Michael Vick is banking on return to NFL

Michael Vick’s plan to climb out of bankruptcy partly depends on the suspended star suiting up again for the NFL after he gets out of prison.

The embattled Atlanta Falcons quarterback is hoping to earn as much as $10 million a year or more, according to court filings in his bankruptcy case. Under the plan he submitted to the court, Vick would keep the first $750,000 of his annual income over the next five years. After that, a percentage would go to his creditors based on a sliding scale.

Vick, who is nearing the end of a 23-month federal prison sentence for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy, could learn the fate of his bankruptcy plan this week. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Santoro is set to consider whether to confirm the plan at a hearing starting Thursday in Newport News, Va. Last week, Vick left federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., for transport to Virginia for the hearing.

In a March 4 court filing, Vick’s attorneys say he “has every reason to believe upon his release, he will be reinstated into the NFL, resume his career and be able to earn a

substantial living.”

“He is hopeful to play quarterback,” Daniel Meachum, an attorney and business manager for Vick, said in an interview. “There is no person with his talent in that position in all the league.”

The NFL suspended Vick indefinitely in 2007 after the details of his plea deal in the dogfighting case became public. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told USA Today last week that he wants to see true contrition from Vick before he considers lifting his suspension. Vick’s sports agent, Joel Segal, did not respond to requests for comment.

Gil Brandt, a senior analyst for NFL.com, predicted Goodell would give Vick another chance to play, possibly after sanctioning him again. But he said Vick, who holds the NFL single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback, would stand a better chance of making a team at a different position such as running back.

“The guy is a talented player, but he is going to be away from football for at least three years,” said Brandt, former vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys. “I think it is very, very hard if you are a skill-position player like a quarterback to spend three years away from football and perform at the level that you performed before you were suspended.”

Many hurdles

Vick, meanwhile, remains on the Falcons’ suspended roster. Last month, the team announced it was trying to trade him. In November, The Associated Press contacted the NFL’s other 31 teams about acquiring Vick. Most refused to comment, citing league tampering rules. However, six teams said they would not shut the door on acquiring Vick.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the NFL should not reinstate Vick unless he passes a test showing he does not have an antisocial personality disorder.

“Michael has stated publicly that he thinks what he did was wrong and he is kind of reformed,” said Dan Shannon, a PETA assistant director. “But our feeling is that more than his word is needed at this point to show whether or not he understands what he did was wrong.”

On July 7, about seven months after he was sentenced to federal prison, Vick filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He listed 30 creditors, including the Atlanta Falcons and the Internal Revenue Service. The largest of Vick’s creditors was Joel Enterprises with a claim of $4.5 million.

Andrew Joel, a Richmond sports agent, filed a lawsuit against Vick in 2006 claiming he reneged on an endorsement deal. As of December, Vick had $16 million in assets and $20.4 million in debts, court records show.

His efforts to clear his debts hit a hurdle last week when the U.S. Labor Department accused him of illegally spending about $1.3 million in pension plan funds for his own benefit, including paying his bankruptcy attorney and restitution ordered in his dogfighting case.

In a complaint filed in Vick’s bankruptcy case, the Labor Department alleges Vick and others violated federal employee benefits law by making a series of transfers — between March 2007 and July 2008 — from a pension plan sponsored by his celebrity marketing company MV7. The company sponsored a retirement plan for nine current and former employees. Vick failed to show his $1.3 million in debt to the plan in his bankruptcy filings, according to the complaint.

In addition, several of Vick’s creditors and other parties have filed objections to his bankruptcy reorganization plan, including the IRS, the Virginia Department of Taxation and the regional U.S. trustee’s office. Joel Enterprises filed a complaint Thursday alleging Vick transferred property and cash to relatives and friends in the year before he filed for bankruptcy to defraud his creditors. The complaint also alleges that Vick misrepresented his assets.

Vick’s bankruptcy attorneys did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The hearing could last two days. Then Vick will head back to prison in Leavenworth, officials said.

Vick is scheduled to be released two months early from prison to home confinement on May 20 because there is no room available in local halfway houses, Meachum said. Vick will be sent to a house he owns in Hampton, Va.

“He has been the poster boy for all of the bad things about dogfighting and all the bad things about athletes, so he has a nervous energy,” said Meachum, who said he recently spoke with Vick by phone. “He wants to try to get his life together.”