[TwoBits]

Originally posted by CraigD
Gentlemen,

Here in Israel, our games pay 50 shekels (about $11.50 at today's exchange rate) for plate or field, except in our senior league (18+), which pays 75 shekels for the plate and 50 shekels for the field. If an umpire wants travel money he can get it by turning in gas or bus receipts.

When we were organizing our senior league about 4 years ago, I negotiated 125 shekels for the plate and 100 for the field, but to cut costs they decided to only pay 75/50 shekels per game and supply 2 baseballs. I did "force" the league to pay both fees to a guy going solo.

Most of our adult umpires work for free (due to goofy tax laws), but our teens are in it for the money. :-) I generally do youth games for free, but on principle, expect adults to pay their way.

Wow, I would have thought Israeli umpires would be paid more. Threat of suicide bombing has to worth some hazard pay, right?