I have always been interested in football. I grew up in a house where Sundays were known as church and football day. Recently my dad had purchased season ticket to the New York Jets games. I started going with him every Sunday. We began to not only talk about the sport of football but also the financials behind it. It was all very interesting to me. My dad and I have always talked about politics, and money and I enjoyed it very much. It had always made me felt intellectual so putting it together with something different sparked an interest in me. Being raised in the setting I was in, I was taught it is very important to save your money, and not spend it all on unnecessary objects very quickly. I remember whenever I wanted to buy something for myself, my parents would ask and make sure I had double whatever the cost of that item was. My parents wanted to teach me, as well as my brothers and sister, managing money is very important.  This research topic falls within the same scope of this. Many players get into the NFL, gain millions and millions of dollars a year however they then proceed to go and spend it all relentlessly without thinking about their financial future in the long run. What makes me qualified to write this paper is not that I am a sports journalist or a financial advisor, but a student willing to learn about every aspect of this topic. I will do all the necessary research to write a well written, thought out essay. 

 The first article I chose to use is very recent. It was just published a few days ago on The Business Insider. This is a very reliable source. It is a huge media outlet for anyone and everyone in the business world. This article was written by Cork Gaines. There has been some talk about a very famous current player retiring. This players name is Marshawn Lynch and he plays as a running back for the Seattle Seahawks. People were very surprised when these rumors arouse because he is still a very new, young player. He has been playing in the NFL for nine seasons. Fans were wondering his reasoning behind this decision but then the numbers came out. Marshawn Lynch has not spent a dime of his salary since joining the NFL. He has lived luxuriously off of his sponsor money. He has not touched the 49.7 million dollars he has made in salary so far. Lynch is one of the few players to do this and he is among smart ones. He has been thinking about his long term future since the very beginning and he will now have enough money to live the way he likes to live while not having to worry about paying for possible future medical bills.  

The second article I chose is published on Time's website under their money section. Time is an incredibly valuable and reliable resource. They are credible internationally and therefore I can tell what they publish has been read over and touched up many time to ensure its perfection.  The author is Brad Tuttle, a journalist for this particular institution. This article is about how a large percentage of NFL players file for bankruptcy shortly after retirement. One of the main points the author hits upon is the fact that these players spend their money in stupid ways and do not like to listen to the words of financial advisors. This is why they cannot afford their medical bills. They are constantly spending the money they earn on luxurious, unnecessary items.   

           In this third article, the author, Frank Sturm writes about the top former NFL players who did not budget correctly and lost all id nor most of their money. One player was behind on his mortgage and his child care by almost half a million dollars each. Terrell Owens earned over 70 million dollars in his eleven seasons in the NFL but could not put enough money aside for medical needs or his children's needs. Some players do not understand that they cannot live such luxurious a long time after they retire without any source of income. A select few of good players retire and become coaches or start a non-profit, but to the large percentage of them who do not do this, they do not have any steady income flow. 

This research topic is arguable because there are two definitive sides. There are not multiple views you could take with this situation. You are either Pro NFL pay, or Pro players play their own bills. I personally feel that the players are responsible for paying for their own bills. They make enough money through their career to afford it if they plan right. It is easy to find a lot of articles that support the Pro NFL side, however it is easy to use those articles as an opposition statement. Reading all these articles has definitely helped me see the views of the other side however it has only made my original opinion stronger.  I do not feel as if my original research question needs to be revised. 

