This is what game officials do in the days and hours leading up to a Super Bowl

Pete Grathoff, The Kansas City Star on Feb 8, 2025

Published in Football

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NEW ORLEANS — Even though the Chiefs will be playing in the Super Bowl for the fifth time in six seasons on Sunday, it is still a special moment for everyone involved.

Chiefs rookies Xavier Worthy and Jaden Hicks likely dreamed of playing in the big game when they were drafted. Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who is in his 12th season, will be playing for the first time, and he’s felt a lot of emotions this week.

For game officials, getting a Super Bowl assignment is a big deal, too.

Dean Blandino, who is a rules analyst for Fox Sports, detailed what a Super Bowl week looks like for game officials. For a typical regular-season game, they arrive to the city where they will be working on Saturday.

The officials will have a meal together, then go through tape of the teams. On Sunday, they get to the stadium two to three hours before kickoff.

“It’s a little bit different for the Super Bowl,” said Blandino, who previously worked as the NFL’s Vice President of Officiating. “The crew will get in either Wednesday or Thursday. Typically Thursday nights (there is) a big dinner with families and kind of just celebrate because, like the teams, this is an accomplishment for them. And they make a lot of sacrifices during the year, you know, (missing) birthdays, anniversaries, those types of things, being away on the weekend. So there’s a big dinner.

“Then Friday, there’s a walk-through at the stadium, practice the coin toss. Go through that. Check out the locker room, check out everything. Get the lay of the land. Saturday is a pregame meeting. And then Sunday, other than being there probably five hours before kickoff, it’s more or less a normal day.”

The NFL assigned the officiating crew ahead of the conference championship games. That gives the eight people working (seven on the field and one replay assistant) a chance to study the teams.

Blandino said the officials will look at tape, just as coaches from both teams have done leading up to Sunday’s game.

“They’ll watch Chiefs tape, they’ll watch Eagles tape, they’ll look for tendencies,” he said. “Like the Tush Push, how are we gonna officiate this? Are they lining up? We gotta make sure both teams are lined up onside. Nobody’s in the neutral zone.

“So they look for those tendencies. Just like the two teams are scouting the opponent, the officials are scouting the two teams just to try to look for things, tells, things that can help them anticipate what’s gonna happen on Sunday.”

Background checks

The noise about the Chiefs getting favorable calls from game officials has died down a bit ahead of Super Bowl LIX, but it’s still being discussed by fans and the media.

Mike Pereira, another Fox rules analyst, told Covers.com the NFL has done its homework when it comes to hiring officials. One big reason for that is because it’s so easy to gamble on games.

“We did a lot more background checks during the season than we had done before,” Pereira told Covers. “People asked us, ‘What was part of your process, what was important in hiring people in the NFL?’ One of them was (hiring) very successful people in their own right. We allowed attorneys (to work as officials). We had a lot of businessmen that were very successful. Because we didn’t think that even if they were presented with doing something, they certainly wouldn’t risk their full-time occupation. We stayed away from those that were maybe on the edge of financial (issues).

“Even though gambling has become more prevalent, I feel more and more secure that, if I were a gambler, which I’m not, I would feel secure that the safety net that the leagues have put up is going to prevent anything from happening that could have an effect on a game.”