NFL stars and their wives split football salaries, fines, costs

There isn't every NFL athlete sign multi-million dollar contracts to play pro football, leaving their families to supplement their incomes elsewhere.

“I'm just going to set the record straight: We have multiple streams of income that we've built over the past seven years,” Alison Kuch, who is married to a free agent Isaac Rochellesaid in the November 2023 episode of his Sunday Sports Club podcast. “Like being in the NFL for seven years and having to immediately get a job when you lose, something's not the same.”

Kuch and Rochelle, who welcomed a daughter, Scotty Don't rely solely on his NFL salary in December 2023 — especially while he's still unsigned. They also have her podcast, his husband's PSA merchandise, and various other social media offers 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 co-hosts the New Heights podcast with his brother Travis Kelce. While the podcast was on recently sold Wondery millions, Jason and wife Kylie Kelce still keeps his home life relatively low-key. (They have three daughters together and are expecting their 4th baby in November 2024.)

“We make sure that everything we do, they feel supported by their family and friends, and then we don't put them in any kind of privilege,” Kylie. exclusively narrated Us Weekly in June 2024. “(We) try our best so that when they grow up and turn 16, they will be driving (a used vehicle). Right now we can't let them get a car that's manually parked. You don't get Dad's (Tesla) CyberTruck as your hand. Hopefully you'll be driving a base model and you'll have to roll down the windows with a crank.

Keep scrolling to learn more behind-the-scenes realities of the NFL and the finances of the stars:

Salary negotiation

Despite the players, for example Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers raking in the big bucks, not all NFL contracts are created equal. Retired athlete Chad Hansenwife Bryce Watt Hansen, exclude claims that “all NFL players are millionaires” in a December 2024 series of TikTok videos.

Actually Bryce said that the couple lives in a 700-square-foot apartment with the same beat-up 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 are signed and broken,” she explained. video. “When you're on the team, it's good money — whether (you're on) the practice squad or the active roster, it's good money.”

She added, “But because contracts aren't guaranteed … (when you're cut), you don't get anything, especially if you sign at the beginning of the offseason and then get cut in the offseason. You don't see any of that money because you haven't played again and again, you haven't gone to practice.

According to Bryce, they also spent most of his salary to cover the cost of traveling between teams, as well as additional doctor visits and other necessary expenses.

“The costs really start to add up, so you've (decided), 'We're not going to buy new furniture, we'd rather spend it on something for his body or a recovery tool,'” Bryce added. “It ended up working with us and helping him.”

Transactions with insurance

Like any employer, the NFL offers insurance to active players in the league.

“They don't even get life insurance,” Couch said in July 2024 TikTok video. “I understand some players who only play one game, but Tom Brady? He's only insured for four more years.

Kuch is on Rochelle's plan, which “restarts” every time he signs with a new team.

“Last year, because my husband worked for the Las Vegas Raiders, he got coverage for a full year of employment,” she said. “Since this work year is over, we get insurance for another five years. Every year my husband continues to play, it resumes for another five years.

So even though Rochell was waived by the Raiders weeks before Cooch gave birth, her delivery bill was still covered by their insurance provider.

Cost of uniforms

According to Bryce, athletes cannot keep their jerseys without paying for them. She opened another 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 can be up to $600 or something like that, so if (athletes) trade after the game, you have to pay for it,” she said. “He wished he'd bought a helmet for a couple hundred dollars more, but when you're cut, the last thing you want to do is buy a helmet that costs a couple hundred dollars.”

Providing match day tickets

While many NFL wives and their children are staples at football games, getting tickets isn't always easy.

“NFL tickets are not free, even if your husband or boyfriend is on the team,” Bryce said on Dec. 3, 2024. TikTok video. “They get a certain amount and have to transfer from another player if they don't have enough family members, but they also pay taxes.”

According to Bryce, the tickets are scattered around the stadium in different sections next to other fans.

“You don't get a 'primo' front row seat,” she explained. “Also, when you see people in the box? Even the big players? They pay for them. They paid for those boxes, they don't get them for nothing.

Travis Kelceon his part spent more than 3 million dollars for a box at the 2024 Super Bowl for a girlfriend Taylor Swiftboth their families and many famous friends. The big game was played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which also has a “Field Club” on the sidelines with tables and bottle service.

“That's a crazy amount of money to get one of those booths at the Field Club,” Kylie Colewho is married to the Raiders punter AJ Cole, Kucha said on the podcast in October 2024, confirming that seats are being sold for around $30,000 per table.

in Los Angeles, Kelly Stafford she had to pay for a suite to house her and the Rams quarterback Matthew Staffordhave four daughters.

“There's this section in the suite where there's food and you can sit and have a cocktail or something to eat and my kids are sitting there coloring,” Kelly said. her “Morning After” podcast. in October 2024. “I say, 'Hey, there's a reason I brought you to these games. Honestly, this is a wasted ticket. You could do it at home, watch it on TV and paint it.'”

Kelly added: “As much as I really want them to be there, because I know their dad wants them to be there, I also think, am I wasting money bringing you to these games?”

All kinds of fines

Many athletes also had to divert part of their salaries to pay off the league's debts.

“You can get fined for a lot of different things in the NFL,” the Saints star Juwan Johnsonwife Chan Johnsonsaid in October 2024 on TikTok video. “The fines apply either to the NFL itself or to your team, for example if you miss a practice or a meeting … or do something wrong in a game.”

According to the Channel, Yuvan has only been fined $2,000 for “failure to take a weight check” in his entire five-year NFL career.

A year earlier, Rochell had opened her own TikTok that in his rookie year with the Los Angeles Chargers, he was fined $30,000 for a tackle in the middle of the game.

“Everybody in the NFL knows if you have a FedEx package in your locker, you get fined,” Rochelle quipped. “You're paying somebody. I opened it up and sure enough it's $30,000. Keep in mind I was making $500 a week during training camp at that point, so it was a lot more than I even made in training camp.

Hierarchy of wives

Player contracts even affect the dynamics with spouses of players.

“Wives definitely (have a hierarchy). The team has different teams, but if you think about any group of 53 girls in one room, you're not going to get along with every single one of them,” Couch told “The Viall Files” podcast in August 2024. You will be attracted to different girls. There have been teams that (Isaac) has played for where the girls won't tell you the time of day unless your guy has a contract size or he's a veteran.

Rochelle, in turn, stated that the same hierarchy exists in the dressing room, but “it's not that bad”.

“I think the guys are cool,” he said. “But there's such a big difference in how much people earn that it's hard not to (have the case). Your teammate could get 30 times more than you. If you have a guy making $4 million for a game and then me — remember (I made) $7,000 every two weeks — he doesn't care about me. There is no way. If he's really worried about winning, he's not worried about Isaac (on the practice squad) in his rookie year.