I assume that anyone considering taking their draft spot out of HS and forgoing college has made at least some financial evaluation of the opportunity in front of them. For some the decision seems to be made for "life changing money." I know that means something different to everyone on what "life changing" actually is. But I would be curious if anyone would share their insights/calculations on what "life changing" actually calculated out to in their experience evaluating against a top D1 SEC/ACC program.
It not only "means something different to everyone" is actually is different to different people. Take a player who comes from a wealthy family and what would be "life changing" would be very different from a player who comes from a family on the very low end of the economic scale.
So, first you have to define what is "life changing" for any particular case and whether or not that really has any meaning in that particular case.
I have wondered the same thing. For example, if a player received $500,000 as a signing bonus. Lets say half goes to taxes. If the player then needs $25,00/year(?) in addition to his pay to live. And that goes on for 5 years, if he was cut or left at the end of 5 years, he would have $125,00 left.
So then, the decision needs to be made to take it or go to collage. If the player received a $100,000 bonus, that would be gone in three years.
Receive a million, much better :-)
So, for those that have been through this. Is it a valid assumption that the player ends up with about half of his bonus? Could most players get by on an extra $25,000 per year? (More/less) Is 5 years a good horizon? (Either you made it to a higher pay scale, or it is time to move on.)
-I agree that the family financial situation makes a difference. So does the players college potential. (We play with a kid who wants to be a heart surgeon, and could be. It will take a lot of $$ to change his mind.) But for those that have been there, what other financial issues came into play? Many take the offer far below what I call "life changing".