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NFL Player Mark Brunell Files Chapter 11
Filed under: Sports
Another sports player is facing financial trouble. This time it's quarterback Mark Brunell, who won a Super Bowl last season as a backup quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. Brunell was paid nearly $52 million during his past 10 years in the NFL but filed bankruptcy on Friday. Brunell has been a three-time Pro Bowl pick but he hasn't been so successful off the field; he's facing multiple lawsuits over failed real estate and business loans. He was involved in a partnership called Champion LLC that included other NFL players Joel Smeenge and Todd Fordham (Smeenge has previously filed for bankruptcy). Brunell invested in Florida real estate including a project in Jacksonville Beach that had a $2.2 million loan made by CNL Bank in 2005. CNL began foreclosure proceedings on the property last year after accusing the partners of defaulting on the loan. According to the Florida Times-Union, Brunell also invested in several other failed real estate projects in Michigan and Michigan-based Select Bank won a $1.1 million judgment against Brunell and his partners. Brunell has tried to keep up with the payments on his own but was no longer able to do so. "The timing of the group's real estate acquisitions at the height of the real estate market, in hindsight, clearly was not good," Brunell said in a statement e-mailed to the Times-Union. Brunell is currently a free agent and has not signed with another NFL team.
Brunell, who used to play for the Jaguars, has been active in the Jacksonville community, and created the Brunell Family Foundation in 1997 to raise funds for critically ill children and their families.The organization has raised nearly $800,000 to benefit charitable causes.
Professional athletes face a lot of choices when it comes to spending their money. Often real estate looks like a stable place to put one's money and see it grow rapidly but many athletes have faced trouble as the real estate market floundered and developments went belly-up.
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