As a professional athlete, your life is no longer private. Everyday life becomes public, including where you live. Recently, homes of professional athletes, including Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, have been broken into.[1] Like other celebrities, these pro-athletes are targeted due to their extended time away from home and their likelihood of owning valuables worth thousands of dollars, including cash, jewelry, watches, and handbags. Burglaries of the homes focus on the players’ master bedrooms and their closets, where most of the luxury items mentioned are contained.[2]
First, the NFL warned the players about the burglaries occurring across the country. A memo circulated by the NFL emphasized the crimes involved organized and skilled groups of criminals who targeted them by “tracking the players’ whereabouts on social media and through public record.”[3] To case the targets, the criminals have also been tracking the players by posing as joggers, maintenance workers, and delivery people. Once their plans were developed, the criminals gained access via side doors, windows, and balconies.[4] The criminals involved in the recent burglaries have attracted the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI is “investigating the crime wave as international organized crime.”[5] The crime spree has been linked to a South American crime syndicate, which is a transnational crime ring that is currently targeting professional athletes.[6]
However, this has not stopped the international crime ring from expanding its horizons, as they have begun to target NBA players as well.[7] Like the NFL, the NBA issued a warning to players. The NBA suggests players take additional steps when they are traveling to ensure the safety of their families and their homes. Some of the professional basketball players whose homes have been burglarized include Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley, Jr. The NBA memo states that the international crime rings in the “transnational South American Theft Groups… incorporate advanced techniques and technologies, including pre-surveillance, drones, and signal jamming devices.”[8] The burglary scheme has become more complex than first suggested by the NFL.
The NBA does not recommend exact steps their athletes should take to protect their privacy. I recently had the privilege to speak with an NFL agent, who recommends to all of his athletes to invest in top notch security cameras and to be aware of what they post on their social media. With more notoriety you receive as a player, the more important this advice becomes. However, there comes a point where this advice, even when heeded, becomes useless. No matter the precautions players like Mahomes and Kelce take, they will still be targets because of their public lifestyles and extreme wealth.
Will we see much change within the NFL and the NBA because of these burglaries? Probably not. But, the hope is while the season continues, more NFL and NBA players continue to be made aware of the issue, and the FBI figures out a way to put an end to the crime spree.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/sports/basketball/fbi-warns-nba-sophisticated-home-theft-groups-after-break-ins-memo-2024-11-22/; https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/09/24/dan-campbell-detroit-lions-move/75360424007/.
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk1644j5y5o; https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-issues-security-alert-to-teams-regarding-recent-home-burglaries.
[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk1644j5y5o
[4] Id.
[5] https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-issues-security-alert-to-teams-regarding-recent-home-burglaries.
[6] Id.
[7] https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/42544312/nba-joins-nfl-urging-caution-players-home-security.
[8] Id.
Alex Brockhuizen (’25) is pursuing her JD at the University at Buffalo School of Law, with a concentration in Sports Law. After graduation, she will be working at Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC. At UB, Alex is co-director of the Labor and Employment Law Society and Treasurer of the Buffalo Sports Law and Entertainment Law Society. She is also Business Editor of the Buffalo Law Review, where she was deemed a finalist of the Note and Comment Competition her 2L year. Alex is also a former two-sport athlete at Elmira College.
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