Officiating crews for the 2020 XFL season

Professional football continues under the banner of the XFL, which begins its inaugural season Feb. 8, just six days after Super Bowl LIV.

The XFL uses the 8-person mechanics of the NCAA and has 48 officials from Football Bowl Subdivision conferences on six crews. This differs from the NFL in that the umpire is lined up behind the linebackers and an eighth official, the center judge, is used. Each crew also has a replay official, all of whom have NFL replay experience, who will have sole discretion over replay reviews and may intervene in cases of egregious errors in the last five minutes of the game, or in the case of a player safety issue. A tenth official, who will serve as a ball spotter, will be assigned to each game. (This official does not have foul responsibilities.)

Dean Blandino is the head of XFL officiating, a position he had in the NFL from 2013-16. Steve Strimling, a Pac-12 referee, is the officiating coordinator, a position he had with the Alliance of American Football last year. In addition to Blandino and Strimling, the following will serve as game supervisors:

• Larry Upson, Pac-12 position supervisor and former NFL official and supervisor
• Wes Booker, a current SEC official
• Chuck Bresnahan, a former member of the NFL and Alliance of American Football officiating department,
• Jeff Bergman, current NFL line judge

Bergman will work as a rules and mechanics trainer as well. Bergman and the six replay officials are the only current NFL employees in the XFL officiating department. Update: A previous version of this post had Jerry Bergman listed as one of the XFL officiating supervisors, when in fact, we had the wrong Bergman brother.

Several of the officials have been scouted by the NFL under its Officiating Development Program, but the league had no formal role in the staffing process. Six women, five of whom have been in the ODP program, are on the field for the XFL. Nine current NFL officials officiated in the first version of the XFL in 2001.

One official formerly worked in the NFL, and left abruptly in 2015 for an undisclosed reason which was characterized only as not due to officiating performance. Another official worked for 2 seasons in the defunct United Football League.

Officials are listed by their position and uniform number, their current college conference, and seasons worked in an NFL development program. Former NFL players are indicated with their playing experience. Assignments for last season’s bowl games and conference championships are listed. The ODP seasons are listed (or the “Advanced Development Program” from 2013-14), which are the preseason programs except where noted: *assigned to a college invitational exhibition game only, ^†development program for former players, or worked in 🇪🇺NFL Europe or 🇨🇦CFL.

Officials who were in the 2019 AAF are designated with a ^Δ.

(Crews are subject to change, especially when there are scheduling obligations to their college conferences and officiating clinics.)