The following is the 1997 Major League Soccer Referee Pool.
| Name | Hometown |
| Zekai Akbay | Farmington Hills, Mich. |
| Arturo Angeles | Temple City, Calif. (FIFA referee) |
| Kenneth Austin | Dallas, Texas |
| Esse Baharmast | Aurora, Colo. (FIFA referee) |
| Levon Baladjanian | Fresno, Calif. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Andrew Barnes | Baton Rouge, La. |
| Greg Barkey | Succasunna, N.J. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Tom Bobadilla | Artesia, Calif. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Zimmerman Boulos | Jacksonville, Fla. (FIFA referee) |
| Susan Cicchinelli | Austin, Texas (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Jose Colmenares | Albuquerque, N.M. |
| Ted Covaciu | Algonquin, Ill. |
| Nathan Clement | Newark, Del. |
| Raul Dominguez | Irving, Texas (FIFA referee) |
| Richard Eddy | Colchester, Conn. |
| Jan Gettemeyer | St. Louis, Mo. (FIFA referee) |
| Alberto Giordano | Elmhurst, N.Y. |
| Frank Gorog | Seattle, Wash. |
| Richard Grady | Evanston, Ill. |
| Brian Hall | Morgan Hill, Calif. (FIFA referee) |
| Richard Heron | Phoenix, Ariz. |
| Roger Itaya | San Bernardino, Calif. |
| Michael Kennedy | Evergreen Park, Ill. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Noel Kenny | Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. |
| Tarek Khan | Russel Township, Ohio |
| Allen Lo | Wappinger, N.Y. |
| Buyngil Noh | Grafton, Va. |
| Craig Lowry | New Holland, Pa. |
| Terry Mashino | Roseville, Calif. |
| Laszlo Nagy | Davie, Fla. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Christopher Neuzil | Colorado Springs, Colo. |
| Steve Olson | Minneapolis, Minn. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Arkadiusz Prus | Wallington, N.J. |
| Joshua Patlak | Santa Barbara, Calif. (FIFA referee) |
| Giovanni Piazza | Shaker Heights, Ohio |
| Delfim Rainho | Cranston, R.I. |
| Refugio Ramirez | Corona, Calif. |
| Arthur Reed | Scarsdale, N.Y. |
| Edwin Resendes | Swansea, Mass. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Jorge Reyes | Hollywood, Calif. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Ruben Rodhas | Secaucus, N.Y. |
| Reggie Rutty | Turlock, Calif. |
| Ali Saheli | Columbia, Mo. |
| Paul Scott | Ft. Worth, Texas |
| Robert E. Sheker | Harrisburg, Pa. |
| Roger Sill | Tampa, Fla. |
| Kevin Stott | Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (FIFA referee) |
| Paul Tamberino | Monkton, Md. (FIFA referee’s assistant) |
| Kevin Terry | Carrollton, Texas |
| Roberto Van de Wyngard | Dayton, Ohio |
| George Vergara | Chester, Va. |
| Janusz Weselak | Garfield, N.J. |
| Tim Weyland | Berkeley, Calif. (FIFA referee) |
| Scott Weyland | Phoenix, Ariz. |
| J. Michael Williams | Baton Rouge, La. |
| Marcel Yonan | Chicago, Ill. |