Coloradans love their Broncos and want to attract the best players to Denver.
Under Amendment 87, Colorado’s progressive income tax ballot measure, it would be more difficult to attract and retain good players, or at least those who also understand taxes.
Jock Tax Calculator
Jared Walczak, Senior Fellow at the Tax Foundation and founder of Walczak Policy Consulting, created a jock tax calculator for this year’s NFL that estimates how much players will pay in taxes over the regular season.
Using Broncos golden boy Bo Nix as our case study, the calculator estimates that he will pay about $94,950 in Colorado state income tax this year, an effective rate of 3.8%, which is above average for Coloradans earning over $200 thousand annually.
This assumes Nix takes the standard deduction, receives credits when playing away, and has an expected total income of $2.487 million, excluding performance incentives and postseason games.
Where things get interesting is in the comparison to other teams.
If Bo Nix played the 2026-27 season with other NFL teams, he would pay more state and local tax for 20 of them, and for the remaining 11, he would pay less.
Clearly, Colorado is currently competitive in attracting tax-conscious athletes.
Amendment 87: The Bo Nix Tax
However, if Bo Nix’s salary were already subject to the progressive tax brackets in Amendment 87 this season, things would look a lot different for Denver’s quarterback.
As Amendment 87 specifically targets high-income Coloradans like Nix, his Colorado state income tax would jump to $164,400, a 73 percent increase, assuming the same standard deduction and adjusted credits for away games.
Now, under Amendment 87, Nix would only be taxed at the state and local levels more if he played for 13 other teams, unlike the 20 as things currently stand.
States, like NFL teams, are competitive.
As NFL teams recruit top talent with nice salaries and bonuses, states attract top businesses and workers with good tax policy.
Amendment 87 would make Colorado less competitive and could make the Broncos less attractive for athletes who believe they should keep more of the money they earn.
