Financial hits and misses from ex-NFL LB Bart Scott part of lesson plans at Senior Bowl

MOBILE, Ala. – A little over a decade ago, nearly 20 Baltimore Ravens gathered in a conference room in the team facility and listened to an idea. One of the Ravens players had vouched for a financial entrepreneur none of the others knew, and now this man was pitching a "Ravens hedge fund," where the players would pool together $10 million in a joint investment portfolio and reap aggressive returns.

The table was lined with rich bank accounts. Future Hall of Fame offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden had a seat. So did fellow lineman Orlando Brown, who had recently reaped a large injury settlement. Linebacker Bart Scott was there, alongside other big names. Even two Ravens executives had attended the pitch at the request of the players – player development adviser O.J. Brigance and team president Dick Cass, who was also a respected attorney. All sat and listened to a nattily attired man promise to make their money grow exponentially … if only they would have a little faith in him.

"He gave us the whole spiel and pitch," Scott recalled this week. "Finally someone says, 'Excuse me, do you mind if we get your Social Security number and other information so we can have you checked out?' And this guy is like, 'Uh, I'm not interested in that.'"

At that moment, eyebrows around the room raised up.

"Come to find out, this dude had like five names attached to his Social Security number," Scott said. "He was being sued. He had stolen money from people. And this player that was dealing with him and introduced us to him had no friggin' idea. But here this guy is. He made it all the way to our facility – inside our facility, in a meeting room with a bunch of guys, trying to get $10 million from us.

"He was all buddy-buddy until we wanted to check him out. And we're like, 'What? You're not interested in that? OK. Thanks for the meeting. Get the [expletive] out of here.'"

A chilling, potentially predatory moment like this is not uncommon today. Indeed, the professional sports spectrum (and garden-variety earners, as well) have littered the financial landscape with tales of money being sucked out of bank accounts by less-than-savory individuals. At the Senior Bowl this week, some athletes and their families will hear about those pitfalls. That's part of what director Phil Savage had in mind when he partnered the game with Morgan Stanley's Global Sports & Entertainment division this year, hoping to start the process of financially educating many of the middle- and late-round NFL draft picks who enter the league with little guaranteed money and perhaps the most to risk.

"We want to give these guys and their families a chance to start thinking and planning for what is coming in only a few months," Savage said. "The football side of it is one thing. But there is a whole other financial side of it that is part of the deal. And this is just one more thing to prepare them and give them the tools to be as successful as possible as early as possible."

The financial services seminars are part of a massive makeover Savage has accomplished with a Senior Bowl that was little more than a weigh station for NFL talent 10 years ago. There was a time when the Senior Bowl was a low-key event that largely attracted only NFL draft evaluators, a mass of agents, some dedicated media and a large collection of players who weren't sure to be drafted. Now? Savage has wrangled live TV broadcasts (from NFL Network and ESPN), big-name sponsors (Reese's, Under Armour and now Morgan Stanley) and has pieced together rosters that could see as many as 100 players selected on draft day. In the parlance of upgrades, that's like transforming your local corner grocery into a Whole Foods.

The seminars by Morgan Stanley will be the next big step forward in that progression, providing group lectures that even the NFL's annual scouting combine in Indianapolis doesn't offer. Working with Scott, a former Pro Bowler, and former NBA veteran Antoine Walker, the Global Sports & Entertainment division will have multiple lectures, one each for the North and South team, and then another for the parents (or other individuals) that players have designated to sit in on a seminar.

The goal is to give players and families some basic knowledge about making smart decisions with money. For many on hand, it's a dose of reality about NFL careers – how long money lasts, how to deal with family and friends, and how to navigate pitfalls without missing the right opportunities. For example: the smarts to budget 16 game checks over the span of a year – and to also ask someone pitching a multimillion dollar hedge fund for their Social Security number.

"It's about having a plan," said Drew Hawkins, the managing director of Morgan Stanley's Global Sports & Entertainment division. "… It's having an aggressive savings plan. It's being able to look at how you save 30-40 percent as opposed to what our savings goals may be for other clients. It's being able to say 'no' and deal with the pressures you may get from families and friends."

"These are kids but they're forced to make financial decisions that adults are making when they're 30 or 35 years old – but those adults have had the benefit of time and experience."

Hawkins has partnered with Scott and Walker to provide powerful voices in that lesson. Walker is the centerpiece of a documentary that focuses on how he went bankrupt despite an NBA career that saw over $100 million in earnings. Meanwhile, Scott entered the NFL as an undrafted talent with a $500 signing bonus, but eventually worked his way to the upper rung of the financial ladder and finished his career with over $40 million in realized earnings.

During that journey, Scott learned a multitude of lessons, from being able to tell himself "no" when it came to some of the things he wanted, to being able to repeat that same word to family members who leaned on him for finances. That's the advice he wants to share: how to have the terribly awkward conversations that keep players on the right track.

"It's hard to say no to your mother," Scott said. "It's hard to say no to your father. How do you say no to somebody that has been there forever? … This is your support system. Now they can be some of the people you fear. That's why I always tell people: be prepared to lose people. Because you never know [which people] your success is going to change."

Scott also has the experience to share the flipside of that coin, too. Namely, the freedom that smart financing can provide. He has built an investment portfolio that has seen some big successes, like a lucrative stock buy into Fitbit before it went public, but also a few lesson-providing failures as well.

His rookie season, when he was earning the league minimum of $225,000 before taxes, he had a chance to invest in an initial wave of Cold Stone Creamery franchising. He passed, partially because the $25,000 cost was too much for him to handle without knowing if he'd be in the NFL more than one year.

"Every time I walk outside I see somebody eating some damn ice cream now and I kick myself in the ass," Scott said with a laugh. "Yeah, man, I could be the man on the East Coast with all the Cold Stones."

But he also learned that just having money doesn't make every investing opportunity right, too.

"Man, I invested in an ABA basketball team," Scott said. "How dumb is that? … I was trying to be Michael Jordan, I guess. There were more people at high school games than my ABA basketball games. But you know what? I've always left 10 percent of my portfolio for risky things. That's something I took a risk on. It's fine being aggressive if you've got an itch and you want to take a risk. But make sure you're not leaving yourself vulnerable. Ten percent is what I play with. [The other 90 percent] in my portfolio is not up for negotiation.

"There's always a great [investment] deal. You have to be prepared. You have to make sure you're financially secure, so that when that great deal comes, you can take advantage of it. … That's what we're trying to do [at the Senior Bowl]. We're trying to give these guys tools and educate them. This is a real opportunity to have an impact on my fraternity, and I take that seriously."

That's the same message Savage and Hawkins say they're trying to convey at the Senior Bowl: That in this annual NFL draft fraternity, they're taking that impact seriously, too.