When a pro athlete evaluates multiple offers, the sticker number lies. A $260M offer from a 0%-state team beats a $280M offer from California more often than it loses.
This tool models the true after-tax take-home — home-state rate, jock tax on the away schedule, endorsements sourced to state of residence, and the deferred-comp sourcing rule under IRC 114 that made Bobby Bonilla famous.
Version 1.0Published 2026-07-13Last updated 2026-07-13Sources current as of: state tax tables 2026Author: Philip A. Baratelli, CPA, MBA
Why This Tool Exists · The Corey Seager Decision
The $65M headline that was really a $25-30M headline
In December 2021, Corey Seager reportedly chose the Texas Rangers over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The offers, as widely reported at the time: Dodgers around $260M over 10 years, Rangers $325M over 10 years. The nominal delta of $65M was the story most fans saw.
The tax math tells a different story. California's top marginal rate was 13.3% at the time; Texas has no state income tax. On roughly $32.5M per year of salary from the Rangers, Seager pays zero California resident tax on the home half and only jock tax on the away half. On the Dodgers offer of about $26M per year, California would source the vast majority of that salary — home games in Los Angeles plus jock-tax exposure in other states — at rates topping out at 13.3%. Public analysis at the time indicated the after-tax differential between the two offers was substantially smaller than the $65M gross number suggested; a fair estimate places the after-tax gap for the Rangers offer at roughly $25-40M lower than the headline. The Rangers still won on take-home, but not by anywhere near the $65M shown on the scoreboard.
The reason this tool exists. Every published team-offer comparison in the free press quotes the gross number. No free tool on the open internet models the after-tax take-home correctly. That gap is what athletes, agents, and the CPAs who advise them have to close by hand every time an offer sheet hits the table. This is the free version of that calculation.
Model your offers
All inputs default to a $10M / 1-year comparison scenario. Change any value and press "Run comparison" at the bottom.
MLB · 30 teamsNBA · 29 teamsNFL · 32 teams
Total guaranteed value across the contract term.
The tool computes an average annual value. Enter the guaranteed years.
This is a planning variable. Endorsement income is generally sourced here. Signing bonus is sourced here when received.
Off-field income: shoe deals, brand campaigns, appearance guarantees. Sourced to state of residence, not the team's state.
Select 2-5 teams from the league you chose above. Click a team to add or remove.
After-tax annual take-home by team
All figures are annual (contract total divided by contract length). Federal income tax and FICA are omitted because they are uniform across all offers — the entire delta between teams is state and local tax. Agent fees are omitted for the same reason. See methodology note below.
Methodology & limitations — read before citing
What this models. Federal-uniform items (federal income tax, FICA, agent fees) are held constant across teams and stripped out. The tool reports the state / local tax that differs between offers — which is the entire decision-relevant differential.
Salary split — home vs. away. MLB and NBA regular seasons are ~50/50 home/away. NFL is 8-9 home / 8-9 away out of 17 games — the tool uses 50/50 for NFL as well, which is close enough for this stage of modeling.
Away-game sourcing is a weighted average, not a game-by-game calculation. The tool uses league-wide benchmark rates for the away portion of salary: MLB 5.5%, NBA 6.5%, NFL 5.0%. These are rough blends of the road schedules a typical team faces. For a team-specific away schedule, contact a sports-financial CPA — the weighted average is a benchmark only. Actual jock tax exposure for a Yankees-vs.-Marlins trip differs from a Yankees-vs.-Angels trip by roughly 8 percentage points.
Endorsement sourcing. Off-field income is sourced to state of residence, which is a planning variable. An athlete can live in Florida while playing for the Yankees; endorsement income received while a Florida resident escapes New York's rate. New York and California audit this aggressively — actual residency requires physical-presence and domicile evidence.
Signing bonus. Bonuses paid on execution are generally sourced to state of residence at receipt (Rev. Rul. 74-108 and related authority) — provided the bonus is not conditional on future services in the team's state. The tool does not model signing-bonus timing separately in v1; it treats all salary uniformly. For a large signing bonus, this is worth explicit CPA modeling.
Deferred compensation — IRC 114 flag. Under 4 U.S.C. §114 (the federal "Bobby Bonilla rule"), retirement-plan payments and substantially-equal deferred payments meeting the 10+ year test are sourced to the state of residence when received, not the state where services were performed. The tool does not model deferred-comp planning in v1 — it flags it. Contracts with meaningful deferred structures need custom modeling.
City / local add-ons. NYC (3.876% for Yankees / Mets / Knicks / Nets home games), Philadelphia city wage tax (3.75% for Eagles / Phillies / 76ers home games), and Pittsburgh Sports & Entertainment tax are captured. Detroit and Kansas City local taxes are approximated.
2025 relocations. The Oakland Athletics play in Sacramento CA for the 2025-27 seasons ahead of the Las Vegas NV move (targeted 2028+). This tool uses Sacramento CA rates for the A's — the Vegas move is not modeled in v1.
Toronto teams excluded. Blue Jays and Raptors involve non-resident / Canada Revenue Agency treatment and foreign-athlete rules; these are excluded from v1. See a cross-border sports-tax specialist.
For the players on the field. The number this tool gives you is the state-tax differential between offers, all else equal. It is not the whole decision — team quality, coaching, family location, and career trajectory drive most contract choices. But when the sticker delta is under 15%, the after-tax delta almost certainly reverses the ranking. Run this tool before your agent walks into the negotiating room. If your CPA does not run something like it for you, get a different CPA.
RELATED · AWP + PRO SPORTS
Where the state-tax math meets the athlete's balance sheet.
This tool answers "which team offer nets the most after tax." The Institute's Athletes' Wealth Playbook and the Pro Sports case library answer everything else — endorsement structuring, career-earnings trajectory, franchise economics, and the state-tax residency playbook.
Independent editorial analysis · Educational tool, not personal tax or financial advice.
This calculator is provided by the Baratelli Institute as a Lowe v. SEC publisher-exception educational tool. State income tax rates reflect top marginal rates as of 2026 published by the respective state tax authorities. Away-game jock-tax exposure is modeled as a league-wide weighted average and does not reflect a specific team's actual road schedule. Endorsement, signing-bonus, and deferred-compensation sourcing depend on facts, contract language, and state audit posture — a qualified sports-financial CPA should verify the specifics of any real contract before an offer is signed or refused. The Corey Seager decision analysis reflects publicly reported contract terms and general state-tax mechanics; specific outcomes for any individual athlete depend on facts not in the public record. The Institute is not a registered investment adviser, tax preparer, or law firm. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any player, team, league, or agency named. All marks are the property of their respective owners.