Four-man crew

[Kansas Ref]

Notwithstanding the advantages, disadvantages, and presumed confusion that will arise, I'm sure that if it were put to a vote, then the majority of refs would be "in favor" of this new tact---for the simple reason of more game$ to work on.
I conducted an informal poll of some campers (read as: asked 5 refs during a lunch break) and all of them said in one way or another they'd be good with it.

[Rich]

Personally, it's why I was thrilled to see most of the conference I work more to 3-person. More games to work, better coverage, how could I not like it?

4-man may happen in the NBA, but I don't think any of us have to worry about it in HS games.

[Kansas Ref]

Originally Posted by Rich

Personally, it's why I was thrilled to see most of the conference I work more to 3-person. More games to work, better coverage, how could I not like it?

4-man may happen in the NBA, but I don't think any of us have to worry about it in HS games.

*I agree: NFHS won't have this due to among other things, adding another budget line item for h.s. sports administrators to have to deal with + the extra cost. I mean to say: things usually reach a point of "diminishing returns".

[scrounge]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

I predicted a 4-man crew a number of years ago. I posted to this forum, but can't find the post. I even included the mechanics they should use.

It was basically 3-man at each of the court, with a fixed L on each end line. Only the C and T move. Unused L rotates with the crew if they rotate at the other end of the court.

So, at the risk of being naive, why exactly would you need any rotations or detailed mechanics at all? If you have 4 guys, why not just split the half-court into quarters, L1 has his side, L2 has his side, T1 his quarter, etc. If the ball is high back up a little, if not come down to C area, but still everyone has their quarter. If the ball is high and forces the T up, the L on that side can easily look through and get the middle. I'm sure there are some other details, but the basics seem straightforward. What am I missing?

Doubt we'll ever see this, the benefit just doesn't appear to be worth the cost.

[Rich]

Why not just go to 8 and make it where nobody runs at all?

I see the benefit of a third official. I'm just not sure that, for us anyway, there's any benefit at all to adding a 4th.

I'd prefer to see a 3rd in baseball or a 6th/7th in football before we do this.