Super Bowl 59 refs: Who they are, how they are picked, how much they make

USA Today

09-02-2025

Super Bowl 59 refs: Who they are, how they are picked, how much they make
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Who has the better roster: Philadelphia Eagles or Kansas City Chiefs?
As these two teams get ready to square up in Super Bowl LIX, USAT's Lorenzo Reyes and Tyler Dragon discuss which team is stronger.
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The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles are set to compete against each other for Super Bowl 59, but they'll also have a common opponent as well – the referees.
It's the third team that can have the most impact on the game, especially if more flags start flying during the game than at the United Nations.
Dressed in their usual black-and-white stripes like a zebra or Foot Locker employee, referees in the NFL are judge, jury and executioner – what they say goes. That was on display in the NFC championship game when Shawn Hochuli informed the world that he could award the Eagles a touchdown if the Washington Commanders kept committing goal line penalties.
While referee criticism continues to be at an all-time high, especially with the Chiefs involved, the NFL will hope that their best can avoid any unwanted controversy like that on Super Bowl Sunday.
Here's a look at the crew with this year's Big Game.
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Who is the Super Bowl head referee?
Ron Torbert will referee Super Bowl 59. This is his second time refereeing the title game after serving as referee in Super Bowl 56 between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals.
Torbert and side judge Boris Cheek are the only officials with prior Super Bowl experience refereeing this game. Here's the remaining cast of characters that will join Torbert on Sunday evening in New Orleans:
Umpire Mike Morton
Down judge Max Causey
Line judge Mark Stewart
Field judge Mearl Robinson
Back judge Jonah Monroe
Replay official Kevin Brown
Interestingly, this will be Morton's first Super Bowl as a referee after he played seven NFL seasons with the Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams, Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts. Morton was an outside linebacker and recorded a tackle in the Rams' Super Bowl 34 victory over the Tennessee Titans.
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Torbert, who has become famous at times for losing his voice during games, refereed 18 games this season. His crew totaled the fourth-most flags per game in 2024, according to NFL penalties' database on referee crews, and tied for the third-most accepted penalties.
In Super Bowl 56, Torbert's crew called seven penalties, six of which were accepted for 41 yards.
However, fans won't have to worry about his regular crew tossing laundry all over the field in this Super Bowl. The process of determining the Super Bowl crew means that Torbert's usual colleagues won't be patrolling the gridiron with him.
Outside of the NFL, Torbert was previously employed as an attorney before leaving his law career in 2019 to be closer to his daughter and grandson. He graduated from Michigan State University in 1985 and Harvard Law School in 1988.
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How are the Super Bowl referees picked?
Think of the referee crew for the Super Bowl as the NFL's all-star game for the people wearing black-and-white striped shirts.
All season long, the league tracks the performance of each referee at every position. When the playoffs roll around, that's where the best rise to the top.
The league selects the top official from each position for the Super Bowl, forming the big game's crew. In terms of performance, this is the best the NFL has to offer this season.
However, no referee can walk in off the street, throw flags for a season and end up at arguably the biggest sporting event of the year.
Super Bowl officials have to record at least five seasons of experience, serve for three as a referee and do at least one postseason game in a previous season to qualify. For other positions on the crew, the five-season rule still applies, but they can meet the postseason criteria with one career conference championship game or three playoff-qualifying seasons in the previous five years.
Unless they meet those marks, it doesn't matter how great their grade might be.
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How much do Super Bowl referees make?
The NFL doesn't release data to the public on how much officials make, but previous reports can give us an idea.
When the league finally ended the great replacement referee debacle of 2012, details surrounding the salaries of officials finally came to light. That collective bargaining agreement included pay raises each year, with base compensation rising to $205,000 in 2019. However, that is the last known figure.
It's unclear if that figure continues to rise with cost of living and inflation over time, but the league is certainly paying their officials a living wage.
As for any Super Bowl or playoff bonuses, those figures are kept under wraps. The last reported numbers came in 2001, courtesy of the Washington Post. Officials earned $10,000 for a playoff game and $11,900 for the Super Bowl then.
The current compensation for those games remains a mystery.