The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs face off on Sunday, February 9th at Super Bowl 59. The game kicks off in New Orleans at 6:30 p.m. ET and will air on Fox. We’ll be paying close attention to the players and coaches, but the officiating crew will likely have their moment to ... shine.
Who are the Super Bowl 59 officials?
The NFL has named officials for the 59th Super Bowl. We break down the lead referee, the rest of the crew, and how they get the assignment.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
The lead referee for Super Bowl 59 will be Ron Torbert. This marks his second super Bowl, having worked as the referee at Super Bowl 56 between the Rams and Bengals. The most notable other name on the crew is umpire Mike Morton. He is a former NFL player who played in Super Bowl 34 in 2000, and will become the first former Super Bowl champion to later serve as a Super Bowl official.
The official criteria for postseason assignments has never been fully revealed, but the folks at Football Zebras have done their best to figure it out. They have broken down the criteria to include:
- Referees needed a game in a prior postseason at the referee position
- The rest of the crew needed to have a conference championship game, or a 3-of-5 bypass (three postseason games in five seasons)
- All officials, including referees, needed 5 years of NFL experience.
That last bullet point is notable because the league repealed it. Morton and down judge Max Causey each have three years of experience heading into the Super Bowl. The on-field crew has a combined four Super Bowls worth of experience. Other than Torbert, the only other member of the crew to have Super Bowl experience is side judge Boris Cheek. He was on the officiating crews at Super Bowl 42, 50, and 54.
Here is the full list of officials and their alternates for Super Bowl 59.
Officiating crew
Referee: Ron Torbert, 62
Umpire: Mike Morton, 89
Down judge: Max Causey, 21
Line judge: Mark Stewart, 75
Field judge: Mearl Robinson, 31
Side judge: Boris Cheek, 41
Back judge: Jonah Monroe, 120
RO Kevin Brown, 6
RA Sean McKee
Alternates
Referee Carl Cheffers
Umpire Duane Heydt
Down judge Dana McKenzie
Line judge Julian Mapp
Field judge Anthony Flemming
Side judge Chad Hill
Back judge Greg Yette
Replay official Matt Sumstine
A well-officiated sporting event usually involves the referees being seen but not heard. The fewer calls, the faster the game goes and usually the better the contest. Referees are human though, and that means there will be mistakes. Sometimes it’s not a huge issue and the bad calls balance out. Sometimes
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