It’s not often that fast-living professional football players, armed with platinum credit cards, are poster boys for frugality.

But at a Brooklyn high school yesterday, two stars from both of New York City’s professional football teams extolled the virtues of personal savings and sound financial management when they faced off and demonstrated a video game designed to promote financial literacy among students.

The promotion joins the NFL with another entity not readily associated with tightened purse strings: Visa USA, the credit card company.

The library at Thomas Jefferson High School in East New York was the scene of this unlikely Jets-Giants match-up. Patrick Ramsey, the Jets’ quarterback, and Osi Umenyiora, a Giants defensive end, each led a team of 20 boisterous high school juniors and seniors as they answered surprisingly challenging multiple-choice questions about compound interest, asset liquidity, liabilities, and the consumer price index.

To be sure, nobody was confusing this game with “Madden NFL’07.” But “Financial Football” mimics the real game. Correct answers earn players yards, touchdowns, and field goals, while wrong answers are rewarded with sacks and loss of possession.

“My teammates tease me about how frugal I am,” said Mr. Ramsey, who majored in finance and accounting at Tulane University, moments before the virtual coin toss. “But I know that what I do, quarterbacking, won’t last forever.”

The school’s principal, Michael Alexander, said budget cuts have partly caused the school to phase out its business program, which included personal finance education. He said he welcomed role models like football players to reinforce the advice he gave his college-bound students, such as not running up huge debts on credit cards.

Mr. Alexander spoke as the logo of the event’s sponsor, Visa, appeared on the projection screen behind him.

An informal poll of the students at yesterday’s event determined that only two of 40 had budgets, and only 10 had savings accounts. One junior, 16-year-old David, said he doubted he would play the game again on his own and that much of the content was over his head.

That a credit card company like Visa would be so active in promoting frugality might appear simply as a public relations gimmick, similar to tobacco companies running anti-smoking advertisements. A Visa spokeswoman said the company has been promoting financial literacy since 1991 and that “not drowning in debt” makes for “better consumers.”

Celebrities — especially professional athletes — have long been known to be easy targets of slick agents and needy relatives who help them burn through their large fortunes. Some Thomas Jefferson students asked their teachers if Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Umenyiora were being truthful about their cautious advice on dealing with money.

After the game ended, Mr. Umenyiora said he had made frivolous and expensive purchases, such as luxury cars, early in his career. But now, he said, his financial adviser socks away 75% of his earnings whether he likes it or not.

“If you try to keep up with others who have more, you’ll end up in trouble,” he said.

Mr. Umenyiora left the library gloating: He pointed out that his financial football victory over the Jets, coupled with a pre-season win on the field, means he is now 2–0 over his cross-town rivals.