Floyd Mayweather could earn as much as $200 million for Saturday night's fight with Manny Pacquiao, who is projected to make about $120 million for what is being billed as "The Fight of the Century". It seems (almost) pedestrian by comparison but Jameis Winston is looking at about $22 million, including a $14.5 million signing bonus, as the first pick in the NFL draft, according to reports.
Lost in the eye-popping headlines is the fact that most professional athletes are about as good as managing their money as you and I are at their craft. Helping athletes deal with the financial windfall -- and responsibility -- of stardom is a "huge opportunity" for The Players' Tribune, according to producer (and former NBA All-Star) Jerry Stackhouse.
"From a financial literacy standpoint we have to start early," he says. "Guys get to level where they feel they should know some things. It's ego. You're talking about some of best alpha males in the world. There's intuitive things we can do...be more creative so guys don't feel vulnerable and don't feel dumb. There's no blueprint for it."
The conversation took a surprising turn when I asked Stackhouse, who played in the NBA from 1995 to 2013 and reportedly has a net worth of $60 million, about how he manages his own finances.
"Coach [Dean] Smith put with a group Franklin Street [Partners]...and I've been there ever since," he says of the Chapel Hill-based trustee.
Stackhouse remembers Smith calling him and telling him "you need to slow down a little" after seeing his financial statements during his rookie year. Until that moment, the player didn't know his former coach was even getting the reports.
"Having that type of conversation with my dad about what to do with millions of dollars was out of his world, unrealistic," Stackhouse recalls. "So I had to trust [someone]. Coach Smith took it upon himself to be that person, to make sure protect me from myself. I'm so proud he took that initiative."
Dean Smith, who coached at UNC from 1961 to 1997, passed away in February at the age of 83. "I miss him a lot," Stackhouse says. "He was a father figure to me."
Watch the accompanying video to hear more from Stackhouse about The Players' Tribune, a new media platform founded by former New York Yankee's star Derek Jeter with a mission to give athletes a forum to speak directly to their fans.
Aaron Task is Editor-at-Large of Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter at @aarontask or email him at atask@yahoo-inc.com.
