It's a little harder perhaps for Tim Cook to finagle his state of residency compared to a person that travels for a living. Most of these people are not paying NYC income tax. In fact, I'd be surprised if they couldn't establish residency in states without an income tax at all. This 'pro sports tax advice' site specifically and vaguely hints at controlling your state of residency. http://www.prosportstax.com/Images/Attachments/rn4b61f78e0a8...

Also worth noting the NFL has a 2:1 match up to $10k/yr. So every year you put $10k into your NFL 401k the NFL gives you $20k in tax free income.

A quick google search didn't give me a good indication of what the royalties are to low end pro athletes. I would not be surprised if the after tax on those is greater than the taxes on their traditional income.