Sunday traditions have changed greatly in America over the years. In the past, Sundays were known as family days and holy days; however, now that has all changed. Sundays are now for football. The NFL, National Football League, has taken over a day of the week.  Everybody loves watching football and rooting for their team, but the game doesn't come without its expenses. NFL football is very dangerous, and comes with a lot of health risks, but that is why each player gets paid a lot of money. On average, including benched players, each player makes about 3 million dollars a year. This varies greatly depending on your position, time in the league and strength as a player but the more you get paid the higher the chance of injury. Players make well over enough to pay for their own medical bills as long as they manage their money correctly. They know the dangers of the game and still choose to play. If the NFL has to pay for these bills, the price surrounding anything NFL would skyrocket. In order to pay all of these medical bills price of tickets would increase, the price of apparel and memorabilia would increase, and the price of watching the games on TV would increase. This will greatly affect a lot of people because the Super Bowl is the most watched item on TV in the US every year. The players are responsible for paying for their own bills. They make enough money through their career to afford it if they plan right.

The average NFL player's salary is about 3 million dollars a year. This number is only the average though, it includes everyone from the first string quarterback to the new draft pick who will sit on the bench for two more seasons before actually even stepping foot on the field. The highest paid player in 2015 was Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He made 48.9 million dollars between June 2014 and June 2015 (Badenhausen). Roethlisberger has a net worth of 70 million dollars. This should be enough to last him his entire life, living comfortably. He, unlike other players, is saving a lot of his money for when he does retire. He knows he will still have to pay for everything even when he does not have such a large yearly income.

There is another player who just retired this year who was smart about his money all throughout his career. This player's name is Marshawn Lynch and he plays as a running back for the Seattle Seahawks. People were very surprised when these rumors arouse of his retiring because he is still a somewhat 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. Lynch has been living the last nine years off of endorsements and other business ventures. Lynch is estimated to earn about $5 million per year through endorsement deals with Nike, Pepsi, Skittles, Progressive, and Activision. He has not touched the 49.7 million dollars he has made in salary so far (Business Insider). 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.  

These players are humans too. An article titled "Top 15 Retired NFL Players That Went Broke and Had to Find Regular Jobs" was recently published by The Sportster. In the article the, the author goes through a list of 15 men who had to go out and get "regular jobs" after they retire as NFL football players.  The author talks about how these players spent their money lavishly on houses or jewelry and are now left with nothing or even millions in debt and have to go out and get real jobs to pay for their bills and families. Lawrence Taylor is a great example of this. When he retired from the NFL, his lifestyle of drugs, alcohol and woman did not stop. He did not know how to budget his money for the future. He now as a few health issues but had to declare bankruptcy. There is also no way to prove his health issues stemmed from his time on the field because he was also away getting high or drunk (The Sportster). Another player, Mushin Muhammad had gotten himself into some severe credit card debt during his time playing and did not get out of it when his income had stopped coming in. He was forced to sell his house on ebay, which has the largest private aquarium in the United States of America (The Sportster). Warren Sapp was a defensive tackle during his time in the NFL. He made around 60 million dollars in his career but lost it all buying mansions and keeping up with his sneaker addiction. He later filed for bankruptcy (The Sportster). These men are just a few examples of why NFL players need to learn about money and how to handle it. 

Nearly 16 percent of players drafted from 1996 to 2003 had declared bankruptcy just 12 years after they retired (Time). An article on Time.com points out the major reasons it believes players go bankrupt.  It says players receive bad advice and make poor decisions and get used to a certain lifestyle. Warren Sapp is selling some of his 240 pairs of sneakers for up to 6,000 dollars a pair. Andre Rison spent over 1 million dollars on jewelry alone. Adam Jones spent 1 million dollars on one weekend in Las Vegas (Time). When players are spending this much money this quickly, it is no wonder they cannot afford their own medical bills. 

There is no doubt football leads to injuries, especially at such a high level. However, some players act as if they didn't know what was coming for them. These men have been playing the game since they were about 6 or 7. They know the game, they know the rules and they certainly know the dangers. Players choose to be a part of the draft, they choose to have the ability to play at this high of a level. Players also sign their own contracts. This means they have read and understand the risks of playing such an elite level sport but they still choose to sign and play. They have to know there is a potential for long term injuries, and they will be responsible for that on their own. 

A recent lawsuit has forced 765 million dollars out of the pockets of the NFL and into the pockets of concussed players. "The NFL has reached a tentative $765 million settlement over concussion-related brain injuries among its 18,000 retired players, agreeing to compensate victims, pay for medical exams and underwrite research"(NFL.com). This settlement came about after almost 4,500 player sued the NFL because they had felt as if their dementia and Alzheimer's was due to being concussed multiple times but still being put into the game. "Under the settlement, individual awards would be capped at $5 million for men with Alzheimer's disease; $4 million for those diagnosed after their deaths with a brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy; and $3 million for players with dementia, said lead plaintiffs' lawyer Christopher Seeger"(NFL.com). More than 18,000 players will be eligible to gain some type of financial compensation through this settlement.

A recent study done by Harvard researchers "found the players in our study had a much lower rate of death overall compared to men in the general population. This means that, on average, NFL players are actually living longer than men in the general population" (Time). The same study found that NFL players are at a higher risk of having Alzheimer's due to their concussions but they say that "findings do not establish a direct cause-effect relationship between football-related concussions and death from these neurodegenerative disorders" (Time). This study proves that football related concussions do not leas to death. Anyone can get a concussion from any sport, or a car accident, or from falling or hitting your head on something too hard, it is just more common in football players. It is not the NFL's fault the human head is just not built for a hit like that. 

Because the human head was not built to take that kind of blunt force, all players are required to wear helmets. Over the years, the NFL has made many changes to helmet requirements to ensure they are giving the players the maximum protection. There are also very strict rules, as far as helmet usage goes. If the referees can visibly see you were using your head for a big hit, you will be punished. Also, if a helmet comes off while on the field for any reason the play will be dead to ensure no further movement to injure that player. "When the runner's helmet comes off  --  only the runner  --  once it separates completely from the head, the play is over. It's dead. Player safety  --  this rule was put in a couple years ago. It's basically just like this runner being down" (NBC Sports). This quote describes how strict the NFL is about their helmet rules. Since 2005, 39 rules have been added or changed to make the game safer (ABC News). The NFL has also invested millions to make equipment safer (ABC News). They have added special straps that are meant to regulate head movement. The NFL has also started funding a research opportunity called the Head Health Challenge. "Head Health Challenge, an open innovation program sponsored by the NFL and GE to invest up to $20 million in new technologies that may be able to better diagnose or prevent traumatic brain injuries"(MMQB).  The NFL is doing everything it can to aid and prevent these injuries so when a player is extremely aggressing and tries to use their head to hurt, they should pay for those medical bills themselves. They should not be rewarded with a monetary hand out for something that happened while they were breaking NFL rules. 

The NFL covers any medical issues up until 5 years after a player retires. Nolan Harrison said "Depending on when they played, some NFL Retirees can obtain a few years of health coverage through the NFL immediately after leaving the game. If today's players complete three seasons in the league, they can receive five years of health insurance when they retire" (Sportsblog). Players who play for more than three seasons gain extended medical care however players who do not play 3 seasons have to pay it themselves. If you are playing for under 3 seasons, the chances you have any long term health issues due to NFL football are extremely slim. Nolan Harrison is the Senior Director of Former Player Services for the National Football League. Jeff Pash, NFL Executive Vice President of Labor and General Counsel talks about the new plan they hope to implement in the near future. 

"One of the benefits that was created in the last agreement, which we would be continuing, was a health savings account where players, over the course of their career, can build up hundreds of thousands of dollars, in a benefit fund, sort of like a 401k, but for medical expenses which they could then use to pay the premium to stay in the medical plan so there would be no issue of preexisting conditions" (NFL Alumni Association).

The opposing side believes that The National Football League as an entire organization is responsible for paying each of the retired player's medical bills. They claim it is the NFL's fault these players are getting injured so it is their responsibility, however the NFL is not forcing these men to play, they chose to play ay such a high level. If the NFL were responsible for paying so much more money towards something they have had no control over, the entire cost of football would increase. From tickets for a game to the channels on television for a game, prices would skyrocket due to this new financial responsibility. 

There are ways the NFL can help prevent paying or and fighting against its previous platers though. They could implement a requirement for all teams to hold and players to attend financial advisement lectures or sessions. Rach team could have one financial advisor who would help each player decide what they should and should not spend money on. For a lot of NFL players, they've come from next to nothing and now once gaining a lot of money they do not know the proper ways of using it. This however could be fixed by just one person on each NFL team. This financial advisor would work closely with each member of the team to ensure they will all still live nice lives after their NFL Career. 

There is a lot of thought that goes into where the NFL spends their money. There is an awful lot of that money being spend on medical issues for present and past players, however that does not mean the NFL should be paying for everything medically related to you after you retire. Some things may just be the cause of old age or something you were born with, not something that happened to you during your time playing. Players also make a lot of money in their time playing, and there is no doubt they should be saving some of that money for future years.  Playing in this dangerous game of football is something each male playing needs to decide whether or not is worth the risks. We all have to do this in life, making decisions between our love for something and the risks that come with it. 

