NFL wives are often seen on the sidelines, dressed in designer outfits, cheering on their superstar husbands under stadium lights. But off the field, many of them have a surprisingly practical side gig in real estate. Becoming a realtor has quietly become one of the most popular career paths among NFL spouses.
And it’s not just about business or passion. There’s a much bigger reason behind this trend, one that has everything to do with taxes. In fact, the real estate world offers a powerful financial advantage that many NFL families strategically tap into. It’s not about selling luxury homes for fun. It’s about positioning themselves to unlock serious tax benefits.
How exactly does real estate tie into tax savings for million-dollar athletes? That’s where things get interesting and a bit complex. But once you understand the rules, it all makes sense.
Tax Benefits of Becoming Real Estate Professionals
Here’s the deal: the IRS offers a major tax advantage to those who qualify as Real Estate Professionals. This status, called Real Estate Professional Status (REPS), is a game-changer for anyone looking to reduce taxes tied to rental properties.
But it’s not just handed out. To qualify, one must spend at least 750 hours a year working in real estate, and those hours must make up more than half of your total working time. Investors need to spend over 50% of all their annual personal service (work) hours in a year and 750 hours materially participating in real property trades or businesses, including their rental activities, to qualify.
Why does it matter? Because REPS allows your real estate income and losses to be classified as non-passive. That means one can use those active losses to offset other income, like a spouse’s NFL salary, which can result in huge tax savings. And since NFL players who sign millions of dollars in contract money have to give almost half of it as taxes, they are able to save thousands, maybe millions of dollars, just through real estate.
NFL Wives and Real Estate Tax Strategy
If the NFL player is married, there’s a smart workaround. The IRS allows married couples filing jointly to benefit from Real Estate Professional Status, even if only one spouse qualifies.
That means while the player is busy grinding through practices, games, and travel, their spouse can clock the 750+ hours needed in real estate activities to meet the IRS requirements.
As such, over 90% of players are able to focus on football while their wives focus on offsetting the tax burden for them. As long as she materially participates and meets the hour thresholds, the couple can deduct real estate losses from the tax that the player is paying to the government.
This is a powerful strategy. Instead of leaving money on the table, families use this setup to unlock major tax deductions, all legally. It’s teamwork off the field, with the wife playing the financial MVP role in the household.
Ndamukong Suh: Playing in the NFL and Beating the IRS
While many NFL players rely on their spouses to qualify for Real Estate Professional Status, Ndamukong Suh did it all on his own. In a recent podcast appearance, he broke down how he balanced football with his real estate hustle:
“My last couple years here because I had football and I could understand what is it, 700 hours? Or something of that nature 750 hours. 750 hours of being able to become a real estate professional, while also being able to play football.”
He didn’t leave tax planning to chance:
“And I pressed and pressed and pressed my tax accounts.”
Suh treated real estate like a second job, tracking every call, meeting, and Zoom call between team practices and team meetings:
“In my calendar, between meetings, taking Zooms, taking calls in the morning… I won’t have to get to that 750 but I need to exceed it because I had to exceed the amount of time that I spend on the football field.”
For many NFL families, real estate isn’t just a side hustle but a strategic financial play, where the wives step off the sidelines and into the spotlight as key players in protecting and growing generational wealth. And in rare cases like Ndamukong Suh, the player takes the lead himself, mastering both the playbook and the tax code.
