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Chicago high school football referees are on strike.
High school football games in Chicago are being cancelled with referees on strike for nonpayment. Contests at the freshman and junior varsity level have already been impacted. Varsity competition is now in danger.
Chicago Public Schools is supposed to be handling payments. Officials claim to have not been paid for nearly a month. As a result, they’ve stopped working.
The Chicago Sun-Times updated the situation with a story this week. That status of future competition remains unclear.
Chicago football referees are on strike.
Chicago Public Schools has canceled multiple freshman and junior varsity football games this week after football referees went on strike due to not being paid for several weeks.
“Varsity [football] games are in jeopardy,” official Breyion Hutchinson told the Sun-Times on Wednesday. “If the officials are not paid today they will not work tomorrow.”
-Chicago Sun-Times
The report says that all officials that regularly call high school football games for the Chicago Public School system are protesting. That group consists of “a couple hundred” referees.
CPS refs have the option to work two games on Thursday, two on Friday, and up to three on Saturday. “We depend on this money for our livelihood,” said official Breyion Hutchinson.
The setup for payment was intended to be executed as follows:
Schools pay referees directly from Weeks 1 to 3. Starting in Week 4, payment was to be handled by CPS.
Since that switch, the payments have stopped. The season is now heading into Week 7.
Freshman and JV games have already been cancelled. Without enough officials to call varsity games, top-level competition is at risk, too.
How much are high school football referees paid?
Pay ranges from state to state and by competition level. Gameday Culture suggests that the typical official can make between $65 and $100 per contest for varsity games and $40 to $70 for JV.
There is potential to earn an average salary a little north of $20,000 in many areas. Not bad for a part-time gig!
Umply further breaks down estimates for referees in the Midwest, which would include Illinois. It calculates that a head official can make $89-$149 per game at the varsity level while crew members come in around $69-$115.
A high school football referee in North Carolina provided his pay breakdown from the 2025 season. He says he made $90/JV game, $104/varsity game, and $110/playoff game.
He made $1,500 for working 15 games. Had he been available for an entire 22-game schedule (two games per week), that number would’ve topped out at $2,100 for the fall.
While officiating is likely not the only source of income for most referees, it’s not insignificant. As the Chicago referee previously mentioned in this article noted, many rely on the extra cash in day-to-day life.
Officiating is an investment. It takes time, training, and travel. High school football referees in Chicago will not work for free. We’ll see if the CPS can find a solution that prevents varsity cancellations.