COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio law that singles out professional athletes and entertainers for taxation even when they’re in the state just a few days a year is unconstitutional, say several sport leagues including the NBA, NFL and NHL who want the state Supreme Court to strike the law down.

At issue is an Ohio law that excludes entertainers or athletes from a ban on municipalities taxing people who perform services 12 or fewer days per year. The leagues say the law singles out professional athletes for less fair tax treatment and overlooks the fact that despite high salaries the athletes’ careers are relatively short.

An ex-NFL players, meanwhile, has sued over Cleveland’s interpretation of the law, saying the city unfairly imposes a 2 percent income tax based on games played in the city as a percentage of total games played.

Former Chicago Bears linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer says the city should only have taxed him based on days spent in the city compared with the length of his season, which comes out to a much lower rate.

Cleveland’s system, known as the “games-played method,” treats professional athletes as if they were paid only to play in games, Stephen Kidder, an attorney representing Hillenmeyer, said in a court filing ahead of oral arguments today before the Ohio Supreme Court. This ignores everything else NFL players are paid to do, including minicamps, training camp and practice, Kidder said.

Under the method most cities use, an NFL player who traveled to a city for two days during a 160-day season would be taxed on 1/80th of his income. But in Cleveland, a visiting football player is taxed just on the game, which amounts to five percent of his income based on a 20-game season (including exhibition games), Kidder argued.