Model the after-tax take-home per team, per player, per contract. An 8-tab Excel workbook — the Team Offer Comparison Model — that sources salary by service-day rules, applies state and city tax at the correct residency for each dollar type, holds federal and NIIT constant across offers, and produces a five-offer comparison that a practitioner can present to a client without hedging. Plus a 19-page methodology PDF walking the framework, the Brunson worked example ($23.94M pure state-tax delta on identical $360M contracts), the state-by-state reference, and the limitations chapter that names when to hire the specialist.
MLB · NBA · NFL · NHL · MLS. Compatible with Excel, Google Sheets, and Numbers.
Two deliverables, sized to the job. The workbook is the working model; the PDF is the reference that stands behind it. Every tab in the workbook follows the Rosenbaum-Baratelli house standard — navy header rows with white text, gold accent line below the header, cream alternating row shading, Times New Roman body, Arial labels, blue input cells for the practitioner to overwrite, gold output cells that pop the answer.
Deciding which of three offers to take to their principal. The CALCULATION tab produces a ranked after-tax comparison in ten minutes, defensible to the athlete and the family office.
Advising an athlete-client on residency, signing-bonus timing, and endorsement structure. The framework anchors the conversation with the sports CPA.
A first-cut modeling framework that reconciles against the CPA's own analysis. Speeds preparation for the client engagement letter; catches misspecification early.
Running the athlete's household economics and long-range career trajectory. The workbook plugs into standard business-management modeling.
Pressure-testing the state-tax posture of a hometown offer against a cross-country signing threat. Understanding what the athlete's advisor is running on the other side.
Assumes the reader is a professional; the toolkit is designed as the working model an athlete's advisory team uses in front of the athlete, not by the athlete alone.
Every multi-million-dollar contract decision an athlete faces deserves the counsel of a CPA who specializes in athlete tax planning. This toolkit is preparation: the working model an agent or family-office CFO uses to pressure-test a range of offers before the CPA memo lands, and to reconcile the CPA memo against a defensible arithmetic when it does.
A specialized CPA carries the second-order refinements this tool does not handle: game-by-game away-state sourcing, active-versus-passive endorsement splits, IRC §114 deferred-comp qualification, Puerto Rico Act 60 / Act 22, international residency, estate-planning integration, and the specific state-tax audit posture the athlete will face given their team's home state. The toolkit closes the gap between "the offer just landed and I have no idea what it means after tax" and "here's what I think it means, please confirm and refine." That gap is where poor decisions get made.
A shared reference framework raises the quality of the conversation between the athlete and their advisor. It does not replace that advisor. It equips both sides of the conversation to have it well.
From Chapter 3 of the methodology PDF and Tab 07 of the workbook. Two hypothetical MLB offers, identical in every respect except where the team plays. The delta the model reports is, by construction, pure state-tax arbitrage on the home half of salary. No other line item can move.
“I have nothing against Texas. I love Texas. I miss the Texas taxes.”
Jalen Brunson — NBA Finals, June 2026
The scenario: Both offers — 10 years × $36,000,000 AAV = $360,000,000 gross. Both MLB contracts, same 50/50 home / away duty-day split, same 5.5% MLB away-weighted rate. Federal rate 37% held constant. Endorsement income zero for clarity. Player domiciled where the team plays (single-residency assumption).
| Line item (per year) | Team A · zero-tax state (TX / FL / NV / TN / WA) |
Team B · California (13.3% top marginal) |
|---|---|---|
| AAV (gross) | $36,000,000 | $36,000,000 |
| Federal (37%) | ($13,320,000) | ($13,320,000) |
| Jock tax — away portion (50% × $36M × 5.5%) | ($990,000) | ($990,000) |
| Home-state tax on home portion (50% × $36M × home rate) | $0 | ($2,394,000) |
| After-tax take-home (per year) | $21,690,000 | $19,296,000 |
| Ten-year state-tax delta | $23,940,000 in Team A's favor | |
This is not an estimate, an approximation, or a directional read. It is the exact arithmetic consequence of a 13.3% state rate applied to 50% of a $36M AAV over 10 years. Change nothing else and the delta is $23.94M every time. In real practice the offers rarely arrive this cleanly matched — length differs, guarantee differs, signing-bonus timing differs, residency differs — and untangling them takes the full CALCULATION tab.
The paid toolkit sits inside a broader Pro Sports stack on the Institute. Every one of these is free.
1. What exactly does the model compute?
After-tax take-home for up to five team offers, broken out by dollar type — salary home portion, salary away portion, signing bonus, endorsement income, and (optionally) deferred comp. Federal and NIIT are held constant across offers so the delta reflects state and local exposure only. The output is ranked by after-tax take-home over the full contract life.
2. Which leagues does it cover?
MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLS. The JOCK TAX MATRIX tab holds a league-wide weighted-average away-state rate for each. TEAM PROFILES maps every franchise to its home state, home city, and rate stack.
3. Is this compatible with Google Sheets and Numbers?
Yes. All formulas use standard Excel syntax that opens cleanly in Google Sheets and Apple Numbers. Some advanced formatting (freeze panes, print titles) is Excel-native and displays best in Excel.
4. Does the workbook handle IRC §114 deferred compensation?
The workbook exposes deferred-comp inputs and allows a practitioner to model residency-sourced comp at receipt (Florida or Texas post-retirement, for example). It does not verify §114 qualification (substantially equal payments over 10-plus years, or qualified plan status). It also does not model §409A / §457A constraints. Any material deferred-comp planning should be reviewed by a sports-financial CPA and a tax attorney.
5. Does the model cover Puerto Rico Act 60 or international residency?
Not in v0.9. The Puerto Rico entry (top marginal 33%) is a placeholder for the non-Act-60 base case; athletes with real Act 60 residency should have that structured under specialized counsel. International residency (Toronto Blue Jays player domiciled in Canada, NBA player with pre-signing Australia or France exposure) requires treaty analysis outside the toolkit's scope.
6. Do purchasers get updates?
Yes. Free upgrade to v1.0 is included and delivered via the Gumroad account used at checkout. v1.0 adds the Career Earnings Trajectory Model, game-by-game away sourcing (replacing the weighted-average approximation), the Franchise Valuation Model, the Naming Rights Deal Model, and a set of one-page Practitioner Cheat Sheets.
7. Does this replace a specialized sports CPA?
No. Every multi-million-dollar contract decision deserves specialist counsel. This is preparation — the working model an agent, family-office CFO, or business manager uses to pressure-test offers before the CPA memo lands, and to reconcile the CPA memo against a defensible arithmetic when it does.
8. What's the refund policy?
30-day refund window, no questions asked. Standard Gumroad checkout. If it doesn't earn its price on the first offer you run through it, get your $99 back.
The v0.9 MVP passed a multi-reviewer committee review process inside the Institute before ship — framework review (does the source-and-apportion logic hold up?), state-rate reference review (are the top-marginal citations current?), worked-example review (does the Brunson-anchored $23.94M walk from first principles?), and voice review (does the "not a replacement for a specialist" language land at the right tone?). Each pass produced a punch list; each punch list was closed before ship. The review process is a standing part of every Baratelli toolkit and every guide.
Post-purchase feedback from practicing agents, family-office CFOs, and sports-focused CPAs feeds directly into the v1.0 build. Email philbaratelli@gmail.com with issue reports, feature requests, and worked-example corrections.
Philip A. Baratelli, CPA, MBA — Founder, Baratelli Institute. Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Three decades in operating finance and M&A (CPA since 1995, MBA). The Pro Sports Practitioner Toolkit is the Institute's first step into athlete-side and franchise-side modeling — the working model an advisor uses to arrive at the specialist-CPA conversation prepared. v1.0 (Q4 2026) extends the toolkit to career-earnings trajectories, franchise valuation, and naming-rights pressure-testing.