With WNBA officiating under scrutiny, what does it take to become a referee in the league?

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert addressed the league’s officiating during All-Star Weekend in July.

“As we go forward on the officiating, we hear the concerns. We take that employee input,” Engelbert said. “Every play is reviewed. We spend hours and hours and hours. Obviously, we use that then to follow up with officials’ training.

“Consistency is important. I think some people observe our game versus other basketball formats (and think) there aren’t a ton of fouls called, but I realize consistency is the name of the game.”

Here is a look at the system the league has had in place for the past two decades that aspiring officials must take before they make it to the WNBA, which includes time refereeing in the NBA’s developmental league.

How does someone become an WNBA official?

Every referee's journey to the WNBA is different, but they all share a common thread: They must spend some time in the G League. For the past two decades, all aspiring WNBA officials have had to spend time officiating in the NBA's developmental league.

The G League is a feeder system for NBA hopefuls, but it gives all officials a chance to referee a professional level of basketball. Refs are not just evaluated on how well they know the rules, but also how well they can work as part of three-person officiating teams.

The NBA oversees a scouting program that tries to identify young referees who work high school, college or other levels. Once identified, the officials are invited to WNBA and NBA developmental programs before being elevated to the G League.

Monty McCutchen, who is the head of WNBA officiating, said on a zoom call that they whittle down between 3,000 and 4,000 officials a year who are evaluated by the scouting department to up to a dozen who make it to the G League.

“We have the best trained women’s officials in the world and I think that you can see that not only in our staff, but then when you watch the Elite Eight and Final Four and see how many WNBA officials are still working, it bodes well for the work that they do wherever they are working,” McCutchen said.

Are officials penalized for wrong calls?

Officials can be fined if they misapply rules, but not for making a wrong call or if a call they made is overturned by a challenge.

If an official makes too many wrong calls, however, they may not either advance in the playoffs or get big-game assignments.

“We've fined for misapplication of rules. We've fined for inappropriate behavior either with team personnel or let's say online,” McCutchen said. “We hold people accountable in various ways to their body of work. ... We have an ‘on notice' program that if you get put on notice and your work does not improve, we move to separate from that arrangement.”

How much are WNBA officials paid?

WNBA officials get paid by the game with a rookie official earning just over $1,500 per contest. A 20-year veteran would make about $2,500 for every game this season. That is less than what women’s officials are paid per game in college. However, the WNBA pays for travel and hotel, unlike colleges.

Many WNBA referees also officiate college games.

Pay in the WNBA is vastly different than it is in the NBA, where referees are salaried employees earning between $150,000 and $550,000 a season.

“Historically the footprint of the season is much shorter,” said Sue Blauch, who is the head of referee performance and development for the WNBA. “People are working various numbers of games depending on their skill level, depending on their years of service and their position. The pay structure is a little bit of a hybrid between per game and a sort of stipend for all of the other work.”

Blauch, who worked in the NCAA for nearly three decades and 20 years in the WNBA, said that the footprint of the WNBA season would need to drastically change to “give referees the number of games that it would require to actually be full time so to speak.”

She entered her current role in 2018.

How do rules get changed in the WNBA?

A competition committee made up of coaches, general managers and members of the Board of Governors meet in November to discuss potential rule changes.

Once the committee decides on what rules it would like to change they present it to the Board of Governors to be voted on. It helps to improve chances of a change being implemented if there was a unanimous consensus on the proposal by the competition committee.

Why doesn't the WNBA have the last 2 minute game report that the NBA has?

Blauch said that it takes about eight to 10 hours on the NBA side to figure out the report the next day. The WNBA would have to hire someone and invest the resources.

“From our perspective we don't have any issues in owning up to our work,” she said. “Whether that's excellent work or acknowledging a mistake that was made in a game. There's no objection on our part in any way shape or form. The league would need to invest and say this is a priority and this is where we want to spend the resources we have.”

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