The 2020 Super Bowl isn’t only the best teams taking the field at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami: it’s the best officials of the year as well. An all-star crew of seven will be in charge as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers to determine the NFL’s champion of the 2019-20 season.
Referee Bill Vinovich will be the “white hat” in charge. It will be his second Super Bowl as he was also the head man for Super Bowl 49 and the Patriots last-second interception to beat the Seahawks.
Though in the playoffs the NFL uses mixed crews, Vinovich’s regular-season crew was dead-last in holding yardage flagged in the NFL. Rotowire accumulates referee statistics and has Vinovich’s crew with 46 holds called and 33 enforced for 273 yards.
He also was dead last in roughing the passer calls with just two, and that is a call solely made by the referee. The league average was 8.2 per season, so it’s possible Vinovich will let a lot go from his spot behind the quarterback.
Refs that let a lot of holding go should favor the offenses, as the trope of “you can call holding on every play” is actually true. With so much of the handle already on the over, the sports books might be hoping for some whistles early to keep the game closer to under 54.5.
It’s an experienced crew that graded out the best at their positions during the 2019 season, so hopefully there will be fewer missed calls than usual. Also having six of the seven officials having seen a Super Bowl field before should help with not being overwhelmed by the moment.
Let’s all hope that this is the most attention the officials at Super Bowl LIV receive this week.
The other officials for the game are as follows:
Super Bowl LIV refs
| Position | Official | Experience | Previous SB's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Official | Experience | Previous SB's |
| Referee | Bill Vinovich | 14 years | SB 49 |
| Umpire | Barry Anderson | 13 years | None |
| Line judge | Carl Johnson | 16 years | SB 42 |
| Side judge | Boris Cheek | 24 years | SB 42, SB 50 |
| Back judge | Greg Steed | 17 years | SB 44 |
| Field judge | Michael Banks | 18 years | SB 43 |
| Down judge | Kent Payne | 16 years | SB 45, SB 51 |
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