Who are the referees for Super Bowl 59? Full breakdown of the officiating crew

Unfortunately, so much of the conversation leading up to the Super Bowl LIX matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles has been reduced to the referees. The criticism of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes benefitting from calls, questionable or not, has been a talking point to unfair degrees. The NFL isn't rigged but the refs are something that's going to be talked about around the Super Bowl.

That was true in the Divisional Round and the AFC Championship Game, but it will continue to be true for the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Any call that goes in favor of the Chiefs is going to be scrutinized, no matter if it was the right call to throw the flag or not. As such, the Super Bowl refs will likely be blamed, whether warranted or not, for the outcome. After all, if Kansas City loses, can't you hear some Chiefs fans ready to say that the officials overcompensated because of the narrative?

Whatever happens, though, fans are going to want to know who the Super Bowl refs are. So we have that for you along with the crew's history with both the Chiefs and Eagles and much more.

Who are the Super Bowl 59 referees?

The Super Bowl officiating crew on Sunday in New Orleans will be the group headed by referee Ron Torbert. Let's take a full look at Torbert and the all of the refereeing assignments for the Chiefs-Eagles matchups.

Torbert and his officiating crew were last on the field for the Divisional Round playoff matchup between the Lions and Commanders, a game that was obviously won by the road team, Washington. Prior to that, they were also officiating a game in the final week of the regular season, incidentally holding the whistles for the Eagles' season finale win over the Giants despite Philadelphia playing a majority of their backups.

Chiefs record, history in games officiated by Ron Torbert

Since Patrick Mahomes became starting quarterback for the Chiefs, Torbert has been the referee for six games that Kansas City has played in. In such games, the Chiefs are 3-1 both straight-up and against the spread. Mahomes has also balled out in front of Torbert's crews with nine touchdowns to only one interception and with at least 225 passing yards in each contest.

What may be of interest to fans who have complained about the refs and Kansas City this season (or even going back further), though, is that Torbert and his crews have not favored the defending Super Bowl champs. They have been called for 10 holding penalties by Torbert while opponents have only been flagged for nine. Similarly, the Chiefs have only benefitted from four defensive pass interference penalties while being flagged for six.

Eagles record, history in games officiated by Ron Torbert

With Jalen Hurts as the starting quarterbacks, the Eagles have gone 4-2 straight-up in games officiated by Torbert and his crew. The interesting trend, at least of late, in those games has been the high productivity of the Philadelphia offense in games officiated by Torbert.

In the last four games that the Eagles have played with Torbert as the referee, Philly has averaged an impressive 31.25 points per game. That will be something to watch when it comes to how the game is officiated in such a matchup.

Ron Torbert referee trends this season before Super Bowl 59

Ron Torbert has been known, especially over the past two seasons, as one of the most penalty-heavy referees in the NFL. In the 2024-25 season, he called an average of 1.03 more penalties per game than the league average. More stark, though, is that he assessed 11.61 more penalty yards per game than the league average as well. In the 2023-24 season, Torbert called 1.48 more penalties per game than the NFL's mean but that was for just 7.66 more penalty yards per contest.

All this is to say, history tells us that we could see a bit more flags on the field than we might've expected from another officiating crew.

Has Ron Torbert ever been referee for the Super Bowl before?

While Torbert has officiated numerous playoff games in his career, Super Bowl LIX will be only the second time in which he has been the referee for a Super Bowl. The first instance came in the 2021-22 season for the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. In that game, though, he only called six total penalties for 41 yards, which is substantially lower than what we're used to seeing from Torbert historically.

What does Ron Torbert do when he's not the Super Bowl referee?

In case you were unaware, most NFL officials and referees are not doing this full-time and, rather, have day jobs. In the case of Super Bowl LIX referee Ron Torbert, Harvard Magazine stated that the ref is a lawyer by day who has specialized in "business litigation" for around 30 years.