It’s one of the toughest jobs in sports, being the “man in the middle” as they call it. NFL Referees are under the microscope more than the players at times. A referee can have an excellent game and call 99% of the plays correctly but if he gets one call wrong, it’s on the cover of every newspaper in the country.
Many fans might not know that NFL officials are not full-time employees of the league, rather they are contracted as part-timers. Still, not a bad gig to call some of the most important Football games in the country at a very reasonable salary.
In 2017-2018 the NFL had 20 percent of its league officials as full-time league employees, that program was abandoned and all the 119 NFL game officials in 2020 are once again part-timers. While the NFL does not reveal referee salaries, there is an idea of what they make based off of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the Referees Association.
How much do NFL Referees make?
According to sources, the average salary of an NFL referee, keep in mind it’s a part-time gig, is $205,000 annually in 2019. The officials received a bump in salary when the CBA was agreed upon last September. The officials also have an increased contribution from the NFL into 401(k) retirement plans. It is also important to note that this salary is only for the NFL season, referees are not paid during the offseason, so they have to stretch this salary until the start of the following season.