NFL stars and their wives analyze football salaries, fines and costs
Not every NFL athlete signs a multimillion-dollar contract to play professional football, leaving their families to supplement their income elsewhere.
“Let me set the record straight: we have multiple sources of income that we have built up over the past seven years,” Allison Kuchwho is married to free agent Isaac Rochellsaid on a November 2023 episode of her ‘Sunday Sports Club’ podcast. “And if you’re in the NFL for seven years and you have to get a job immediately as soon as you get fired, something’s not right.”
Kuch and Rochell, who welcomed daughter Scottie in December 2023, aren’t relying solely on his NFL salary — especially since he’s unsigned. They also have her podcast, his husband PSA merchandise, and various other social media deals and endorsements that contribute to their family’s income.
Jason KelceMeanwhile, he played all 14 seasons of his NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles before retiring in March 2024. He is also an ESPN broadcaster and cohosts a “New Heights” podcast with brother Travis Kelce. While the podcast was recently sold to Wondery for millions, Jason and his wife Kylie Kelce still keep their family life relatively modest. (They share three daughters and are expecting baby No. 4 as of November 2024.)
“We make sure that everything we do makes them feel supported by their family and friends and doesn’t really put them in privileged places,” Kylie said exclusively. We weekly in June 2024.”[We’re] we do our best to make sure that when they grow up and turn 16, they will drive a car [used vehicle]. We can’t let them have a junk car at this point. You won’t get daddy’s [Tesla] CyberTruck as your hand-me-down. You drive a basic model, where you hopefully have to roll down the windows with a crank.”
Keep scrolling to learn more about the behind-the-scenes realities of the NFL and the stars’ finances:
Salary conversation
Despite players like Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott And Aaron Rodgers Bringing in the big money, not all NFL contracts are created equal. Retired athlete Chad Hansen‘s wife, Bryce Watt Hansenshuts down claims that “all NFL players are millionaires” in a series of TikTok videos from December 2024.
In fact, Bryce said that the couple lives in a 7,000-square-foot apartment with the same worn-out couch they’ve kept since he signed his rookie contract with the New York Jets.
“He was on eight different NFL teams, which means eight different contracts signed and broken,” she explained in one video. “If you’re in a team, it’s good money – it doesn’t matter [if you’re on a] practice squad or active roster, it’s all good money.
She added: “But since contracts are not guaranteed… [once you are cut] you get nothing, especially if you sign at the beginning of the offseason and then get cut during the offseason. You don’t see any of that money because you haven’t played over and over again and practiced.”
According to Bryce, they also spent most of his salary on the costs associated with switching teams, as well as doctor appointments and other necessary expenses.
“The costs really add up, so you have to [decide]”We’re not going to buy new furniture, we’d rather spend it on something for his body or a recovery tool,” Bryce added. “In the end it helped us and him.”
Dealing with insurance
Like any employer, the NFL provides insurance to active players in the league.
“They don’t even get life insurance,” Kuch said in July 2024 TikTok video. “Some players only play one game, I understand that, but Tom Brady? He has only been insured for four years.”
Kuch follows Rochell’s plan, which is “starting over” every time he signs with a new team.
“Last year, because my husband was employed by the Las Vegas Raiders, he got insurance for the full year of service,” she said. “Since that employment is over, we will receive insurance for another five years. Every year my husband continues to play, it starts again for five years.”
So even though Rochell was cut from the Raiders weeks before Kuch gave birth, her supply bill was still covered by their insurance company.
The cost of uniforms
According to Bryce, the athletes are not allowed to keep their jerseys without paying for them. She revealed it in December 2024 TikTok that Chad only bought helmets for two of the eight teams he played for during his career.
“I think the jerseys could cost up to $600 or something like that, so when [athletes] trade after the game, you have to pay for it,” she said. “He wishes he had bought a helmet for a few extra bucks, but when you’re cutting corners, the last thing you want to do is buy a helmet for a few hundred dollars.”
Providing game day tickets
While many NFL wives and their children are fixtures at football games, it’s not always easy to get tickets.
“NFL tickets aren’t free, even if your husband or boyfriend is on the team,” Bryce said on a third December 2024 TikTok video. “They get a fixed amount and have to have it transferred from another player if they don’t get enough for family members – but they also pay taxes.”
According to Bryce, the tickets are spread throughout the stadium in different sections next to other fans.
“You don’t get one of those ‘primo’ seats in the front row,” she explained. “Even when you see people in the coffin? Even the big players? They pay for it. They paid for those boxes, they don’t get them for free.”
Travis Kelcefor his part, spent over $3 million for a box during the 2024 Super Bowl for his girlfriend Taylor Swiftboth of their families and a host of famous friends. The big game was played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which also has a ‘Field Club’ on the sidelines, complete with tables and bottle service.
“It’s an insane amount of money to get a stall like that in the Field Club,” Kylie Colewho is married to Raiders gambler A.J. Colesaid on Kuch’s podcast in October 2024, confirming that the chairs will sell for around $30,000 per table.
There in Los Angeles, Kelly Stafford has had to pay for a suite to house her and Rams quarterback Matthew Staffordof four daughters.
“There’s an area in the suite where the food is and you can sit and have a cocktail or something to eat, and my kids sit there and color,” Kelly said on her “Morning After” podcast in October 2024. “ I’m saying, ‘Hey, there’s a reason I’m bringing you to these games. Frankly, this is a wasted ticket. You could do this at home, watching on TV and coloring. ”
Kelly added, “As much as I want them to be there because I know their dad wants them there, I also think, am I wasting money by taking you to these games?”
All kinds of fines
Many athletes have also had to spend part of their salaries paying off league debts.
“You can get fined for a lot of different things in the NFL,” Saints said Juwan Johnson‘s wife, Chanen Johnsonsaid in an October 2024 TikTok video. “The fines come from the NFL itself or specifically from your team, for example if you are late to a practice or late to a meeting … or do something in a game that is bad.”
According to Channel, Juwan has only been fined $2,000 for “failing a weight test” during his five-year NFL career.
The year before, Rochell unveiled his TikTok that in his rookie year with the Los Angeles Chargers, he was fined $30,000 for a mid-game tackle.
“Everyone in the NFL knows that if you have a FedEx package in your locker, you get a fine,” Rochell joked. ‘You pay someone. I opened it, and sure enough, it was $30,000. Keep in mind that at the time I was making $500 a week during training camp, so this was much more than I was making even during training camp.
A hierarchy among women
The player’s contracts even affect the dynamic with the players’ spouses.
“For women, certainly, [there’s a hierarchy]. It varies from team to team, but if you think about a group of 53 girls in a room, you’re not going to get along with every single one of them,” Kuch said in August 2024 on “The Viall Files” podcast. You will be attracted to other girls, whatever. There have been teams that did that [Isaac] has played, where girls don’t give you the time of day unless your guy has a certain contract size or he’s a veteran.
For his part, Rochell stated that the same hierarchy also exists in the locker room, but “it’s not that bad.”
“I think guys are chill,” he said. “But there’s such a difference in how much people earn that it’s hard not to have that [be a thing]. Your teammate might make 30 times as much as you. If you’ve got a guy making four million dollars a game, and then me, remember [I made] $7,000 a fortnight – he doesn’t care about me. There is no way. If he’s really worried about winning, he’s not worried about Isaac [the] practice squad [in] his rookie year.”
