After learning Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold lost money by playing the Super Bowl in California, Boomer Esiason believes NFL players should refuse to play the game there in future seasons.<\/p>\n
Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl winning quarterback, but not without a cost. Due to the \u201cjock tax\u201d and state-income tax rate in California, paired with the somewhat nominal payouts made to Super Bowl players, Darnold and other high-paid athletes will end up receiving a higher tax bill than game check. \u00a0The \u201cjock tax\u201d taxes non-resident athletes and entertainers based on \u201cduty days\u201d spent working in the state, which for the Super Bowl, is a longer period of time than it would be for a regular season game. Additionally, the tax rate is based on a player\u2019s salary, not the amount they will be making from the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
For Darnold, winning the Super Bowl earned him $178,000. But according<\/a> to Esiason, Darnold\u2019s tax bill for spending nearly a week working in the state amounts to $249,000 because it factors his regular salary. So, for winning the Super Bowl in the state of California, Darnold lost $71,000.<\/p>\n Sam Darnold lost money on Sunday?? Boomer says the NFLPA should shut down any future Super Bowls in California: pic.twitter.com\/3Rki5K6HT4<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) February 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNow if I\u2019m the NFLPA, now you got to remember, it\u2019s probably even more than that, because since he\u2019s in Seattle, he\u2019s playing against San Francisco 49ers, so, that\u2019s another day he\u2019s there. And he\u2019s playing against the LA Rams, that\u2019s another day he\u2019s there,\u201d Esiason added.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, he\u2019s probably had like nine or 10 duty days or maybe even more than that in the state of California. So, if I\u2019m the NFLPA, I\u2019m like, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re not playing any more Super Bowls in California,\u2019 we\u2019re just not doing it\u2026If I\u2019m the NFL Players Association, I\u2019m saying, \u2018we\u2019re never going back to California<\/a>.\u2019 This is ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n Except they\u2019ll be going back to California next season, when Super Bowl LXI is played in Los Angeles. It\u2019s hard to expect the common fan to feel bad about any athlete making hundreds of millions of dollars having to pay a jock tax. And obviously, Darnold will find other ways of profiting off his Super Bowl win throughout the rest of his career and beyond, so he probably isn\u2019t sweating the bill as much as Boomer Esiason appears to be. But it is a little jarring to learn Darnold will be left with a hefty $249,000 tax bill for his week spent at the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n California is not alone, however, with most states and even cities hitting non-resident professional athletes with a jock tax. California\u2019s tax rate is just the highest. But if the NFLPA is going to bar California from hosting the Super Bowl, there is a long list of states and cities that should be included. Although most NFL players and even media probably wouldn\u2019t mind if Miami became the permanent host of the Super Bowl by default.<\/p>\n \t