Getting certified to officiate higher levels will help with reaching the NFL level. The final step is to get noticed. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as getting scouted as a football official.
These scouts attend college football games in order to see who can get brought up to the big lights. Here's how much money NFL officials make working games.
Carl Cheffers is one of the longest tenured officials in the NFL. Getty Images. That may not seem like much if you consider that the average yearly salary in the U. When we take a look at the NFL referee qualifications, the league states that all officials must have at least 10 years of prior experience, with five of those years including major college games. They need to attend multiple courses and get a full grasp of the game of football and all the rules.
Then, they need to register on the state and get a certification and just go from there. Regardless of whether that ambitious number is accurate, it's the 1.
NFL officiating is a thankless job, but referees, umpires, down judges, line judges, field judges, side judges and back judges make pretty good money considering their pro football jobs are part-time gigs.
For two years from , the NFL had a program in place that made roughly 20 percent of its officiating roster full-time league employees. But that program was abandoned last year , so all NFL game officials in are part-time employees. Because all NFL referees and officials are part-time employees, they're forced into a dark period from the end of each season through mid-May.
Of course, they're essentially full-time workers during the season. Some argue the NFL making all game officials full-time paid employees would improve the quality of the league's officiating, with the theory being connected to the value of year-round training.
Others argue full-time employment is not essential because the best way to perfect the craft of NFL officiating is in-game experience. Below is everything else you need to know about how much money NFL referees and other game officials make in , plus a complete roster of this year's NFL officials and their on-field responsibilities.
The amount of money NFL referees and other game officials make is undisclosed, but we have a good idea based on the pay figures in the recently expired collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association. According to Football Zebras, the new CBA the league and the refs agreed upon last September included "a " substantial bump in game checks " and an increased contribution from the NFL into k retirement plans. Referees naturally make the most among the seven positions of on-field officials, but the rest of the pay breakdown is unknown.
The NFL in July announced its official roster of game officials for the season. The NFL typically ensures that officials don't work a game involving the same team more than twice in a season with usually at least six weeks between such games.
The league pays its officials a flat-base rate plus a payment per game. Typically, you can calculate in-season game check totals when multiplying by 16 through the year. Usually, officials take one game in a given week.
Due to team bye weeks, every squad won't have 16 contests on its work schedule, but preseason and postseason play even the opportunities. As a part-time staffer, a paycheck for each assignment added onto a base salary seems more than fair.
The NFL doesn't disclose wages for officials, but the Gazette Review 's Steven Kahn highlighted and estimated the high-end earners among officials during the season. According to Tom Gerencer of MoneyNation , the average official banks a six-figure salary in part-time work through the season. As explained above, referees stand atop the financial food chain—on average earning more than half a million dollars after a game slate. Beyond games, officials attend functions and practices to improve their in-season performances.
Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy touted the congregation between officiating crews and coaches during training camp practices:. Packers have six NFL refs here for practice the next three nights. McCarthy says the dialogue between refs, coaches and players is huge. They receive evaluations from their previous game, download video to study, and arrive at the site of the game a day early for meetings and additional film study. They also must attend a series of offseason training sessions and an annual summer convention in Dallas.
When you don't see an official on game day, he or she may attend a function to gain a better understanding of existing rules and new regulations approved every year, which justifies the base payment. For those who don't view their job as a huge contributor to overall stress, when the bosses offer overtime, it's a no-brainer. Oftentimes, you earn time-and-a-half to inflate your paycheck. The NFL adopts a similar bonus payout structure for its officials, per Kahn: "Referees also receive large bonuses for officiating postseason games, which are more than double their per-game pay.
0コメント