{"id":30224,"date":"2022-01-04T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/?p=30224"},"modified":"2024-04-08T04:58:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T09:58:26","slug":"basketball-officials-salaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Do Basketball Officials Make?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NBA<\/a> referees are arguably the best officials in the world, but their pay pales in comparison to that of top-flight pro players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where elite NBA players can make up to $50 million annually, pro basketball<\/a> officials are estimated to earn between $200,000-550,000 per year, plus travel reimbursements and a courtside seat for games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But getting to the NBA is hard as there are\nthousands of basketball referees across North America and across the planet, so\nthe chances of ever reaching the top end of the salary bracket are slim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the big leagues to lower levels, here\u2019s a\nbreakdown of how basketball officials are compensated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBig Leagues <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are about 80 on-court officials in the\nNBA, and as many as three work each of the 1,230 regular-season games and\nplayoffs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lead official is the crew chief, and he or\nshe is joined by two umpires that keep control of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veteran NBA crew chiefs make upwards of\n$550,000 per year<\/strong> \u2014 paid out to about $7,000 per game<\/strong> over about 80\ngames per regular season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best of the best earn playoff assignments,\nwhich could net them an additional $9,000 per game<\/strong>, and if they are\nchosen for NBA Finals games that pay could jump by threefolds<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less experienced NBA umpires can still make\nsix figures but more like $3,000 per game<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These officials still receive first-class\ntravel arrangements, hotel reimbursements and per diem. Plus they still get to be\non the floor for NBA games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials have been covered by a union, the\nNBA Referees Association (NBRA), since 1973. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, the union expanded to cover officials\nof the NBA G League and WNBA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WNBA officials make about $500 per game and\nnearly $200,000 per season<\/strong>. G League officials make less than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NBA also relies on replay, which means it\nneeds officials at its video operations room in Secaucus, New Jersey each\nnight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those operators make about $21 per hour, according to Glassdoor<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

College<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The NBA is the majors, but where do the pros pull their talent from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

College, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials of college games are not covered by unions but still can make more than six figures \u2014 around $2,500 per game<\/strong> in major conferences like the Big East, Big Ten or Big XII \u2014 according to Sapling<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though college basketball plays far fewer\ngames than the pros do, which means the earning potential is less in college\neven though the per-game cost can be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The median income for a college basketball\nofficial is about $36,000<\/strong>, with food and travel expenses reimbursed, which\nis a nice income supplement for those who officiate college or professional\nfootball games in the fall \u2014 former NFL referee and current CBS commentator\nGene Steratore and current NFL official Bill Vinovich each have officiated\ncollege basketball games during their offseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who are chosen to officiate NCAA\nTournament games can make $1,000 per game<\/strong> more, or $2,000 per game<\/strong>\nif they reach the Final Four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower\nLevels<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are thousands of girls\u2019 and boys\u2019\nbasketball games played every day, including high school, AAU, youth and even\nadult men\u2019s leagues. These games need officials too as tempers flare up and the\nsport doesn\u2019t police itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For high school games the pay is less, but\nstill can be lucrative, particularly as a side job on nights and weekends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials for AAU games<\/a> can make $70 apiece. High-end high school refs can make between $40-$60 per game<\/strong>, according to Dunkorthree.com<\/a>, and on weekends could officiate two or more games per day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth referees can make a little less than\nhigh-school refs, roughly $30 per game<\/strong>, but again can work multiple\ngames per day to boost their earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now you know how much basketball officials make, why not find out how much NHL referees make<\/a> too?<\/em> Or expand your basketball knowledge with our guide on basketball periods<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NBA referees are arguably the best officials in the world, but their pay pales in comparison to that of top-flight …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":30227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Much Do NBA Refs Make? \u2013 Basketball Officials' Salaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NBA Referees Salary - Find out how much money NBA refs and officials make per year and per game, as well as in college and lower levels too.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Much Do Basketball Officials Make?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Find out how much money NBA refs and officials make per year and per game, as well as in college and lower levels too.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-04T23:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-08T09:58:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/basketball-officials.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pat Pickens\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Pat_Pickens\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pat Pickens\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Pat Pickens\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/26a03ed40269d1c663dacc6606249ded\"},\"headline\":\"How Much Do Basketball Officials Make?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-04T23:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-08T09:58:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/\"},\"wordCount\":634,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/basketball-officials.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/basketball-officials-salaries\/\",\"name\":\"How Much Do NBA Refs Make? 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