Can an NFL refree be a fan of any football team?

[Bongiovanni]

and if he isn't suppose to be a fan of any team how is that possible? he is born in some state and played for some school, he will at least show some bias to some degree.

[willie mammoth]

he can be a fan of a team he just cant referee their games

[King of the Valley]

They can be fans, but have to be unbias

[Traveler]

They are all partisans for one team, they are fans of football. But that does not give them license to make calls for or against their their team.

[Luis]

sure, i mean if i was a ref i would still love my bears, they just gotta play the game fair you know?

[Robert]

A referee can be a fan, alum, former player, etc of any team, but cannot officiate a game connected with said team. Thus, in college, referees are placed on "teams" according to their demographic location - ACC, SEC, etc. - & sent to monitor specific games out of the demographic area - SEC refs do Mid-Atlantic games, Big Ten refs calling MAC games. Same with the pro's. Background questionnaires are given to referees that they are supposed to answer truthfully & have investigated to determine whether they can referee & which games they can call. Cannot remember the specific game, but recently, a ref was pulled from (I think a Denver Broncos game) just moments before kickoff when it was discovered that he was an online fan of Denver on Facebook. This is to try to put the kibosh on referee's betting on games & influencing the outcome - the NBA ref situation that happened a few years back.

Now, if you had asked can a referee be a student, alum, or graduate of the Blind School of Stupidity, that would take some research.. (No offense to anyone with a blindness or sight-issues, my father is blind, so don't go there..)