Technically, yes and yes. They should be paying this. Many municipalities that collect income taxes, allow for a deduction for taxes paid to another city for "days out of town." However, players wouldn't get that deduction unless they pay tax in those other cities... Either way, City of Detroit taxes should be withheld from Detroit athlete's checks to the tune of about 1.2%.

Players from other teams should be paying tax in the city as well, as that is where the income is earned. However, the burden is on the city to make a case and prove this. In these times for Detroit, the investment to figure all of this out, is not a wise allocation of such limited resources for the city. In better times, if they are trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of people, they could undertake this. I personally have a lot of clients who had this happen during the downturn. A lot of states and cities went after a our clients for what literally amounted to a few dollars worth of tax in some cases, but cost our clients a few thousand to take care of in total. I'm curious whether or not the states and cities actually got more out of it than it cost them to administrate...