Super Bowl 50 this week had two teams competing head to head for the big win. Bay Area students from Thurgood Marshall High School challenged students from Lincoln High School to a game of Financial Football, a fast-paced, interactive game developed by Visa that teaches kids about money and finances in a fun and engaging way. At Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, just blocks from Super Bowl City, students tackled money-based questions with the enthusiasm you might expect at an actual football game—face paint excluded.
Before the big game, the football players as well as California State Controller Betty Yee and San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros, joined by executives from Visa and its financial education partner Wells Fargo, shared personal stories with the students on the importance of learning the basics of how to budget, save and invest at an early age.
Cheers from three NFL pros, San Francisco 49ers Pro Bowler Joe Staley, 49ers Quarterback Blaine Gabbert and NFL great and 2016 NFL Hall of Fame finalist Kurt Warner helped the kids earn yardage and score financial touchdowns by answering questions about everything from creditworthiness (Rookie level) to mortgage loans (Hall of Fame status).
"When I was growing up, we didn’t have classes or programs to educate us about the importance of money," said Gabbert. "I am glad to be here today to help students in our community understand the kinds of skills they will need to build a strong financial future for themselves and hopefully their families."
"It doesn’t matter if you are a professional athlete or a student with a part-time job, the same financial lessons apply when it comes to learning how to manage money," added Warner. "I know learning about finances isn’t always fun, but it is critical. I hope that by teaching fiscal lessons in fun ways, like Financial Football, it will help kids get and stay engaged."
Since the launch of Financial Football, 47 state governments and the District of Columbia have endorsed and distributed the game to all of their public middle and high schools—more than 30,000 schools—and has been played online more than 2.1 million times. Financial Football is part of Practical Money Skills for Life, a free, comprehensive financial literacy program available in 15 languages and 41 countries.
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