Money to Burn: Costly pro athlete screw-ups

According to Sports Illustrated almost 80 percent of NFL players are flirting with bankruptcy 2 years after they retire, and 60 percent of NBA players end up broke within 5 years of retirement.

Here is a list of athletes that have lost their fortunes through some of the biggest financial blunders of all time.

Scottie Pippen - Former Bulls star Scottie Pippen lost $120 million in career earnings due to poor financial planning and bad business ideas. Pip blew $27 million on bad investments and spent $4.3 million on a Gulfstream II corporate jet.

Evander Holyfield - Real Deal Holyfield reportedly made over $250 million in cash during his boxing career, but despite this he reportedly is flat broke. Holyfield spent $20 million on a 54,000 sq foot, 109 room house on 235 acres! You could buy a Range Rover with the electric bill payment alone.

Lenny Dykstra - The former Phillies star failed businesses include car washes, a magazine company, real estate investing and a stock trading website. According to Dykstra’s July 2009 bankruptcy filing, he owed more than $30 million to creditors, including his $18.5 million purchase of Wayne Gretzky’s home.

Latrell Sprewell - He famously turned down a $21 million contract because he said it wasn’t enough money to feed his family. Sprewell, who made over $96 million during his career, lost his $1.5 million dollar Italian yacht, named “Milwaukee’s Best”, in 2007. According to MSNBC, a U.S. marshal seized the yacht after Sprewell defaulted on his mortgage. His $5.4 million house went into foreclosure in May 2008.

Mike Tyson - The king of them all is boxer Mike Tyson, who squandered a $350 million to $400 million dollar fortune. So what did “Iron” Mike spend his fortune on? He spent over $4.5 million dollars on cars alone. Throw in a $2 million dollar bathtub and $140,000 for two Bengal tigers and you can see why Tyson’s fortune is down for the count. He filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

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