When pro athletes go 'Broke'

http://hiphopwired.com/2012/10/03/30...episode-video/
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Miami filmmaker Billy Corben's new documentary on bankrupt players premieres Tuesday on ESPN



Former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Andre Rison is among the athletes profiled for Billy Corben's new documentary "Broke," premiering Oct. 2 on ESPN as part of the new "30 for 30" season. (Billy Corben/Courtesy / October 2, 2012)


By Phillip Valys, SouthFlorida.com

October 2, 2012

As a purveyor of documentaries about Miami's cocaine-smuggling trade, illegal backyard fighting rings and ganja-peddling religious cults, filmmaker Billy Corben is all too familiar with characters who live hard and crash harder.

Add to Corben's resume "Broke," a documentary on the too-common trend of professional athletes going financially bust. It premieres at 8 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN as the second season opener for the network's "30 for 30" series.

Produced with Rakontur co-founder Alfred Spellman, Corben's latest doc drops a telling statistic at the outset: 78 percent of NFL players and 60 percent of NBA players filed for bankruptcy within five years of retirement.

"I was surprised at how high the stats were, but I wasn't surprised they were reaching epidemic proportions," Corben says during a Monday phone interview. "Imagine a ball player signing a multimillion dollar contract, and those figures are reported in the newspaper. Everyone in the world now has a target on your back. In the '90s, it was in vogue to make it rain, flaunt your Bentley and sport nicer suits. These athletes are in the competition business, and that translates off the court or gridiron."

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October 1, 2012, 3:32 PM

Pro Athletes Go ‘Broke’ in New ESPN Documentary

By Jacqueline Palank




Curt Schilling is one of many athletes or former athletes who’ve had brushes with bankruptcy.

Ever wonder how professional athletes with multimillion-dollar contracts can end up bankrupt?

In the new documentary “Broke,” which is set to air on ESPN Tuesday evening, director Billy Corben provides a “step by step guide on how to go broke” by talking to the current and former professional athletes who’ve gone broke themselves or have watched teammates and peers drain their bank accounts.

Hint: It’s more than just dropping thousands of dollars at a nightclub or buying Porsches and Escalades for yourself, your parents and your crew. It’s getting a $1 million check when you don’t even know how to open a bank account. It’s not hiring the right advisers to manage your career and your money. It’s being targeted by fraudsters claiming they can multiply (or resurrect) your wealth.

It’s expecting to score touchdowns, make slam dunks and hit home runs for a decade but really only playing the game for a few years. It’s facing huge health-care bills from the injuries you constantly sustain. And it’s not being able to say no to the family and friends that helped you rise up the ranks, even if you didn’t even know you had those family and friends.

“So many of the stories from the athletes are almost identical,” Corben told Bankruptcy Beat Monday.

The director told us he was inspired to make the film several years ago, when former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar filed for bankruptcy protection. Corben, who had recently interviewed Kosar for another documentary, said the news shocked him.

“Bernie played 12 seasons in the NFL—over three times the length of the average career. He was also known for being more financially successful in business after he retired” from his lucrative career, Corben said.

Kosar’s 2009 bankruptcy filing came as a result of the economic downturn, particularly the collapse of the real-estate market. His situation not only mirrors other athletes’ woes but also those of average Americans, Corben said.

Kosar is featured in the film along with other names that will be familiar to Bankruptcy Beat readers, like Curt Schilling. The former Boston Red Sox pitcher, whose videogame company filed for bankruptcy protection this summer, recalled cashing his first paycheck and spreading the $20 bills around him on a hotel bed as he watched TV and ordered room service. Schilling, who earned more than $100 million throughout his career, thought he’d “never” be able to spend it all. Now, he said he expects to lose between $40 million and $50 million as a result of his company’s bankruptcy.

“I never believed that you could beat me,” Schilling says in the film. “I lost.”

Corben said the athletes he talked to—like former NFL players Keith McCants and Leon Searcy—don’t absolve themselves of responsibility for the financial messes they’ve gotten themselves into.

“There’s not a lot of blame passing. Everybody accepts responsibility for their contributions to their downfall,” he said.

Corben said he hopes the film will teach younger athletes how to avoid making the same mistakes as their predecessors. He also wants to change their perceptions of wealth, encouraging athletes to save instead of spend so they can provide for themselves and their families long after their playing days are over.

“It used to be cool to make it rain and literally throw your money away,” he said. “Now, particularly in light of the great recession, it’s not so cool to be ostentatious in America anymore.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2012...n-documentary/