Quote:
Originally Posted by crosscountry55
One thing I haven’t noticed on this thread so far is how the re-arrangement and/or compression of traditional sports season schedules may decrease the amount of available officials (as if there wasn’t a shortage in many places already). On top of those who may choose to sit it out until they’ve eventually been vaccinated, you’ve also got those officials who work multiple sports. For example, some dudes who work both football and baseball will have to make choices they’ve never had to make before.
Same will happen to the pool of basketball officials in some cases. Reverting to two-person will be the obvious solution in many instances and I’m really concerned about a nationwide step backwards in this scenario. Once bankrupt athletic budgets drink the two-person cool-aid, it might take 10-20 years in some places to get back to three-person.
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I've been in discussions along those lines both with my local assignor and some of my RefTown customers.
The points you raise are certainly legit. There are several possibilities with addressing this.
For smaller states or cities on the borders with other states, it may be that those states may run the same sports at different times, unlike the normal seasons. In those areas, you may see a lot of officials cross over to help and/or make some extra money.
Similarly, one that I talked to floated the idea of a bunch of people getting together and renting a AirBnB for a few weeks (and they're cheap right now) and working as mercenaries in other states where the games get played at different times. I haven't done the math, but I suppose it might be viable.
The schools could choose to play the games on days outside of what is normally done....football on Friday, baseball on Thursday, for example, allowing the official to be open for both sports. They'll be busy, but it could help.