When you’re betting on the NFL and watching the game, you normally only think about the referee and the officials when they make a controversial call or mess up. Although we’re often quick to second guess or outright disagree with their decisions, NFL refs are highly trained individuals who often possess decades of experience at all levels of football.
Maybe when you’re taking a break from online sports betting, you’ve wondered ‘how much are NFL refs paid?’ – well, the average salary for an NFL ref is actually $250,000 per year.
Despite their experience and knowledge of the game, NFL refs are actually paid less on average than their colleagues in other major sports. Plus, being an NFL ref is only a part-time job. So it’s little wonder that many NFL refs actually have other jobs.
It may be hard to imagine, but in some instances the people who wear striped black and white shirts perform a diverse variety of secondary jobs across the country. Read on to learn more about the prestigious, fascinating, and sometimes unusual day jobs that NFL refs hold.
Dairy Farmer
- Walt Coleman
In our idealized imaginations, dairy farmers live a relaxed existence tending to a vast field of grazing cows. We can imagine that corralling a field of heavy-hitting football players could hardly be further away from that!
Ok, so maybe we have an idealized conceptualization of dairy farming but former NFL ref Walt Coleman excelled in both roles. An NFL ref from 1995 until his retirement in 2019, Coleman split his time between the football field and the pastures of Coleman Dairy in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Coleman’s family had been involved in the dairy industry since 1862 and now refereeing is part of the family business. His son, Walt Coleman IV, became an NFL official in 2015 and has regularly featured as a line judge.