Why
 

For division 1 umpires
Why do the best division 1 umpires work for only $200 per game while the best division 1 basketball officials work for $1,800 per game?
Does a baseball player on a free ride athletic scholarship to an $18,000 a year school only get $2,000, while his counterpart basketball player gets $18,000? Since all of officiating is an advocation, a byproduct of this advocation is that there actually is money involved and you get paid better and better as you move up. However, even using the old (baseball is non-revenue sport) this type of disparity should not be tolerated by the great division 1 baseball officials out there that post on this site. With all the travel, equipment, meetings, uniforms and time away from home and constant study of the rules, not to mention the 3-4 hour games and possibilty of getting knocked unconscious by a backswing or taking 58 foot curveballs and fastballs off the wrist's, hands, fingers and inner thighs all the time, why do you guys sell yourselves so short?? Nobody can make you inferior without your permission. Do high school baseball officials get paid 1/9 of the amount that basketball officials make. The top basketball guys actually take a paycut to $1,400 for the NCAA finals. But even with an increase from the $200 baseball game fee, the CWS is only $3900 for 13 games for a total of $300 per game. The Super Regionals are $945 which means if there are only 2 games you get $425, but if there are 3 games you only get $315. Why do you guys let this tremendous disparity persist. Thanks.

And we'll have fun, fun, fun, till Bob Jenkins locks the forum away!

Don't take it so personal. I dont' know the answer, but from my experience on the basketball side, it looks as if this particular topic is a can of worms, historically. Just a guess.

Why? Market supply and demand.

That's at least directionally correct..

Umpires are slightly better than slaves at every level but the big leagues. There can't be games without us, yet there is no full appreciation of our contribution in the form of a suitable fee.

In Southern California, I frequently travel 60-to-80 miles round trip to do a high school game in my gas-guzzling V-8 SUV, only to be given a check for $75.00, which, after gas and a meal, is enough to barely buy another meal.

And I work for two different H.S. units, because there's a shortage of good umpires and the L.A. unit has to borrow guys so more games aren't canceled. And we can't get more good umpires, because that self-sacrificing sprit isn't present in this or the coming generation.

I can't understand why A) the training of quality umpires is so weak; and B) why so little emphasis is placed on raising the fee scale for those that are properly trained.

MLB umpires give a little back, but they should give back drastically more in the area of training umpires.

Part of the issue is revenue the sports generate. Both sports get sponsors (Nike, Power Aid, TPX, etc...) but the real difference is in what the teams make at the gate. Basketball across the board makes more money at the box office than baseball. Add to this television rights. The networks are all trying to grab rights to broadcast certain basketball. Any day of the week during the season you can probably find a college basketball game being broadcast. It is more difficult to find college baseball games on TV unless you have a regional sports network like Fox Sports South until post season. But even the regional sports channels won't have a college game every night. 1-2 a week if your lucky.
Also, get a group of a hundred boys under 18 and odds are some of them will be wearing college licensed clothes, but it will probably be basketball or football rather than baseball. And if it is a baseball cap it's probably to support the basketball or football rather than baseball.

I just looked at my favorite school's website (UNC) and made some notes. I feel they would be a great example as they dominate in baseball and basketball. In non-conference baseball games their avg attendance is just over 600. In conference games their attendance is just over 1800. If you add in the CWS round in Cary for their games they averaged a bit over 3200. The grand total of attendance for all of their games was just under 50,000.

Lets compare that to their basketball. Conference or non-conference the Dean Smith Center is at about 20,000 per game. Times 16 home games = 320,000 fans. This isn't including the 3 exposition games which the stands were virtually full as well.

This is what the Athletic Dir's are looking at when negotiating contracts for their officials.

I don't know the details on each sports officials on assignments and what not but maybe some observations.

D1 basketball officials, if they are the good/popular ones, work quite a few nights a week for different conferences. Monday night they're doing an ACC game, Tuesday they're in Big 10 games, etc.

Could they be responsible for travel costs (cars, fuel, airfare, hotels, food, etc) and the amount of pay goes towards that.

I know that they all holds jobs, but I would think if your a big time basketball officials, your not working your "real" job a whole lot from Nov/Dec, through March. So the pay reflects that fact.

D1 baseball umps, might work one or two game during the week, but it's usually a local game so the extra amount of pay doesn't need to be there. They usually won't work a whole lot until the teams have the series on the weekend. Many will not work at that time and miss out on pay and also many conferences/schools take care of hotels, at least from what I've seen.

Again I don't know all the specifics but just thoughts.

One more thought, agree with alot of what is said above about revenue.

A D1 Baseball team plays roughly double the amount of games a college basketball team does. Schools only have so much budgeted for officials.

A sidebar, but I thought I'd throw it in. It has everything to do with revenue generation on the school's side of things, and that helps determine where the supply and demand curves fall. Not just umpires, coaches too. I doubt any baseball manager in NCAA comes with 15% of what a top D1 football coach makes.

And it goes all the way down to the guy who sweeps the floors on the supply and demand curve (min. wage will bring it all back to a flat level that low though).

why
 

Do high school baseball umpires make only 1/9 the fee that high school basketball officials make? Do college baseball players get 1/9 the scholarship money that the college basketball player gets for a full ride? Just asking since the economics (non-rev sports) keep slipping in to the equation. Why do the games for so much less than you are worth? Why not just do them for free and help hold down the costs even more? After all, it is an advocation.

In HS, any sports that do generate revenue don't generate THAT much (broad strokes, but play along).

And even if they do generate boat loads, most other sports in HS lose boat loads.

I don't even know why I'm responding, you got your answers above but are clearly trying to promote your own agenda.

Tootles.

Speak for yourself...

What is your purpose in making this post and would you like to delete it?

ditto

Completely wrong for many of us. I've walked away from college conferences because the drive is too far and the coaches think they're the second coming of Earl Weaver.

And yet I work volunteer Little League games.

This post, of all you've posted, reminds me most of a certain poster.....

You're confusing "need" the money, for "want" the money.


Tim.

It may be truthful for you....

Some do volunteer. Others do it for just enough money to break even. Others do it for just enough profit to justify it to their spouses, but they'd be better off with a part time job at minimum wage for all the time and money they spend.

Of course, there is always Johnny Paycheck working 10 games on a Saturday, but to suggest all officials have the same motivations you do is a bit myopic.

For the poster above who brought up scholarships: that is a horrible comparison in support of your argument.

In fact, its good evidence in support of why baseball umpires are paid less than basketball refs on the Division 1 college level.

There are very few Division 1 baseball players on a full ATHLETIC BASEBALL scholarship. Why?

A baseball team on the Division 1 level can only give out 11.5 total scholarships each academic year, period. (Most teams, having worked as an NCAA compliance officer before going into private practice, split up their 11.5 scholarships among many, many players. So many players get partial scholarships.)

Basketball teams on the Division 1 level can give out 13 total scholarships each academic year. (Major Division 1 basketball programs tend to have the majority of their players on a full ride).

Yup, baseball teams have far more players than basketball teams, but they are allowed 1.5 less scholarships. Why?

REVENUE.:eek:

If they do not even allocate the same amount of scholarship money to baseball players as they do basketball players...do you think they're going to allocate the same amount of money per game to the officials of a NON-REVENUE sport?

The explanation for the disparity of officials' pay is simple: REVENUE vs. NON-REVENUE

Hey, come down here to Dixie and see what an SEC white cap makes per game/

Umpiring doesn't make nearly enough to make a decent living. You'd make more money working 20 hours of overtime each week in a factory.

can be great extra money/supplemental income...but yep, I agree, not enough to make a decent living. especially up here in MN where we can only work from April - mid August if you get into the State Tournament

Perhaps you could show me where I indicated I speak for all officials?

I somehow doubt your response got deleted if the above quote was all you wrote. Reminds me of a card game I like to play.

Right. Your actions here do not give you the benefit of the doubt. And, the posts did contain additional "information."

Please change your sig.