Okay, so the other day I was watching an NBA game, and I started wondering, “How much do these refs actually make?” I mean, they’re running up and down the court, making split-second decisions, and dealing with angry players and coaches all the time. It’s gotta be a tough job, but is it a well-paid tough job?
So, I did what anyone would do – I started digging! I hit up the internet and checked out a few sports news sites, and forum discussions to get the lowdown. I decided to do a bit of the research myself.
My Deep Dive into Ref Salaries
First, I pulled up some articles, it’s clearly stated that the salary range varies like crazy. It all depends on experience, and it’s pretty obvious, you need to be experienced in order to ref a good game!
Here’s a simple breakdown of what I gathered:
- Rookie Refs: These guys, just starting out, they’re making the least. Probably somewhere around $600 bucks for each game.
- Mid-Level Refs: I saw that these referees can make anywhere between $800 to $5,000, it really depends on the performance.
- Veteran Refs: The big dogs, the ones who’ve been around the block, they’re pulling in the big bucks, it’s up to $29,000 for some playoff games.
And then, I tried to look for some annual salary ranges, from what I found, apparently some top-tier veteran NBA refs could make is upwards of $550,000 per year!
So yeah, that’s the gist of what I found out. NBA refs can make a pretty decent living, especially the experienced ones. It definitely makes you think twice about yelling at them from the stands, huh?
