According to the Football Zebras website, the UFL has their officiating crews for the upcoming 2024 season. There are 10 groups of officials despite the league only playing four games per week. This is up from the six crews each that both the USFL and XFL employed in 2023.
Many of the names and faces of head referees will be familiar to fans of spring football. There is significant carry-over from the 2023 USFL and XFL seasons. Four of the six referees used by the USFL in 2023 are back. Five of the six referees from the XFL in 2023 move over to the UFL, with only Reggie Smith not returning. Smith was the referee for the XFL North Division Championship last year.
The one new referee for the UFL is Scott Walker, who last year was the umpire on Larry Smith’s crew in the USFL. Smith is one of two USFL referees not working the UFL this season. That means five referees will come from the USFL and five from the XFL. Even when it comes to referees, the UFL continues to try to split things down the middle as much as possible with the combining of the two leagues.
Many of these officials are part of the NFL’s Mackie Development Program, a pipeline to prepare college officials for an eventual job with the NFL. Almost all of those used by the UFL were part of major college conference crews this past fall, and several officiated bowl games and conference championships.
The league will feature seven female on-field officials, the most of any spring league to this point. No ball spotters or replay officials are listed, both of which were featured in the XFL last year. It’s unclear if those positions with be utilized by the UFL.
Both Dean Blandino and Mike Pereira will be a part of the UFL. Blandino, a former VP of Officiating in the NFL, was involved with the XFL in 2020 and 2023. Pereira, who predated Blandino in the same position with the NFL, held positions with XFL 2020 and most recently with the USFL the last two seasons.
