LOS ANGELES (PIX11) — Playing in the Super Bowl isn’t just a dream come true for the football players. The same feeling applies to the referees.
Imagine what it’s like to get the call that you’re officiating the big game. PIX11’s Justin Walters spoke Terry McAulay, a retired NFL head referee with three Super Bowls under his belt.
“That phone call was the culmination of a very long lifelong dream I’d had,” McAulay said.
The referee of 20 years was quick to recognize that players aren’t the only ones hit with wide yes and excitement in their very first Super Bowl.
“You understand the magnitude of what you are going to do, and it’s okay to be really excited, but as you get closer to the game, you’ve got to completely separate yourself from all that, and focus on it like it is just another game,” McAulay explained.
The head official for Super Bowl LVI is Ron Torbert. Of the eight-person crew, four, including Torbert, are getting their first Super Bowl appearance.
This may be Torbert’s first Super Bowl, but he made the quite the mark by not leaving many on the field. According to NFLpenalties.com, out of 17 officiating crews, Torbert’s crew threw the fourth-fewest flags per game, with just over 12, and the firth-fewest penalty yards, at 92 per game.
“You’re not looking for fouls,” McAulay said. “What you’re doing is, if there’s something that’s clear and obvious, that we’ve called all year, that’s consistent to how these teams…have been officiated, it needs to be called.”
