Football Officials

[Amber]

I need help! Some friends of mine and I were talking over the weekend and we were wondering what the (general) salary and benefits of a NFL referee was. If anyone could tell me what you know or think, I would greatly appreciate it!

[Zeke5]

Base game fee is $1600 + ($100 x years of service))
This is for pre-season and regular season. Each official
gets 20 games (4 pre + 16 regular). Do the math.

A playoff assignment was worth $11,000 last year (does not
depend on round or years of service). The superbowl was
worth $25,000. An official will work a maximum of 1 playoff
game and the Superbowl officials will have worked 1 playoff
game (usually wild card round).

7 officials who were on the bubble that did not get a
post season assignment get the Pro Bowl which was worth
4 days in Hawaii and a $3000 game fee (It's actually a
disapointment to get the Pro Bowl)

In retirement (with the current contract), an official can
expect to get $150 x years of service per month.

The NFL officials contract is up at the end of this
season ... let's see what happens to the stats above. Word
is that they are looking to settle for no less that twice
their current compensation. Compared to what the players,
coaches, owners are making, and take into consideration that
the league spent $10 million on instant replay, these guys
are worth every penny ...

Hope this answers your question ...

[Amber]

Thank you very much for your reply. I do appreciate it.
Amber

[john@ereferee]

Hey Zeke,

You wrote a good short piece on the NFL officials' salaries. (1) Do you know the recent history of their progress (or lack thereof), and (2) would you be interested in writing a short article for us on this (500 - 800 words) to run in eReferee? Please email me. Thanks.

John Milstead
Football Editor
eReferee.com