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How much do division 1 basketball referees make
How much do division 1 basketball referees make
More NCAA leagues to pay women’s basketball referees equally
The NCAA earned praise last year when it agreed to pay referees at its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments equally. The gesture only cost about $100,000, a tiny fraction of the roughly $900 million networks pay annually to broadcast March Madness.
Now, as the NCAA examines various disparities across men's and women's sports, pressure is rising to also pay referees equally during the regular season. Two Division 1 conferences told The Associated Press they plan to equalize pay, and another is considering it. Others are resisting change, even though the impact on their budgets would be negligible.
“The ones that are (equalizing pay) are reading the writing on the wall,” said Michael Lewis, a marketing professor at Emory University's Goizueta Business School.
The details of NCAA referee pay are closely guarded, but The Associated Press obtained data for the 2021-22 season that show 15 of the NCAA’s largest — and most profitable — conferences paid veteran referees for men's basketball an average of 22 percent more per game.![]()
That level of disparity is wider than the gender pay gap across the U.S. economy, where women earn 82 cents for every dollar a man earns, according to the 2020 census. And it is an overwhelming disadvantage for women, who make up less than 1 percent of the referees officiating men’s games.
Dawn Staley, the head coach for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks — the women’s national champions — said referees on the men's side should be “stepping up” and advocating for equal pay for women's referees. “They don't do anything different," she said. “Why should our officials get paid less for taking the (expletive) we give them?"
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The people who provided AP with data for nearly half of the NCAA’s 32 Division I conferences have direct knowledge of pay scales, and they did so on condition of anonymity because the information is considered private.
The Northeast Conference had the widest per-game pay disparity among the NCAA leagues AP analyzed, with the most experienced referees for men's games earning 48 percent more. The Atlantic-10 paid veteran men's refs 44 percent more, while the Colonial Athletic Association paid them 38% more. (Only the Ivy League paid veteran officials equally in the data AP reviewed.)
Of the conferences with unequal pay contacted by AP, two — the Pac-12 and the Northeast Conference — said they plan to level the playing field starting next season. A third, the Patriot League, which had a 33 percent pay gap last year, said it is reviewing equity for officials in all sports. “Pay is part of that,” commissioner Jennifer Heppel said.
The Pac-12 paid referees equally a decade ago, but allowed a disparity to build over time, according to associate commissioner Teresa Gould. She said returning to equal pay is “the right thing to do.”
NEC commissioner Noreen Morris said the decision to equalize pay was an easy one to make once it realized that basketball was the only sport where it was not compensating referees equally.
Relative to the amounts of money these leagues generate, the cost of bridging the pay gap can seem small.
For example, the SEC paid referees for men’s games 10 percent, or $350, more than those officiating women’s games. Over the course of a season, it would cost the SEC a couple hundred thousand dollars to pay them equally — a sliver of the $3 billion deal it signed with ESPN to broadcast all of its sports starting in 2024.
The most experienced Division 1 referees — for men's or women's games — are well paid. Some earn more than $150,000 in a season, officiating dozens of games across multiple conferences. Newer referees earn far less, supplementing income from another job.
All NCAA referees are independent contractors, with no union representing their interests, and all have to cover their own travel expenses.
The busiest referees can work five or six games a week in different cities, running up and down the court for 40 minutes one night, getting a few hours of sleep, and then waking up at 4 a.
m. to catch a flight to their next destination.
Dee Kantner, a veteran referee of women’s games who works for multiple conferences, finds it frustrating to have to justify equal pay.
“If I buy an airline ticket and tell them I’m doing a women’s basketball game they aren’t going to charge me less,” she said.
“Do you value women’s basketball that much less?” Kantner said. “How are we rationalizing this still?”
Several conference commissioners said the men’s and women’s games do not generate equal amounts of revenue, and that the level of play is not equal, and so referee salaries are set accordingly.
“Historically we have treated each referee pool as a separate market,” said Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman. “We paid rates that allow us to be competitive for services at our level. I think the leagues are entitled to look at different factors here. I don’t see it as an equity issue — I see it as a market issue.”
The Big East pays referees working its men's games 22 percent more, and Ackerman said there is no imminent plan to make a change.
Atlantic-10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade said the market-based approach is what enables her to offer some of the highest per-game rates across the NCAA. “We get the most experienced, most qualified officials in the country,” she said.
Veteran referees officiating in the Atlantic-10 are paid $3,300 for men’s games, compared with $2,300 for women’s games, according to data reviewed by AP. Seven other conferences had higher per-game rates — and narrower gender gaps — last year, the data show.
Of the roughly 800 referees officiating women's basketball this past season, 43% were female, a proportion that’s been relatively consistent over the past decade. But just six women officiated men’s games last year — a number that has slowly grown over the last few years.
Penny Davis, the NCAA’s supervisor of officials, said conferences are trying to recruit more women to officiate men's games, which is another way to help bridge the gender pay gap.
But Davis says she would hate to see even fewer women refereeing women's basketball.
“We don't want to lose our best and brightest,” she said.
A decade ago, referees working the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament were paid equally. But as the profitability of the men’s tournament skyrocketed, it’s budget grew too -- and so did pay for referees.
Both McGlade and Ackerman praised the NCAA for restoring equal pay at the March tournaments. “We’re mindful of what the NCAA did for the tournament,” Ackerman said. “NCAA Tournament games are closer but not entirely a common officiating experience.”
Ivy League executive director Robin Harris disagrees. “We decided a while ago that it was the right thing to do to pay them the same amount. They are doing the same job.”
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.
Contents
- Breaking Down Referee Schedules
- Referee Pay Breakdown
- How Much Do Other Refs Make?
- NCAA Football
- NBA Referees
- Final Thoughts
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 players in different leagues receive. 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: he earned $12 million in six years with the Beijing Ducks 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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interesting, high quality, inexpensive / MLBL-Moscow / Moscow Basketball Championship among amateur teams
make it available.
For examples, I had to turn to the experience of other cities and even countries (for example, to the experience of the Kyiv "League of Heroes"), because. in Moscow, everything was at a slightly antediluvian level, 5-6 years behind modern trends: in incomprehensible halls, with constant conflicts within the team, with judges, with officials - with everyone ... At the same time, it was sincerely believed that all the best is the enemy of the good. We did not agree with this, because. if you do not move forward, any project will gradually sink down, and a breakthrough in the field of amateur basketball will never happen - there will simply not be a chance.
Before the advent of MLBL, it was believed that it was impossible to create a tournament in such high-quality conditions in Moscow, but in just 2 months we formed a full-fledged division, in which 12 very interesting and original teams of a good level play, 9 of which have their own sponsors. However, it is important for us not only the fact that the teams with sponsors, who obviously have the best conditions for attracting players (you don’t have to pay for games), supported this project, but the fact that there are teams in the second division based on the principles of player sharing.
Moreover, one of these teams leads the championship! This suggests that the championship is not only well organized, but also accessible.
The “Territory of the ball” was chosen as the base for the tournament — the only hall in Moscow where our huge championship could physically fit. Now it’s even ridiculous to remember how much negativity was said about the “Territory of the Ball” and about us, that “they won’t make it”, “they won’t be able to”, etc. However, both they and we managed and succeeded, fulfilling all our promises by 100%. Now the teams that then believed in MLBL are simply enjoying the game of basketball, but we, in turn, try not to lose face.
Each team of the second division gets the best that is possible for this money: a sports complex in the center of Moscow with parquet and comfortable locker rooms and no access system, basketball on four sites at the same time - an indescribable atmosphere of a basketball event at each round, excellent refereeing (with commissioners who really work with the referees, and are not responsible for paperwork), with a high-quality and well-organized table, with a doctor at all games, who does not have to be looked for in fear of getting 20-0, with free water and excellent Spalding TF1000 balls, with online statistics and a mobile application, with the opportunity to win tickets to CSKA, or just buy them for a penny if you didn’t win (though not for such cool places), with unifying events outside the court, with photos of all matches, with video interviews of the tournament heroes , with “man of the match” magnets (a trifle, but a player is pleased to receive such a fridge magnet!), with the ability to take your fans to the games and seat them in the stands, with the ability to plan your weekends in advance, this is a tournament with a chief referee that is independent of teams, a tournament with an office and a meeting room in the Basketball House, with full-time employees working on the project, who are always ready to carefully and respectfully help resolve the issue of the team, with well-developed and adequate regulations, in which there is not a word about monetary penalties and which allows not to drag teams with terrible measures in order to force them to improve the quality of matches.
For the first time not the team, but the League is responsible for the quality of the tournament. The task of the team and players is simply to arrive at the hall at the right time with a completed technical application. For everything else, there is MLBL. This allows you to unload the heads of club leaders, who can now think more about the sports component than about organizational responsibility.
We have repeatedly voiced all these things before, but no one had the courage to put them into practice.
Another very cool decision was in the hard destruction of the stereotype that amateur clubs should only play together with doubles. This, of course, was another misconception, which was shown by the “Challengers” division. We specifically made a very mobile system that allows you to play with or without farms. This experience was supposed to show the real cost of farming. Will teams cling to them in order to realize the advantages that doubles provide over their disadvantages?
Real experience has shown that many teams deliberately uncoupled the second squads, because.
they did not want to pay for them, transferring some of the players to the general application. Those. it turned out that this was an additional financial burden that fell on the shoulders of one or several people, instead of, for example, doubling the quality of the tournament.
Another experience from the clubs that the farms have kept is also interesting. Only 2 out of 4 clubs used the option of transferring players from one squad to another and vice versa. This suggests that farms are a very controversial thing and it is impossible to unambiguously talk about their benefits. However, there is a third example - the Profit Basket club has already three squads in the championship.
We could also observe that the top second teams of the last MBL season are doing quite well in the confrontation with the best teams of the second division and can even claim prizes in the championship! This makes the tournament very exciting from a sporting point of view.
And, of course, the main advantage of the Contenders division is that it has become an organic link between a very cool project called the Development League and the elite division, creating a system of sports transition for the strongest teams.
By the way, the fact that there is a sports transition does not mean that the new team should start the championship exclusively with the Development League. Any team can always apply to any division! Even a team that has been relegated from the division can try its luck to return back, providing the necessary guarantees and if there are free places or when the division expands. All this makes the system lively and mobile, capable of responding to any changes in the structure of amateur basketball in Moscow.
Is there a new cool club that wants to test themselves before getting into the "Elite"? Welcome to Challengers! Is there a coolest club with championship ambitions? Perhaps then you should immediately try your hand at Elite? Actually, the very name “Challengers” or, as it is fashionable to say in the NBA, “Contenders” means a pool of teams that strive to develop, strive to rise above, compete with the best teams in Moscow, and prove that they can play at this level.
And look at the line-ups - excellent players, against whom it is very difficult on the basketball court.
Look at the tactics of the teams, at the attitude to what is happening on the site, at how timeouts go, listen to their conversations, look at the emotions. All this is very serious.
Now 5 teams out of 12 are going 5-2 (Barrel, Kaspersky Lab, Vega, Megafon, Alvistoun), the seventh club (Profit Basket) has a 4-3 result. Those. The playoff zone is packed so tightly that one win can take a team from 6th to 2nd or from 12th to 8th. When you step on the court, you don't know how the game will end. There are no favorites.
Only one club, Sfera 650, goes undefeated in the Contenders - Moscow basketball beginners with 4 masters of sports. But look at the cost of these results? +5, +3, +5, +9… I.e. half of the matches the team pulled out "on the teeth".
Only Lotus goes without victories, but it is clear that with each match the team is getting angrier and angrier. Nobody should underestimate Lotus either. Otherwise, a very equal and even composition of participants.
More than once there were spins when your team beat the one that beat the one you lost to. A kind of revenge and anticipation of the return match in the next round.
This, of course, is all very cool and a lot of fun. It's nice to come to the "Territory of the Ball" on Saturday, take the key to your locker, go to the site, where your friends are already waiting for you, and where you know everything down to the smallest detail.
At the same time, it is very pleasant to see that there are teams in the Development League that would look worthy in the second division. Plus, there are a number of good teams that have already applied for next year… Apparently, we are waiting for the expansion of the division?
However, no one is going to stop there. We got off to a pretty good start in Moscow in our first year, but we're not even close to the quality we plan to release on a regular basis. The nearest plans include a significant improvement of the site, the creation of a new version of the mobile application with tracking the results of your favorite team, the release of the first version of the application for Android, the opening of a cafe in the Ball Territory, the creation of an automatic infographic generation system and, possibly, personal websites for teams.
