# NFL referees earn $200k but keep their day jobs > Many of the NFL's 121 officials work full-time as lawyers, engineers and professors alongside their six-figure football careers. - Title: NFL referees earn $200k but keep their day jobs · Fortune - Summary: Many of the NFL's 121 officials work full-time as lawyers, engineers and professors alongside their six-figure football careers. NFL referees earning an… - Keywords: nfl, referees, officiating, dual careers, employment, sports business, earn, 200k, keep, day, jobs, Fortune - Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/10/16/nfl-referees-six-figure-salaries-side-gig-but-work-full-time-jobs-lawyer-engineer-professor - Author: Preston Fore - Read time: 2 min - Topics: nfl, referees, officiating, dual careers, employment, sports business ## The double life of NFL officials Many of the NFL's one hundred twenty-one officials hold full-time jobs outside football. Clete Blakeman is a personal injury attorney in Nebraska, Brad Rogers is a senior lecturer at Texas Tech University's business school, and… ## Six figures, but not a side hustle Referees earned an average of two hundred five thousand dollars a year in 2025, according to Sports Illustrated, on top of a reported ten percent increase in per-game pay in 2026. ## Objectivity across two careers Shawn Smith joined the NFL in 2015 but has spent three decades in auditing at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.He sees parallels between the roles: both require objectivity, independence and discipline in the craft. > Most folks don't want to see an auditor come and most folks don't care about refereeing. But one of the things we do is we have to be objective, we have to be independent, we have to be disciplined in our craft. ## Officiating demands a second full-time job During the season, officials spend more than thirty hours a week studying video and the rulebook. They also meet with their crews and review evaluations from supervisors, making officiating feel like a second full-time job. ## Split-second decisions versus measured choices Adrian Hill is a sixteen-year NFL officiating veteran and principal software engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. > With the NFL, you're making split decisions on the field, it goes by in a flash. On the spacecraft side, it's very different. When we make decisions, it's very measured, we weigh decisions. ## The pressure of twenty million watching Hill says he feels more pressure on the NFL field than in aerospace engineering. When the lights go on and the whistle blows, the action is live and twenty million people are watching, requiring snap… > I feel more pressure on the NFL field. When the lights go on, we blow the whistle, and the action is live. If you had a heart rate monitor, my heart rate is at the highest. ## The path to becoming an NFL official The NFL requires prospective officials to have at least ten years of football officiating experience, including at least five years at the varsity college or minor professional level. ## You can do both if you have the drive Adrian Hill says pursuing two demanding careers proves people don't have to choose just one path. With drive and determination, someone can balance professional football officiating and a full-time career in another field. > If you have that drive and determination, you can do it. Don't listen to them. You can go out and do both. ## A broader trend among high achievers NFL officials aren't alone in balancing two careers.Olympic athletes like alpine skier Keely Cashman work as baristas, while curling medalists Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin work as a lab technician and real estate agent. ## Key takeaway NFL referees earning an average of two hundred five thousand dollars a year in 2025 often maintain full-time careers in law, academia and engineering, viewing officiating as a second demanding job rather than a side hustle.