Not every NFL athlete is signing a multimillion-dollar contract to play pro football, leaving their families to supplement their income elsewhere.
“I’ll just set the record straight: We have multiple sources of income that we’ve built over the past seven years,” Allison Kuch, who is married to free agent Isaac Rochell, said on a November 2023 episode of her “Sunday Sports Club” podcast. “Also, if you’re in the NFL for seven years and you need to immediately get a job the second you’re cut, something’s not adding up.”
Kuch and Rochell, who welcomed daughter Scottie in December 2023, don’t just rely on his NFL salary — especially while he remains unsigned. They also have her podcast, his Husband PSA merchandise and various other social media deals and endorsements that contribute to their family’s income.
Jason Kelce, meanwhile, played all 14 seasons of his NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles before retiring in March 2024. He also is an ESPN broadcaster and cohosts a “New Heights” podcast with brother Travis Kelce. While the podcast was recently sold to Wondery for millions, Jason and wife Kylie Kelce still keep their home life relatively humble. (They share three daughters, and as of November 2024, are expecting baby No. 4.)
“We make sure that anything that we’re doing that they feel supported by their family and friends and then also not really putting them in any places of privilege,” Kylie exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2024. “[We’re] trying our best to make sure that when they grow up and they turn 16, they will be driving a [used vehicle]. We can’t let them have a hand-me-down car at this point. You’re not getting dad’s [Tesla] CyberTruck as your hand-me-down. You will be driving a basic model, hopefully, having to roll the windows down with a crank.”
Keep scrolling for more about the behind-the-scenes realities of the NFL and the stars’ finances:
Salary Talk
Despite players like Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers raking in the big bucks, not all NFL contracts are created equal. Retired athlete Chad Hansen’s wife, Bryce Watts Hansen, shut down the claims that “all NFL players are millionaires” in a series of December 2024 TikTok videos.
In fact, 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 being signed and broken,” she explained in a video. “When you’re on a team, it is good money — no matter [if you’re on a] practice squad or active roster, it is all good money.”
She added, “But since contracts aren’t guaranteed … [once you are cut] you get nothing, especially if you sign at the beginning of the offseason and then you’re cut during the offseason. You’re not seeing 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 paychecks on the costs associated with moving between teams, and in addition to doctor appointments and other necessary expenses.
“The costs really do start adding up, so you have to [decide], ‘We’re not gonna buy new furniture, we’d rather spend it on something for his body or a recovery tool,’” Bryce added. “It ended up helping us and helping him.”
Dealing With Insurance
Like any employer, the NFL offers insurance to active players in the league.
“They don’t even get lifetime insurance,” Kuch said in a July 2024 TikTok video. “Some players who only play one game, I get it, but Tom Brady? He’s only insured for another four years.”
Kuch is on Rochell’s plan, which “restarts” any time he signs with a new team.
“Last year, because my husband was employed by the Las Vegas Raiders, he got insurance for the full employment year,” she said. “Since that employment year is up, we get insurance for another five years. Every year my husband continues to play, it restarts another five years.”
So, even though Rochell was cut from the Raiders weeks before Kuch gave birth, her delivery bill was still covered by their insurance provider.
The Cost of Uniforms
According to Bryce, the athletes don’t get to keep their jerseys without paying for them. She revealed in another December 2024 TikTok that Chad only purchased 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 when [athletes] swap after the game, you have to pay for it,” she said. “He wished he bought a helmet for a few more, but when you’re cut the last thing you want to do is buy a helmet that’s a couple hundred dollars.”
Providing Game Day Tickets
While many NFL wives and their kids are staples at the football games, it’s not always easy to secure tickets.
“NFL tickets are not free, even if your husband or boyfriend is on the team,” Bryce said in a third December 2024 TikTok video. “They get a set amount and they have to get them transferred from another player if they don’t get enough for family members — but they also pay tax.”
According to Bryce, the tickets are scattered around the stadium in different sections next to other fans.
“You don’t get some ‘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 free.”
Travis Kelce, for his part, spent upwards of $3 million for a box at the 2024 Super Bowl for girlfriend Taylor Swift, both of their families and a slew of famous friends. The big game was played at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, which also has a “Field Club” right on the sidelines complete with tables and bottle service.
“It’s a crazy amount of money to get one of those booths in the Field Club,” Kylie Cole, who is married to Raiders punter AJ Cole, said on Kuch’s podcast in October 2024, confirming the seats sell for approximately $30,000 per table.
Over in Los Angeles, Kelly Stafford has needed to pay for a suite to accommodate her and Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford’s four daughters.
“There’s this section in the suite where the food is and you can sit and have a cocktail or something to eat, and my kids are sitting there coloring,” Kelly said on her “Morning After” podcast in October 2024. “I’m going, ‘Hey, there’s a reason I bring you to these games. To be honest, this is a wasted ticket. You could do this at home, watch on TV and color.’”
Kelly added, “As much as I really want them to be there because I know their dad wants them there, I’m also like, am I wasting money bringing you to these games?”
All Sorts of Fines
Many athletes have also needed to allocate part of their salaries to paying off league debts.
“You can get fined for a lot of different things in the NFL,” Saints star Juwan Johnson’s wife, Chanen Johnson, said in an October 2024 TikTok video. “The fines come from either the NFL itself or from your team specifically, like if you’re late to a practice or you’re late to a meeting … or do something in a game that’s bad.”
According to Channel, Juwan has only been fined for “failing a weight test” for $2,000 throughout his five-year NFL career.
The year before, Rochell revealed on his TikTok that in his rookie year with the Los Angeles Chargers he was fined $30,000 for a tackle mid-game.
“Everyone in the NFL knows if you have a FedEx package in your locker, you’re getting fined,” Rochell quipped. “You’re paying somebody. I opened it up, and sure enough, it’s $30,000. Keep in mind, at that point I was making $500 a week during training camp, so this was far more than I even made in training camp.”
A Hierarchy Among the Wives
The player’s contracts even impact the dynamics with the players’ spouses.
“For wives, for sure, [there’s a hierarchy]. It has varied team to team, but if you think of any group of 53 girls in a room, you’re not gonna get along with every single one of them,” Kuch said on “The Viall Files” podcast in August 2024. “You’re gonna gravitate toward different girls, whatever. There have been teams that [Isaac] has played for, where girls won’t give you the time of day unless your husband has a certain contract size or if he’s a veteran.”
Rochell, for his part, stated that the same hierarchy exists in the locker room too, but “it’s not as bad.”
“I think guys are chill,” he said. “But there’s such a difference in how much people make that it’s hard not to have that [be a thing]. Your teammate could be making 30 times what you make. If you got a guy who’s making $4 million a game and then me — remember [I made] $7,000 every two weeks — he doesn’t care about me. There’s no way. If he’s really worried about winning, he’s not worried about Isaac on [the] practice squad [in] his rookie year.”
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