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.



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.


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.

This article doesn't make much sense.

So Tyson made 350 million dollars. Minus 2.5m cars and the other stuff they listed which barely scratched the surface of his loot, would appear to leave him with 340 odd million dollars left to blow.

What do the most expensive houses cost? Usually see the Hollywood magazines talkin bout 20 mil ish for the biggest stars. So let's say Tyson owned around 10 x 20 million dollar houses. Did they fall out of his back pocket when he was walking to the store for milk?

I can see these guys running out of cash when they're not regularly earning anymore. But you just sell one of your ridiculously valuable assets and then you're good to go again right?

Unless these figures are massively inflated for wow value.

Antoine Walker too.

nd33 said:

The rest went to Don King.

purplewisdom said:

Co-sign. Regardless of how someone personally feels about Iron Mike, that guy is a tragic figure in the classic sense. He could have been one of the greatest boxers in history, right after Muhammad Ali. Too bad that his career had to end that way.

yup

nd33 said:

They are just giving examples of some of the stuff they bought. Ususlly when a celebrity is bankrupt they already have many loans against assets

Put Allen Iverson on that list too.

Like Chris Rock said, "there's a big difference between being rich and wealthy"
[Edited 3/12/10 9:18am]

nd33 said:

MOST of Mike Tyson's money was stolen by his managers throughout his career. And most notably by Don King who controlled his assets while Mike was in jail. Mike kicked Don's ass in front of the Beverly Hills hotel after finding out how much money he stole after he was released. So, it's not fair to say he "squandered" his money like the rest of these fools.

I'm waiting for Floyd Mayweather to end up on this list.

A $2 million dollar bathtub!!!??? For $2 million dollars, that tub had betta wash my ass FOR me!!

SCNDLS said:

That fool wears chinchilla fur shorts in the ring

THE FUCK?!

bboy87 said:

How about that Cromartie dude the Jets just signed? He has seven children with six women living in five states, and has been named in at least five paternity suits in the past two years. He won't have any loot when he retires, either.

It's not just pro athletes - look at all the actors/musicians/entertainers with money/personal woes. And it's always tax shit.
[Edited 3/12/10 11:54am]
[Edited 3/12/10 11:55am]

If you don't grow up and are taught about money, then it's very easy to squander. Some people has very good business sense. Also the newly rich forget about those pesky taxes. I could probably think I would be better, but I probably would suck just as bad at saving money.

BklynBabe said:

very true, but there is also buying completely outlandish things! You can have no money sense and still keep 100 million dollars. All you have to do is not buy 2 million dollar bathtubs A $50,000 tub ought to get you clean enough!

I just can't have sympathy for these people--any more than I have sympathy for all people. Yes, they get used, misled, and are not taught accounting, but you could say the same about plenty of poor people! I was never taught how to manage money either. I learned it myself.

These athletes have opportunities that 99.99999% of humans NEVER get. It's their fault if they squander it.

Now if you want to talk about Mike Tyson's emotional issues, I can agree that's not totally his fault, but that is also true for poor people who have emotional problems. Rich or poor, it's on us to life our lives, not someone else.
[Edited 3/12/10 12:52pm]

Like I have always said, "If you give a kid who did not have much, as little as a million dollars, watch what he will do with it". Most of these people mentioned really did not have much, growing up, so what do u expect.For some, this was probably the first REAL money they had ever seen, especially Tyson. I believe that when these pro teams sign these young atletes, they shold also give them a financial advisor, to manage that money.

No Tippin' Pippen.

Most over-rated basketball player of all time.

bboy87 said:

And he gambles on a daily basis at times. I've already begun the countdown. I wonder if I can bet on the chances he'll be broke in 5-10 years.

shorttrini said:

They DO recommend that they get financial advise but they CAN'T give them an advisor because that's an obvious conflict of interest.

SCNDLS said:

He got a couple million to participate in Wrestlemania

if that segment wasn't a bathroom break, I don't know what is

bboy87 said:

SCNDLS said:

I don't know how he made the entire audience boo him considering he was fighting the bad guy/heel, but he did

I'm talking his first appearance, they cheered him,

but after the match....he left the ring being booed by over 25,000 people

bboy87 said:

Serves him right, he makes my ass itch.

SCNDLS said: