May 9 – Tina Julian, a 33-year-old nurse in San Diego, says she may not be able to afford childcare if the National Football League owners and players can’t agree on how to get more than $ 9 billion Share annual sales.
Julian’s concern comes from the child support she receives from the father of her two-year-old son, New York Jets defense attorney Antonio Cromartie, who may not have a paycheck if a new employment contract is not reached.
“The money I get from him is definitely important,” said Julian, declining to reveal how much she gets monthly from Cromartie, a free agent who paid $ 1.7 million last season. “Something should change there.”
Cromartie, who has nine children by eight women, according to the New York Post, is one of the gamblers who may be unemployed because the NFL cannot sign a collective agreement with their union. National Basketball Association players may face a similar situation if their contracts expire in two months.
NFL and NBA players are lining up to cut child support and alimony payments to reflect lower incomes should their leagues close, said attorney Howard Rudolph of Rudolph & Associates LLP in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Rudolph, whose office is decked out with sports memorabilia from his athlete clients, said he was working on amendments for NFL players he wouldn’t identify. It’s the same step Wall Street executives took when they lost jobs or incomes during the recession, says Raoul Felder, a divorce attorney whose clients include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and basketball player Jason Kidd’s ex-wife belonged.
“The NFL is an industry, and when the industry is in trouble, men can’t meet their obligations,” Felder, 76, said in a telephone interview. “The only thing you have to do is submit the change.”
Athletes, bankers
Cromartie’s agent Jason Chinn, Vice President of Football Operations at Pro Tect Management, Westlake Village, California, did not return any voicemail messages left in his office or an email received by Beth Acker, the company’s executive assistant. Julian said in an email that Cromartie didn’t mention the possibility of not being able to pay for support. Cromartie represented himself in Julian’s paternity case, according to court records. Julian’s attorney Andy Cook did not return any messages he left in his office.
By Felders measure, a highest paid athlete is no different than George Zahringer, a former Bear Stearns Cos executive director. After losing his job, Zahringer asked a judge in 2009 to cancel an order that increased his alimony from $ 25,000 to $ 87,000 a month, including back payments. Richard Albrecht, Zahringer’s attorney on the case, declined to comment.
Lock screen
The NFL locked out its players in March, who make an average of about $ 1.8 million a year. Billy Hunter, the executive director of the union that represents players in the NBA, where the median salary is nearly $ 6 million, said he expects the owners to leave after their employment contract expires on Jan.
Hunter’s union distributed a 56-page lockout survival guide to its 400-plus members, including tips on how to save money, like refinancing a mortgage and turning off home lights. Page 21 is devoted to the upkeep of children, topics that affect up to 80 percent of professional athletes, says Frank Brickowski, 51, a former NBA player and divorced father of someone who is now the regional director of the National Basketball Players Association.
Brickowski, a Penn State graduate, has urged active gamblers to sign prenuptial agreements so that child support and child support won’t become a problem. His campaign was helped by the popularity of Kanye West’s “Gold Digger,” a song about the dangers of relationships with women who are more interested in money than love, according to Brickowski.
Kemp’s children
Brickowski was once a teammate of Shawn Kemp’s, who was the subject of a Sports Illustrated cover story that said he had seven children with multiple wives. According to Brickowski, three women with children sat behind the basket when traveling to Los Angeles, all of them Kemps.
Kemp’s agent Tony Dutt did not respond to phone calls and emails asking for comments. Colin Bryant, Dutt’s partner at Dutt Sports Services Inc., said in a telephone interview that the two had recently discussed requests for changes “at length”.
Kemp told the Seattle Times in 2005 that he never missed a child child support.
The National Center for Health Statistics said it doesn’t calculate a statewide divorce rate in the United States.
“I tell the players that if a woman gets divorced, she gets an average of 70 percent of a man’s fortune,” said Brickowski, without explaining the number. “That gets your attention. But not as much as Kanye.”
Change of maintenance
Keith Glass, 58, an agent whose clients included seven-time NBA champ Robert Horry, said players aren’t the only ones feeling the financial blow of a work stoppage. Contracts cannot be signed, which prevents agents like Glass, who divorced three times, from collecting commissions.
Glass said he filed an application for a change in alimony during the 1998-99 NBA Ineligibility. He said he won a 40 percent discount while not remembering the dollar amounts.
“There’ll be files, all right,” Glass said. “You can bet it is already being done by agents.”
A lot of money is at stake for players like Cromartie. The 27-year-old received an advance of $ 500,000 from his $ 1.7 million salary from the Jets to help organize child support. He was among the players who criticize the NFL and the players’ association for failing to reach an agreement.
“How the owners and the NFLPA are bringing our bums back to the table and talking about it there,” he said on Twitter a week after the owners locked the players out on March 12th.
First paychecks
None of the 15+ NFL, NBA, and National Hockey League agents contacted said whether they helped or helped prepare change requests for clients.
According to their employment contracts, NFL players will not receive their first paycheck for the 2011 season until September and NBA players before November. Rudolph said applications must be made in advance to ensure any change coincides with the income limit.
Not all athletes consider modifications. Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden, who has three children with three wives, has enough money to pay for his support in the event of a lockout, said agent Ian Greengross. McFadden signed a six-year contract for $ 60 million in 2008 that guaranteed $ 26 million.
“Unless they raise their child support to $ 20,000 a month per child, it won’t be a problem,” Greengross said in a telephone interview.
Different income
Julie Hannaford, a Toronto-based attorney who represented ex-wife of former NHL player Tie Domi in her divorce, says the request for change does not mean a discount will be granted.
Judges often first require the athlete to hand over assets, including real estate, cars, or even championship rings, she said. Canadian law states that a divorced athlete with two children who receives $ 9 million a year would pay his ex-wife about $ 105,000 a month, while one in the same situation who makes $ 1 million would pay less than $ 12,000, she said.
“Most players are run so well that they have enough money to protect themselves from suspension day,” said Hannaford.
There’s more to a judge than just not paying paychecks, says Peter Kuperstein, 41, divorce attorney and partner at Prince Lobel, a Boston law firm that has represented professional athletes he wouldn’t identify.
Health insurance
An athlete’s expenses for things like health insurance go up during a lockout because teams don’t pay, Kuperstein said. According to the trade association representing NFL players, a player’s health insurance can exceed $ 2,000 per month.
“It is likely that most of these players have health insurance for children and possibly their ex-wives,” said Kuperstein.
While athletes have agents, lawyers, and unions looking after their financial well-being, the ex-wives and mothers may not. Any change approved by the court could have dire consequences for them, Felder said.
“It falls like a ton of bricks,” he said.
Julian has saved part of her paycheck and tax refund over the past few years. There are many reasons why a maintenance payment does not arrive on time, Julian said in a telephone interview.
“You need money to raise a child,” she says.
– To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net
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