Question

nfl referees rig the game

Answer 1

I found articles backing up that refs have rigged the game before for sports betting purposes and been arrested for it. Ex-NFL VP of officiating says "NFL refs have been approached about manipulating games for gambling purposes". Although the NFL has never had to deal with an officiating scandal, there have definitely been instances where officials were approached and asked to manipulate games, according Dean Blandino, who ran the NFL's officiating department from 2013 through 2017. With gambling now legal in nearly every part of the country, it seems like NFL officials have been under more scrutiny this year. Whenever there's a bad call, you'll almost always hear at least one fan scream that the "fix" is in.

During a recent interview on the Awful Announcing Podcast, Blandino was specifically asked if he was aware of any situations where an official might have been approached about fixing a game by impacting "a score or a stat line."

"We've had situations where people were approached," Blandino said. "We've always told our game officials because they're in hotels -- they're traveling around during the season -- we didn't want them wearing NFL-branded gear. We wanted them to be inconspicuous, because someone sees them and 'Oh, those are the NFL officials,' and then you never know. You don't know who you're gonna come across. And they know that they're supposed to go to NFL security if something like that happens, and that has happened in the past." Blandino did mention that one reason the NFL has been able to avoid an officiating scandal is because the league has dozens of safeguards in place to prevent something like that from happening. That includes putting each official through a grueling hiring process.

Source:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ex-nfl-vp-of-officiating-says-nfl-refs-have-been-approached-about-manipulating-games-for-gambling-purposes.

Answer 2

In investigating the claim that "NFL referees rig the game," I found a variety of sources claiming different things about the topic. Early this year, after years of widespread speculation about the fairness of penalty rulings awarded to specific teams (The Kansas City Chiefs), the NFL decided to compile statistics that would show that they are not favoring specific teams (The Chiefs) in their rulings. Data tweeted "by NFL Network's Mike Garofolo," attempted to prove that there is, "no link between the status of a quarterback and treatment from officials." They did this by showing, "how many times in 100 hits a quarterback benefitted from a personal foul for either 'roughing the passer' or 'unnecessary roughness'." Statements released by NFL Commissioner Goodell, and NFL Referees Association Executive director Scott Green, reflect the same sentiment that NFL Referees are always trying to make the right call in the moment and not favor one team over the other. 

While all of those statements from early 2025 claim that the NFL is not rigging it's games, a new article from October 2025 claims that referees rigged a game for the Kansas City Chiefs and that it is the, "Biggest NFL Scandal in 25 Years." However, given that the only source I could find reporting this was "profootballnetwork.com" I am skeptical about the reliability of their claim given that their "evidence" is a tweet. 

Ultimately the claim that NFL referees are rigging games has no hard evidence, that I could find, to back it up. Leading me to label this claim as false.  

Sources:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nfl/article-14443417/chiefs-officials-rigging-games-patrick-mahomes-new-data.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nfl-referees-forced-respond-kansas-city-chiefs-conspiracy-theories-bia-rcna190774 

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/biggest-nfl-scandal-25-years-chiefs-lions-smoking-gun/
 

Answer 3

     Currently the claim that NFL referees rig games is false. The claim most commonly coming from fans with a team that has just lost already comes from a heavily biased source. There is no fact or statistic that supports this claim I have found while looking at stats and articles. Currently the team most commonly accused of being rigged is the Kansas City Chiefs they have had some shady calls in their favor but no more than other teams, in fact they are pretty average in yards gained through other teams penalties. Yes refs will sometimes have a bias toward some team but they work in groups of seven so the chance of that bias shining through hard enough to cause a team to win and beating out six other refs is highly unlikely. Also refs miss calls it's part of any sport, they are human and miss things. In conclusion there is no sufficient evidence NFL referees rig games.

Sources: 

Yahoo Sports, CBS sports, AtoZsports

Answer 4

NFL fans have issued concerns over officiating for decades since Tom Brady was with the Patriots. Now although these concerns have stemmed into whether or not referees rig games, there has been zero documented evidence of any corruption among officials. The has been many supporting arguments over the past few seasons, the most recent this last season. In the 2025 AFC Championship, The Buffalo Bills took on the defending champion, Kansas City Chiefs. According to The Sun, fans voiced concerns after two major calls that went the Chiefs way when the evidence did not support the calls. However, the officiating crew of that game have denied any wrongdoing and there has been no clear proof that states otherwise.

Although we haven't had any scandals in professional football, the NBA has faced some controversy over the years including officials. The league has also had many instances of accusations that haven't been proven except for one, Tim Donaghy. Donaghy was an NBA referee from 1994-2007 and was found guilty of committing wire fraud as well as giving information to betters about games.

NFL fans accuse league of being 'rigged' again as Chiefs beat Bills to reach Super Bowl following controversial calls

 From the archives: How former ref Tim Donaghy conspired to fix NBA games - ESPN

Answer 5

The claim that NFL referees are rigging games isn’t true but it may necessarily not be false either. The NFL has never faced actual allegation of fixing games but it is a pretty popular idea. Dean Blandino, in his time running the officiating department in the NFL(2013-2017) he has been approached regarding rigging calls  but the NFL finds its way out of any trouble because of its “grueling hiring process”. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ex-nfl-vp-of-officiating-says-nfl-refs-have-been-approached-about-manipulating-games-for-gambling-purposes/ because the NFL keeps tabs in every way on their referees they haven’t been clipped yet with a scandal. 

And in today’s time almost if not every week an article is written about how a specific game should or should not have been called. And the fans really agree. In week 5 of the NFL season the  Denver Broncos didn’t get called for a clear pass interference that later lead to the eagles picking up their first loss of the season. According to yahoo sports the fans are “blasting” the referees because of that call. It does start to become almost blatant.  https://sports.yahoo.com/article/deommodore-lenoir-explains-costly-mistake-160942050.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKP_-1L2LSPeMDf6_1GlsLTco1hyUKQpAb8klduc536oNzHti9Fj1i1fEVOZePNn0VSNRcYmyOkkFo4qdDPr6bg4UOTGXUYGSu6mzWvbT4hrSL6WxxoIVdaZfVYO9AA4jbYmETmoXIpLmSLgAj6Bb7BRmuRhjrjHPJKWnFWoycl6

Answer 6

I looked into the claim that NFL referees rig games, and I didn’t find any real evidence that games are intentionally fixed. Courts have thrown out lawsuits claiming rigging, and the league actually grades officials on every play and reviews their performance weekly. Still, research suggests there can be unconscious bias, especially in big games or involving popular teams. So, while bad calls and controversial moments happen, there’s no proof of an organized effort to rig outcomes.

One example is Mayer v. Belichick (2010), where a Jets fan sued over "Spygate," claiming games were rigged. The court dismissed the case, and the Supreme Court declined to review it, showing there wasn’t enough evidence to support that idea. The NFL's own officiating materials describe systems of accountability and oversight meant to improve fairness, even though mistakes still occur.

A 2025 study from the University of Texas at El Paso analyzed more than 13,000 penalty calls from 2015-2023 and found postseason officiating slightly favored the Kansas City Chiefs. However, the researchers made it clear this wasn’t proof of rigging, just possible bias. News outlets like The Debrief and El Paso Times highlighted the study, suggesting financial pressure and TV ratings might influence behavior, but again, not intentionally.

After reading everything, I think fans are justified in being frustrated with bad calls, but I don’t believe the NFL is rigging games. The evidence points to human error and bias, not a deliberate conspiracy.

Sources:

“Court Denies Jets Fan’s Appeal to Sue Patriots Over Taping.” Patriots.com, 15 Apr. 2010, https://www.patriots.com/news/court-denies-jets-fan-s-appeal-to-sue-patriots-over-taping-109251

Mayer v. Belichick, 605 F.3d 223 (3rd Cir. 2010). FindLaw, https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-3rd-circuit/1524532.html

Barnes, Spencer, et al. “Under (Financial) Pressure: How Financial Incentives Shape NFL Officiating.” Financial Review, forthcoming. University of Texas at El Paso Newsfeed, 8 Oct. 2025, https://www.utep.edu/newsfeed/2025/october/utep-study-reveals-how-financial-pressure-shapes-nfl-officiating.html

McMillan, Tim. “Do NFL Refs Favor the Kansas City Chiefs? New Research Says Yes: The Data Backs Fans’ Suspicions.” The Debrief, 27 Oct. 2025, https://thedebrief.org/do-nfl-refs-favor-the-kansas-city-chiefs-new-research-says-yes-the-data-backs-fans-suspicions

Answer 7

After researching this claim of "NFL referees rig the game", I found that although is a very popular argument it is false. If you ask the casual fan they will most likely say that they lost because "the refs rigged the game" because of a 50/50 call, but per ESPN this is actually the opposite. The more-penalized teams do not lose more often, late in the game like the fourth quarter or overtime, teams that commit penalties that lead to big yardage swings or first downs tend to win more often then when they don't commit those penalties. Also data did not show that specific officiating crews were biased against particular teams in upholding or reversing calls. Lastly, data shows that the fix is not in, while some teams were penalized more than others during the season, the number of penalties called against individual teams evened out over multiple seasons. All this reasoning proves that the claim of "nfl referees rig the game" is false, but I was able to find a little hope for NFL is rigged claim. In a recent interview on Awful Announcing Podcast they interviewed Dean Blandino, who ran the NFL's Officiating department from 2013-2017. Blandino stated that there has been "instances where officials were asked and approached to manipulate games" (Blandino). For this reason Blandino makes the NFL officials not where NFL gear in hotels so they do not get approached. Blandino made it clear in the interview that, "the NFL has been able to avoid an officiating scandal is because the league has dozens of safeguards in place to prevent something like that from happening. That includes putting each official through a grueling hiring process"(Blandino). Blandino also states that the "NFL has so many controls in place, just to become an official, they look at all of your business associations. They look for conflicts of interest, all of that, bank accounts, everything"(Blandino). This is so important because they don't want sketchy scandal stuff happening like what happened in the NBA.  

Ultimately, the claim of "NFL referees rig the game", is false because rigging games has no evidence that I could find and although referees have been asked to rig the game, there is no proof of them going through with the plans.

Sources 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46087159/debunking-nfl-officiating-conspiracy-theories-data

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ex-nfl-vp-of-officiating-says-nfl-refs-have-been-approached-about-manipulating-games-for-gambling-purposes/
 

Answer 8

Think of this as your investigation log. Answer each question to explain what you discovered and how you got there.

1. Write a brief overall summary of your findings.
2. What primary sources did you find (e.g., transcripts, videos of politician speeches, tweets from public figures, scientific studies)? For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.
3. What secondary sources did you find (e.g., newspapers, magazines)? Only use secondary sources if sufficient primary sources are not available. For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.
4. What potential biases or interests might each of your sources have?
5. What evidence supports the claim you are fact-checking?
6. What evidence undermines the claim you are fact-checking?
7. What happened when you tried contacting the person or group who made the original claim? (Always try to contact them—it’s okay if you don’t get a reply. For example, if the claim is that the president said something, try reaching out to the administration. If it was a Bluesky user, message that user on Bluesky.)

Comments

There is no credible source to support the claim that the NFL systematically rigs games.
There was a widely circulated video that showed the NFL admitting to rigged its games, however a fact check by snopes found the video to be satire. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nfl-admits-to-rigging-games/

 Expert analysis explains that while controversial calls occur, none offer credible proof of outcomes being predetermined. The article “Are NFL games rigged or fixed?” states that fixing games would require a massive conspiracy involving players, coaches, officials, and bettors making it extraordinarily unlikely. https://www.boydsbets.com/are-nfl-games-fixed/

The claim of rigging often arises from perception rather than evidence, for example, fans of losing teams may see one bad call and make a conspiracy.