Sam Darnold made $178,000 for the win and got a $249,000 state bill. Boomer Esiason says the NFLPA should pull future Super Bowls out of California
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold won Super Bowl LX in California. The NFL paid him $178,000 for the victory.
But Boomer Esiason said California’s nonresident-athlete tax formula produced a $249,000 state tax liability tied to Darnold’s time working in the state—$71,000 more than the winning-player check.
The calculation prompted the former NFL MVP to call for an NFLPA revolt against California Super Bowls.
“If I’m the NFLPA, I’m like, ‘Hey, we’re not playing any more Super Bowls in California,’ we’re just not doing it… If I’m the NFL Players Association, I’m saying, ‘We’re never going back to California.’ This is ridiculous.” — Boomer Esiason
The WFAN segment and contemporaneous reporting put the issue in plain view: California does not calculate its “jock tax” from the Super Bowl bonus alone. It applies a duty-day formula to a portion of a visiting athlete’s total compensation.
Snopes reported that the $249,000 figure reflected Darnold’s California duty days across the season, rather than a tax solely on the title-game check. A later CFO.com analysis calculated eight California duty days against his $33.5 million annual compensation at the state’s 13.3% top rate.
The Facebook post that revived Esiason’s warning comes five months before Super Bowl LXI returns to California, at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on Feb. 14, 2027.