That’s not even close to true. This article from 2015 estimated that 80% of players go broke within three years of retirement from the league. One of the reasons stated in that article is due to financially supporting extended networks of family, friends and community. The NFL earned $19 billion in 2022. The league pushes a narrative about the fact that the average player salary is $3.3 million per year. But statistically, averages are a shitty way to represent that dataset. The median wage is just $860,000 per year.50% of players are paid less than that. While they might earn a comparatively large wage, NFL players are part of the same exploited labour class.