Sorry, but you are mistaken on the AMT. The majority of athletes earning W-2 wages would not be in the AMT unless they have other sources of income from very specific sources. The AMT top tax rate is 28% and the top athlete's are paying 39.6%. The regular tax is much higher than the AMT amount.
The sad part of the AMT is it hits the people making 200K-500k which is not the original intent of the law.