Meet Some Unlikely Frugal Role Models: Pro Athletes

Your Unlikely Frugal Role Models: The Washington [Football Team]

This article about a football team which must not be named and its strangely sensible spending habits could have run on The Onion. It did not.

Two-time pro bowl running back Alfred Morris, who makes a base salary of $1.5 million this year, has taken to riding a bike to work and leaving it in his reserved parking space. On days when it’s too cold or otherwise inconvenient to cycle to the facility, Morris switches to a splashier ride: a 1991 Mazda 626, which he drove up from Florida as a rookie in 2012. He calls it his Bentley.

Pass rusher Ryan Kerrigan signed a five-year, $57.5 million contract earlier this year. But he still shares his apartment in suburban Virginia with a roommate.

Possibly my favorite quote: “‘He makes most of his own meals but when he does splurge, he’s going to Chipotle.’”

What choices do these pro athletes make to save money? The same ones you do, most likely. They hold onto their cars as long as possible. They live with roommates and, when it comes time to purchase a home, buy less house than they need. They bike to work, cook food at home, avoid paying movers, and track their spending.

None of this is unusual. It’s prudent, exactly what Helaine Olen would advise. It’s just that we don’t expect prudence from our pro athletes. Along with movie stars and rock stars, we tend to treat athletes like the sacred pagan kings who were allowed whatever hedonistic license they felt like taking because at the end of their terms they were sacrificed by and for the community. Like literally sacrificed: axe to the head, fire on the pyre, bye Felicia. It was thought to guarantee a good harvest and placate the gods. (For more on this phenomenon, check out The White Goddess and The Golden Bough, two books I was fixated on as a teenager.)

These football players seem to be uninterested in maxing out now and flaming out later, for which I salute them. Personally, I’ll splurge on movers every time at this point in my life; but then, if I were a 350 pound linebacker, my priorities might be different.

Speaking of Helaine Olen, Shane Ferro interviewed her for HuffPo and their exchange is as lively and intelligent as you might expect. This is my favorite part.

FIGHT FOR CHANGE, y’all. Because the alternative is being old and fighting over change, if you know what I mean.

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