers out there too, that's another money-requiring sport.

Any broke Formula 1 race drivers or tennis players? That's where you'd really look for athletes coming from wealthy families, I think.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#80

Post by majormajor »

talmand wrote: post #70
Kluny wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, taking their adult autonomy away is the first step? How about education? This might be anecdotal, but I feel like we don't hear these athlete bankruptcy stories as often about hockey players. Why? Because they're all white, not black. Putting a kid through junior hockey is expensive and hockey players tend to come from privileged homes with much better financial education than young black football players. Th…

I'm curious as to how hockey is any more expensive than any other sport that has player equipment and a privileged background is more beneficial to making it to the professional level than any other sport. Could it be that black kids as a group just isn't that interested in playing hockey?

In most of the US you can't even practice ice skating without paying money. Compare that to the number of basketball courts out there for pickup games, or fields where football could be played. It's not solely that the equipment costs more, it's that practice directly requires money, and practice time is the biggest overall driver of excellence. Professional race driving is another example of this. Tennis another notable one.

If you want a direct non-racial example of this: white hockey player origin distribution, Canadian and Scandinavian-born versus US-born. Guess where the ice is? :)

Baseball is another sport where black participation has declined in the US and the general assumption is that it's similarly because it's harder to find places to practice baseball in modern American cities (while still much more common in Latin America). Hence http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/mlb_official_story_head...

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