Assignments
Carl Cheffers is the referee for Super Bowl LVII
Carl Cheffers will be the referee for Super Bowl LVII.
Football Zebras has learned that Carl Cheffers will be the referee for Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz. at State Farm Stadium. He will become only the seventh NFL official to officiate at least 3 Super Bowls at the referee position.
Cheffers, who officiated Super Bowl LV two seasons ago, is the first referee to be assigned to the Super Bowl twice in 3 seasons in 35 years.
Officials who are selected for the Super Bowl are graded and scored in the top tier of their position.
One of the members of the crew is down judge Jerrod Phillips, the second Native American official and the first citizen of Cherokee Nation to be assigned to the Super Bowl. Line judge Jeff Bergman, who is in his 30th and final season, has become the most tenured official to work a Super Bowl, officiating in his third Super Bowl this season. The league is very high on side judge Eugene Hall, who has been selected to his third Super Bowl in the last 5 seasons, the most in that span since field judge Tom Sifferman worked 3 consecutive Super Bowls from the 2002 through 2004 seasons.
This will be the first Super Bowl assignment for down judge Jerod Phillips and field judge John Jenkins. The other 5 on-field officials will be working their third Super Bowl of their careers. This crew has the most Super Bowl experience since the crew of officials that worked Super Bowl XXXIV following the 2000 season.
Since officials cannot work Super Bowls in consecutive seasons, Cheffers is the first referee to return to the Super Bowl two years later since the late Jerry Seeman officiated Super Bowls XXIII and XXV at the conclusion of the 1988 and 1990 seasons.
Cheffers, 62, is in his 23rd season and 15th as referee. This is Cheffers’ 18th postseason assignment, including 5 Wild Card Playoffs, 7 Divisional Playoffs, and 3 Conference Championships. In addition to Super Bowl LV, he also officiated Super Bowl LI in the 2016 season. Cheffers was the referee for the Bengals-Bills Divisional Playoff last Sunday.
Cheffers is a sales manager from Whittier, Calif., who joined the NFL in 2000 after working five years in the Pac-10 Conference, now the Pac-12. He was promoted to referee in 2008 along with former senior vice president of officiating and referee Al Riveron following the retirements of referees Gerry Austin and Larry Nemmers.
A referee must have at least 5 years of seniority, worked 3 years at the referee position, and worked a playoff game as a referee in a previous postseason. The other members of the Super Bowl crew must have a Conference Championship game on their résumé — or qualified for 3 of the last 5 postseasons — in addition to being at least a 5-year veteran.
| Yrs | 2022 crew | College | Occupation | Prev. Postseason | Prev. SB | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 51 | Carl Cheffers | 23 | California-Irvine | sales manager | 5 WC, 7 DIV, 3 CC | LI, LV | |
| U | 81 | Roy Ellison | 20 | Hill | Savannah State | IT engineer | 4 WC, 6 DIV, 4 CC | XLIII, LII |
| DJ | 6 | Jerod Phillips | 7 | Martin | Northeastern State | elementary school teacher | 2 WC, 3 DIV, 2 CC | |
| LJ | 32 | Jeff Bergman | 30 | Kemp | Robert Morris | president and chief executive officer, medical services | 8 WC, 10 DIV, 3 WC | XXXI, LIII |
| FJ | 117 | John Jenkins | 9 | Kemp | St. Mary’s | sales executive | 1 WC, 3 DIV | |
| SJ | 103 | Eugene Hall | 9 | Cheffers | North Texas | federal agent | 3 WC, 4 DIV, 3 CC | LIII, LV |
| BJ | 105 | Dino Paganelli | 17 | Smith | Aquinas College | educator | 2 WC, 10 DIV, 2 CC | XLVII, LV |
| RO | Mark Butterworth | 6 | Vinovich | Walsh | non-profit COO | 2 WC, 1 DIV, 2 CC | ||
| RA | Frank Szczepanik | — | FB Ops | Barry | NFL sr. coordinator of officiating special projects (replay command center) | 0 | ||
| ALT | R | John Hussey | 21 | Idaho State | nonprofit CEO | 6 WC, 5 DIV, 4 CC | XLV | |
| ALT | U | Ramon George | 7 | Novak | Lenoir-Rhyne | financial underwriter | 2 WC, 1 DIV, 2 CC | |
| ALT | DJ | David Oliver | 6 | Hill | Baker | information systems manager | 1 WC, 3 DIV | |
| ALT | LJ | Tim Podraza | 15 | Torbert | Nebraska | business performance consultant | 7 WC, 2 DIV, 2 CC | |
| ALT | FJ | Terry Brown | 17 | Blakeman | Tennessee | court director | 5 WC, 4 DIV, 1 CC | |
| ALT | SJ | Boris Cheek | 27 | Allen | Morgan State | retired director of operations and management | 6 WC, 6 DIV, 4 CC | XLII, 50, LIV |
| ALT | BJ | Perry Paganelli | 25 | Blakeman | Hope College | retired high school administrator | 7 WC, 9 DIV, 6 CC | XLI, LII |
| ALT | RO | Tyler Cerimeli | 5 | Hochuli | Arizona State | high school officials coordinator | 1 WC, 2 DIV |
Image: Designed by Ben Austro; Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images / John Martinez Pavliga
