The average NFL referee salary was $205,000 as of 2019, according to the most recent available public information. NFL referees receive a fixed salary per season rather than being paid on a per-game basis. Additionally, referees who are selected to officiate playoff games are eligible for a bonus, which can range from $1,500 to $5,000, depending on the playoff round they officiate.NFL referees officiate 19 games in a season on average (this includes preseason games), but are also assigned to training camps, officiating clinics and other tasks. For playoff game assignments, referees receive payments from a separate pool. NFL referees have significantly lower salaries than NFL players. As of 2024, the minimum salary for players in the NFL is $750,000. Meanwhile, the highest paid player in the NFL on an annual basis is Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who is earning $55 million per year.Referee salaries are specified in a collective bargaining agreement between the NFL referee union NFLRA and the NFL. The most recent agreement was signed in September 2019, and will remain in effect until May 2026.The exact amount NFL referees are earning currently is not public information – they are most likely earning more than $205,000 per year as of 2024. The $205,000 average NFL referee salary figure is based on information that became publicly available in 2019 and represents what NFL referees were earning in the last year of the previous collective agreement. NFL referees are now most likely earning more than $205,000 on average. In 2011, which was the last year of the previous collective agreement, referees were earning $149,000 on average. This means that they saw a 37.5% increase in pay between 2011 and 2019. No, NFL referees are not full-time employees of the NFL. This particularly interesting given that referees are full-time employees in other major American sports leagues such as the NBA, MLB and NHL. Outside of officiating, NFL referees have careers in a variety of fields – you’ll find attorneys, college professors, financial advisors, software engineers and more among the ranks of NFL officials. #NFL head referees full-time jobs, per @footballzebras:
-Brad Allen is a non-profit CEO
-Tra Blake is a software quality assurance manager
-Clete Blakeman is an attorney
-Carl Cheffers is a sales manager
-Land Clark is a chief building official
-Alan Eck is a tax manager… pic.twitter.com/uPpth8yuBxHopefully, our article provided some helpful information if you were wondering how much referees get paid in the NFL. Based on the average figures, they are making a solid six-figure salary. In addition, NFL referees are only part-time employees of the NFL, which means they can pursue other careers in the offseason.It’s important to understand that we can only know how much referees were making in a given year when a new collective bargaining agreement between the NFLRA and the NFL is being signed. So, we don’t currently know ho wmuch NFL referees are making in 2024. However, we can assume that the average salary is currently higher than the $205,000 average salary in 2019.