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How much do big ten basketball officials make
How Much Do NCAA Referees Make? (Quick Answer)
Referees are a huge part of sports. While their main objective is to regulate the game, the ref’s goal is to go relatively unnoticed in their efforts to control the pace and rules of the game. We all know, however, that sometimes they have to make tough calls that could swing the game one way or the other.
For all of that responsibility, including staying in shape in order to keep up with these world-class athletes, they must be compensated pretty nicely right?
An NCAA basketball referee is compensated pretty nicely for their efforts, although the pay range for every working official varies between $10,000 to over $200,000 per season.
Why are the salaries so different, and what does their schedule look like to get such a hefty salary? We will cover all of that and more below.
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Breaking Down Referee Schedules
An interesting aside on the referee lifestyle is that most of them have a full-time job on top of their officiating gigs.![]()
In a world where sports is everything, it is worthy of reminding yourself that these guys (and gals) usually come from another job to make some of the most crucial calls during a college basketball season.
Sports Illustrated did a piece on legendary referee John Higgins and his enormous workload. At one point during the season, Higgins traveled 4,800 miles in three days while reffing three different games! In the piece, Higgins called himself a “professional traveler” and joked that the games he refs was the easy part of his job. Oh yeah, Higgins owns and operates two businesses on top of reffing.
In a roughly 5-month NCAA basketball season, most refs officiate between 70-100 games. That breaks down into up to 20 games per month! Referees make their own schedules meaning they can officiate as many (to an extent) or as few contests that they want. The only catch is that if you turn games down, you may get called less to officiate.
This makes referees independent contractors which means no benefits from the NCAA.
If they hurt themselves or have to take time off from the sport, they are not compensated in any way. No pensions and definitely no health coverage if they go down on the job. Most referees use their full-time jobs as methods of retirement and health insurance and roll the dice out on the court.
Referee Pay Breakdown
While the top-tier refs make up to $2,000 for a regular-season game, their counterparts in the smaller conferences aren’t so lucky. The average salary for NCAA refs across the board is only $33,000, before taxes. It seems like a lot of hassle for that amount of money, but many in the business simply love it enough to make the sacrifices.
Referees in a small conference can still make up to $50,000 doing a better side gig than washing cars or delivering pizzas. Also, just because they aren’t playing or coaching, being assigned to a big game is a rush for the officials too.
Power conference refs – those in the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big 12, Pac 12, and Big 10 – can pull in up to $2,000 per game and free travel and hotel expenses.
Their jobs are higher profile which leads to more scrutiny on the media and fans’ parts, but big time refs can’t complain about the pay.
If you are lucky enough to be selected to ref in the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament, you will get around $1,000 per game. NCAA Regional games will get you $1,400 a game and Final Four contests are worth about $2,000.
How Much Do Other Refs Make?
NCAA Football
NCAA basketball is the second most popular college sport behind football, so you might be wondering how much their refs make. It is no secret the millions of dollars college football brings in each year, so even though their season is one third of an NCAA basketball season, the referees still do very well.
The averages are fairly similar, albeit the college football officials workload is significantly less. College football refs make between $11,000 and $300,000 per year. Newer officials in the power conferences can take home around $800 per game. Their travel and expenses are usually covered as well.
NBA Referees
The life of an NBA ref is much different than a college hoops official.
Reffing at the professional level is a full-time seven-month out of the year job. With 82-game seasons for all 30 NBA teams, not including preseason and the playoffs, an NBA referee could be on the road up to 25 days a month. You may be thinking, “I’ll take a seven month a year job!” The NBA schedule, however, is no joke and can take a huge toll on a referee’s body.
Luckily they are compensated nicely.
An entry-level NBA official makes $600 per game and can bring home around $250,000 a year. Once you move up, your pay increases. Senior officials can make up to a half-million dollars a year! You also get ranking bonuses as a ref, based on your performances throughout the year. Essentially, if you are good at your job, you get paid more on top of your per-game salary. Read more from our NBA refs salary article.
Also Read: How to Become an NBA Referee in 9 Steps
Below are some other referee salary numbers in case you are curious:
- Major League Baseball umpires: Approximately $300,000/year
- NFL referees: Approximately $205,000/year
- NHL referees: Approximately $275,000/year
Final Thoughts
While being a referee has plenty of drawbacks – the scrutiny and harassment you can get on a nightly basis jumps out first – you are being compensated quite nicely for your troubles.
By design, referees are behind the scenes as much as possible. It makes what they do a mystery, especially in NCAA basketball. They seem to just show up out of nowhere, officiate the game, and then disappear as fast as they came. No publicity, no pre and post-game press conferences. Nothing. Hopefully you learn a bit more about their schedules and salary from this piece.
Have you ever known a big-time college or professional referee? What did they have to say about their schedules and pay? Let us know in the comments section below!
How Much Do NBA Refs Make? – Basketball Officials' Salaries
NBA referees are arguably the best officials in the world, but their pay pales in comparison to that of top-flight pro players.
Where elite NBA players can make up to $50 million annually, pro basketball officials are estimated to earn between $200,000-550,000 per year, plus travel reimbursements and a courtside seat for games.
But getting to the NBA is hard as there are thousands of basketball referees across North America and across the planet, so the chances of ever reaching the top end of the salary bracket are slim.
From the big leagues to lower levels, here’s a breakdown of how basketball officials are compensated.
The Big Leagues There are about 80 on-court officials in the NBA, and as many as three work each of the 1,230 regular-season games and playoffs.
The lead official is the crew chief, and he or she is joined by two umpires that keep control of the game.
Veteran NBA crew chiefs make upwards of $550,000 per year — paid out to about $7,000 per game over about 80 games per regular season.
The best of the best earn playoff assignments, which could net them an additional $9,000 per game, and if they are chosen for NBA Finals games that pay could jump by threefolds.
Less experienced NBA umpires can still make six figures but more like $3,000 per game.
These officials still receive first-class travel arrangements, hotel reimbursements and per diem.
Plus they still get to be on the floor for NBA games.
Officials have been covered by a union, the NBA Referees Association (NBRA), since 1973.
In 2017, the union expanded to cover officials of the NBA G League and WNBA.
WNBA officials make about $500 per game and nearly $200,000 per season. G League officials make less than that.
The NBA also relies on replay, which means it needs officials at its video operations room in Secaucus, New Jersey each night.
Those operators make about $21 per hour, according to Glassdoor.
College The NBA is the majors, but where do the pros pull their talent from?
College, of course.
Officials of college games are not covered by unions but still can make more than six figures — around $2,500 per game in major conferences like the Big East, Big Ten or Big XII — according to Sapling.
Though college basketball plays far fewer games than the pros do, which means the earning potential is less in college even though the per-game cost can be more.
The median income for a college basketball official is about $36,000, with food and travel expenses reimbursed, which is a nice income supplement for those who officiate college or professional football games in the fall — former NFL referee and current CBS commentator Gene Steratore and current NFL official Bill Vinovich each have officiated college basketball games during their offseason.
Those who are chosen to officiate NCAA Tournament games can make $1,000 per game more, or $2,000 per game if they reach the Final Four.
Lower Levels There are thousands of girls’ and boys’ basketball games played every day, including high school, AAU, youth and even adult men’s leagues. These games need officials too as tempers flare up and the sport doesn’t police itself.
For high school games the pay is less, but still can be lucrative, particularly as a side job on nights and weekends.
Officials for AAU games can make $70 apiece.
High-end high school refs can make between $40-$60 per game, according to Dunkorthree.com, and on weekends could officiate two or more games per day
Youth referees can make a little less than high-school refs, roughly $30 per game, but again can work multiple games per day to boost their earnings.
So now you know how much basketball officials make, why not find out how much NHL referees make too?
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How much do NBA stars earn? Salary rating-2019 - Blogg on the floor - Blogs
We count other people's millions.
Many people know that the NBA has a salary cap. It is set at $109.14 million for the 2019/20 season.
But not everyone knows that the salary cap is directly tied to the league's income. And with it - the salaries of all players. Basketball players make millions of dollars because the NBA makes billions of dollars.
8.2 billion, to be exact - that's how much the NBA expects to receive in the coming season in the form of "Basketball-related income" (BRI, basketball-related income).
This BRI includes only $400-500 million converted from yuan, so don't worry: even a complete break in relations with China won't take more than five or six percent off the BRI.
Under the 2017 Collective Agreement between the league and the players union, 50%* of BRI goes to players in the form of salaries.
* - actually not, but in order not to load the text with nuances, I will explain them in the comments.
There are 510 jobs in the league - each of the 30 teams can apply for 17 people.
51 NBA players - exactly 10% - will receive at least $20 million next season **.
** - and again I suggest going to the comments for those who want abstruseness.
The “Gini coefficient” and other indicators of financial inequality in the NBA as in a single economy look better than the global ones: if in the real world the richest 10% own 75-85% of all wealth (in the USA - 70-75% according to various estimates ), then in the NBA, the top 10% earn only 35% of all salaries.
But even this 35% is more than one and a half billion dollars. Or, in other words, 1,655 NBA rookie minimum contracts.
Let's look at how this one and a half billion is distributed. For a round number, we will limit ourselves to the top 50 earning more than 20 million; The 51st player in the ranking with a salary of exactly 20 million is Indiana guard Malcolm Brogdon. If you go to the basketball section less than once a week, then most likely you don’t even know who it is. And he earns more than Aguero, James, Neuer or any Serie A player except Cristiano.
Who is not in this part of the rating? For example, Philadelphia's rising star Ben Simmons, who signed a five-year, $170 million contract this summer that won't take effect until a year later, is now playing on a "modest" $8 million rookie salary.
For the same reason, Utah leader Donovan Mitchell, Dallas' delightful Luka Doncic, or intimidating rookie Zion Williamson are not yet on the NBA's Most Valuable Players list.
All of them still earn a fixed salary (depending on the number under which the player was taken in the draft), for which they need to play 4 seasons before claiming a luxurious life.
Who is in this part of the rating? Giannis. The current NBA MVP - and the future, according to some forecasts, too.
Greek-Frick did not make the top 40 for a number of reasons, the main of which is that the NBA does not revise existing contracts (with some exceptions that are so rare that they do not even deserve an asterisk and a footnote in the commentary). Antetokounmpo signed his contract back in 2016, by that time the Greek had never played in the All-Star Game, averaging 17 points and playing as the main point guard of the very weak Bucks (49losses in a season).
And Giannis, not so long ago a beggar teenager who sold souvenirs on the streets of Athens and ran in patched sneakers, was so grateful that Milwaukee believed in him that he did not insist on either a maximum contract or even a player option in the last year contract.
He was told that he would receive $100 million, and he was stunned by this amount - and it does not matter that at the same time as him, Stephen Adams also signed for exactly the same contract, whom Oklahoma renewed only in a panic from losing Durant.
All in all, Antetokounmpo did great humanly but naively economically three years ago: Giannis has already lost $33 million by waiving his maximum wage and has also pushed back his possible free agency entry from 2020 to 2021.
That's why next year he will be so low in the rankings again. But then - hello to the biggest contract in the history of the NBA.
There are now only 32 people in the NBA with maximum contracts of (this number does not include DeRozan, whose salary was maximum only in the first two years of the contract, Horford and Love, who played at maximum levels a year ago, Vucevic, and Millsap and Middleton from the next group).
At the same time, almost everyone has different salaries.
How did it happen?
To answer this question, needs to understand how maximum contracts are formed .
Maximum contracts come in three levels depending on the player's experience:
- up to 6 league seasons - 25% of ceiling;
- 7-9 seasons - 30%;
- and more 10 - 35%
A player can jump up one category by becoming MVP, NBA Defensive Player of the Year or making the All-Star Team of the Season. At the same time, all these 25, 30 and 35% form only the salary in the first season. For example, now 25% of the ceiling is the salary of Russell, Porzingis, Booker, Townes. The first two signed a contract this summer, and the last two lasted a year ago, just their agreements implied entry into force in 2019-m.
And then everything changes: Russell, who signed a contract with a new team, Golden State after Brooklyn, will have an annual increase of 5%. Towns, who lasted with Minnesota, has 8%. And next year their salaries will be different.
Other players signed maximum wages in other years when there was a different salary cap. Anthony Davis received 25% of the ceiling in 2016 (he could have received 30%, but he got injured in the key season 15/16 and did not make the team of the season). Then, when he moved to the Lakers, he voluntarily forfeited a trading bonus so the Los Angelesers could sign a third star this summer.
Voiceover: They couldn't.
So it turned out that Davis and three other maximum speeds in 2016 are not included in the top 30, since they are slightly behind the maximum contracts concluded later, in 2017-2019 - the growth rate of the ceiling and, consequently, the new maximum speeds were higher than the increase in their contracts .
Six people signed a new contract this year with a starting salary of 30% of the ceiling. And they are all different:
The strangest one is with Kyrie Irving: 1 million allocated to 8 bonuses, for which he needs to play in 70 games, hit 88.
5% of free throws in a season, lose the ball no more than 2.4 times per game and so on. He did not achieve all this a year ago, and bonuses are not yet taken into account in his salary.
Tobias Harris will receive the maximum in the first year of his contract only, and will receive a total of 10 million less in the remaining seasons.
Clay Thompson signed up for 5 years.
Kemba Walker and Jimmy Butler - for 4 years, the only difference is a possible trading bonus in Kemba's contract.
Kawhi signed up for 3. And the third year is a player option, so he should be a free agent again in 2021.
Yes, it's strange to see Kawhi Leonard outside the top 10 - but he chose this path himself (as the last NBA finals showed - he did the right thing). If the forward did not change teams, but remained in San Antonio, then this season his salary would be the same as that of Harden or Durant. But he has a different financial mechanism turned on: better conditions for winning the championship + a large market for new advertising contracts = the opportunity to get much more than the extra 5-6 million a year in the club salary.
Did you really think there was no calculator built into Kawhi's operating system?
P.S. Interestingly, in the top 20 - only Americans, this has not happened since the implementation of the salary cap in 1984! A new generation of super-foreigners, constrained by the financial rules of the NBA, has not yet reached the old American star guard.
King James always wants to be at the top of the list. But he was the most expensive NBA player only once : in the 2016/17 season. Before that, the Miami discount to team up with Wade and Bosch, the move back to Cleveland on a one-year contract, the technical impossibility of reaching Kobe's maximum salary. And then Curry, who has been playing in one club all his career, took the lead - after all, the NBA salary rules reward those stars who do not change clubs: they get a slightly higher maximum salary, a little longer, a little earlier.
But LeBron was always pissed off about the concept of a maximum salary.
Why should workers be capped by some sort of salary cap? Why can't he earn in the NBA as much as she earns on him? According to various statistical metrics, the benefit of LeBron in his peak years should have been paid by a contract of 70-80 million a year 2003, with a completely different salary cap.
Even now, LeBron James's salary would be much more than 37.4 million if there were no artificial restrictions in the NBA. Reference point? Let's take Cristiano Ronaldo. Similar age, status, achievements, popularity, the situation with the transition to another club, even advertising contracts they have about the same level of income. Ronaldo earns about 64 million a year from Juventus before taxes; LeBron, it turns out, almost half as much.
Nevertheless, LeBron will still be the first - in terms of total career earnings . In the upcoming season, he (307 million) will overtake Shaquille (286 million) and will be second only to Kobe Bryant (323 million) and Kevin Garnett (334 million), whom he will overtake in 2021.
LeBron will earn almost $400 million in the NBA by the end of his career - and even more from advertising contracts. The dream of becoming a billionaire is getting closer.
Fans often demand strict logic in issuing maximum contracts. That they should only be given to MVPs or champions, that clubs shouldn't give big contracts to non-All-Star players, that only five/two/ten people/one LeBron/all 510 NBA players are eligible for the top salary.
Actually there is no logic.
The maximum contract, even the largest possible one (35% of the ceiling), can be obtained for real services to the club, like Harden - and still there will be people who consider his salary too high.
You can - for previous achievements. Kevin Durant will make over $38 million in a season without a game for Brooklyn due to a Achilles tear, but the Nets believe he can return to his former superstar level and add championship experience to the team.
Or you can - for vague promises to become a top player in the NBA, as was the case with John Wall.
He sparkled in the second half of the 2016/17 season and made it to the NBA's third All-Star Five, which qualified him for a Supermax contract extension. And "Washington" then gave him this 170 million extension for 4 years, which is effective now.
Since signing, Wall has never played more than 50% of his season and, like Durant, will miss the 2019 season/20 whole. But in 2017, he was a rising star, soon to be the best defenseman in the conference, and was priced into a super max contract...
Or just the Washingtons. A team that hasn't played in an Eastern final for 40 years.
Westbrook and Paul are united not only by the fact that they were traded for each other in July, but also that since 2018 they have an identical salary. They were extended through different mechanisms, but came to the same numbers (although Westbrook has a contract for a year longer).
Why are their salaries higher than the Durant-Harden Wall trio? Again, remember that the maximum salary depends on the ceiling, which grows unevenly .
The annual salary increase is 8%, while the salary cap has increased by only 7.14% in the last year.
Contracts in the NBA, as already mentioned, are not reviewed - neither as a result of negotiations between the parties, nor by any automatic rules, so in a year Westbrook and Paul are entitled to 41 million, in two - 44 million each. And this figure will not change, even if all countries, including the United States, follow the example of China, turn their backs on the NBA, and the salary cap falls from 109million dollars to 109 million cents.
Next year, Durant, Harden, Wall, Paul and Westbrook will break the $40 million salary bar with their supermaxes. But they won't be the first.
Steph Curry won his first MVP and first title, being fourth in salary on his team, and 53rd in the league behind JaVale McGee, Larry Sanders and Andrea Bargnani.
Second MVP - fifth salary with the Warriors and 61st in the NBA, behind Amir Johnson, Demarre Carroll and Brandon Knight.
Second title - Curry is the 82nd highest paid in the NBA, and it's too long to list role players earning more. At the time, Curry's salary of $12 million was closer to the minimum (1.3 million) than the maximum (26.5 million).
Just before the third title, Stef was given the contract he deserved. The largest in history at that time - 201.2 million dollars.
The third season of this contract breaks the historic mark of $40 million. However, taking into account inflation, this is not a record, but only the third most expensive indicator.
Jordan has the first two, of course. His 30 million in 96/97 would be $49 million in today's dollars, and his 33 million in 97/98 would be $54 million.
more than the entire salary cap), we may never see again.
* * *
You can complain that your parents forgot to send you to the basketball section or fed you little carrots, cottage cheese and oatmeal, in the comments.
Photo: globallookpress.
com/TPG/ZUMAPRESS.com, /Naoki Morita/AFLO; Gettyimages.ru/Sean M. Haffey, /Ezra Shaw, /Al Bello
How much players earn in different leagues. Europrobasket study
The Europrobasket academy has released a comprehensive study on how much money foreigners earn in the top European championships. "Interception" carefully translated everything.
Important:
1) the amounts are in dollars, not in euros, as usual;
2) believe it or not, it's up to you, but the authors of the work say that in the process of preparation they talked with many agents, coaches and team members.
Average salary in Europe:
Spain. The strongest teams play in the ACB League, many Spanish clubs play in European competitions. Accordingly, there are the best salaries, and the budgets of Real Madrid and Barcelona exceed $40 million. On average, players in Spain make from 250 to 500 thousand per season, but there are exceptions: for example, Nikola Mirotic with his $ 4 million a year or Sergio Yull, Walter Tavares, Corey Higgins - they all earn about $ 2 million.
Turkey. Two teams from the Turkish championship play in the Euroleague, several more clubs in the Eurocup and the Champions League. The country has some of the highest salaries and almost half of the clubs have budgets in excess of $10 million. Leaders can get big money, for example: Shane Larkin - $ 3.7 million, Nando de Colo - 2.4 million, Jan Vesely - 2.2 million. At the same time, on average, foreigners earn 250-500 thousand in the league.
Russia. Some of the highest paid players in Europe play here. For example, Alexei Shved ($4 million last season, this amount may differ), Mike James and Nikola Milutinov (2.5 million each). But the average salary in the United League is about 200-450 thousand dollars per year.
Italy. Few people expected this country to be so high in the ranking, but elite basketball players also play in the Italian championship. For example, Milan defender Sergio Rodriguez, who receives about $ 2 million, is the highest paid player this season.
On average, the salaries of foreigners in Serie A range from 180 to 350 thousand dollars.
Germany. The German economy is the fourth largest in the world, so it's not surprising to see the Bundesliga in this ranking. Four championship teams at once have more than $10 million for the season, and the budget of one of them, Bayern, is as much as $25 million. 1 million
Greece. The economic crisis has played a role in the amounts that foreigners earn in this country. But the Greek league is played by top basketball players, and three teams have budgets over $10 million (including Olympiakos, which plays in the second division). The average salary here is from 150 to 250 thousand, although Nick Calathes received 2.25 million in Pao last season, and Kostas Sloukas is now in Olya - 1.8 million.
Israel. Teams from here do not shine in Europe, and the money here is much lower. The exception is Maccabi, whose budget is $26.5 million, and point guard Scotty Wilbekin earns $1.
7 million. But this is not the norm, but the norm - from 80 to 250 thousand dollars.
France. Only two teams from here have a budget of more than $10 million, but this is one of the most reliable countries in terms of payments - contracts are guaranteed by the French government. Interestingly, only 30% of clubs' budgets go towards paying players, while in the rest of Europe these expenses account for more than half of club budgets. On average, foreigners here earn from 80 to 200 thousand dollars a season. Two years ago, the highest paid ASVEL player was AJ Slaughter with a salary of 300 thousand.
Average salaries in Asia:
China. The CBA is considered one of the richest leagues in the world, and most importantly, it is watched by more than 500 million people. This means that you can just come, play and build a business.
Stephon Marbury did just that: in six years with the Beijing Ducks, he earned $12 million and became such a star that a statue of him was erected in front of the former team's arena.
He went into coaching before starting his own company and selling basketball shoes to kids who can't afford branded shoes. Bliss? Bliss. Legend and forever secured.
The average salary of a foreigner in the Chinese championship is from 1 to 3 million dollars. That is, 4-6 times higher than in the most wasteful country in Europe - Spain. Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas, Steve Francis, Ron Artest received so much in China. But there are exceptions, for example, Lance Stevenson, who is paid 4 million by the Liaoning Flying Leopards. .
The difficulty is that teams are allowed to have only two foreign players. But there are 19 clubs in the CBA, so they're really spending a lot.
South Korea. The rules of the local championship provide for a limit on foreign players - there can be no more than two of them in each team. If there are two foreigners in the club, then the ceiling of their total salary is set at the level of 700 thousand dollars, and if there is one, then by 500 thousand.
On average, a legionnaire in KBL receives 250-400 thousand dollars, which puts the Korean championship on the same level with Spain, Turkey and Russia in this indicator.
But this is official information. A whole scattering of Europrobasket sources indicates that, together with bonuses, salaries here can reach up to 800 thousand dollars, which means that only China pays more.
However, remember that if you want to play in Korea, then get ready for 3-4 practices a day.
Japan. In 2016, two leagues were united here, and now the championship is flourishing. First of all, this concerns salaries: the local players in the season before last received an average of 147 thousand dollars, the players of the Japanese national team - about 417 thousand. Today, the highest paid Japanese - Yuki Togashi - earns $ 1 million.
Legionnaires in Japan receive an average of 120 to 300 thousand dollars. Life in this country is expensive, but teams tend to take care of all the expenses of their basketball players.
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