Despite making over $200,000 a year, many NFL referees still hold full-time jobs as attorneys, aerospace engineers, and college professors

From August to January, NFL officials travel weekly across the country—and sometimes abroad —to oversee some of the world’s most-watched sporting events.

But when the final whistle blows, another job is often waiting for them the next morning.

Many of the NFL’s 121 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 Shawn Hochuli is a California-based financial advisor.

The unusual career combinations recently went viral on social media .

But these aren’t just side hustles to supplement their NFL paychecks.

Referees earned an average of $205,000 a year in 2025, according to Sports Illustrated , on top of a reported 10% increase in per-game pay in 2026.

Instead, many officials built careers in other fields before reaching the NFL—and continue to pursue them alongside football.

Shawn Smith joined the NFL in 2015, but has also spent the last three decades in auditing.

He’s said there are more parallels between the career paths than people might realize.

“Most folks don’t want to see an auditor come and most folks don’t care about refereeing,” Smith, who currently works at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, told Detroit news affiliate WXYZ earlier this year.

“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.” That commitment extends well beyond game day.

During the season, officials spend more than 30 hours a week studying video and the rulebook, according to the NFL .

They also meet with their crews and review evaluations from supervisors, making officiating feel like a second full-time job.

You don’t have to choose just one career, one NFL official says: ‘Go out and do both’ Adrian Hill is another example.