Tonight while driving home from the office I listened to a really good interview on CFRA with Canadian female hockey player Gillian Ferrari. She is out working on staying in shape for the summer and trying to raise money for Canadian amateur athletes who survive on basically $1500 a month. That’s a wopping $18,000 a year.
Then the news came on and I heard that ex-Detroit Red Wing (and current Calgary Flame) Darren McCarty is filing bankruptcy as he is $4.3 Million in debt. Yes, you heard me right. $4.3 Million in debt. I did a quick online search and discovered that since entering the league, McCarty has made a whopping $14.764 Million dollars (or will have at the end of the 2006 season). By my math that puts his spending (including taxes of course) at about $19 Million dollars since the 1993-1994 season when he first took a paychecque.
To extend this discussion, Gillian Ferrari is looking to have 2008 Amateur athletes, via fundraising, pull in $2008 each to provide our amateur athletes with the funding they need to survive until the 2008 games. Doing a bit more math we discover that all Gillian is trying to raise is a tad over $4 Million dollars. About $300,000 less than McCarty is in debt.
Talk about officially screwed.
Addendum – 4/13/2006 – 07:05 am
CTV just reported that McCartey is actually in over $6 Million (USD) in debt. The hockey lockout put stress on his situation but there are a few points that were just whack.
- He gives his ex wife 75% of his income (OUCH!!)
- He owes over $100,000 to casinos in Detroit and Nevada
- His RV burned down.
- His Escalade ended up in a pond.
Anyone else smell something fishy here?