A sad state of affairs . . .

[Rich]

I suspect *somebody* gets a cut - it just may not be somebody from the umpire association. I mean, commissioners get paid a salary, which probably reduces game fees by a few dollars. That's not really what's at issue.

I've seen umpires, for whatever reason, held back from varsity assignments for no good reason. I've seen associations where even returning professional umpires would be saddled with JV/Freshman ball until a certain number of years were served in the association. That's the restraint of trade I'm talking about. Nobody could legitimately argue that a person who worked multiple years in the minor leagues couldn't fall into a varsity schedule easily.

If anything good comes out of these efforts, it will mean the end of associations controlling every aspect of umpiring -- assigning, payment, negotiation of fees, collecting "assigning fees" from every game, training requirements, etc. I'm as busy as I want to be and most of my assignments are from the groups themselves and I get a check when I walk on the field.

[ODJ]

Used to be in Eugene, OR, the associations charged the schools for training officials, assigning games, and cutting the checks to pay the officials. What a racket.

No longer can the assignor be an "official" part of an association, but that's how OSAA has the system set up since joining a local association is required under its by-laws.

[Lawrence.Dorsey]

In NC, you have to belong to an association sanctioned by the NCHSAA for the sport you wish to work in. There's no requirements on who you can work, as I live on the border between two associations and I made the choice (right choice) to work for one over the other. You are not supposed to take assignments from another association unless the other assoc. goes through your booking agent (sometimes in border areas assignors get in a pinch and need help).

Our uniforms and procedures are spelled out from the NCHSAA office. In my association, the booking agent takes a booking fee (one game fee) for the year but he handles no money for game fees. The schools provide us with a check before each game. That is not uniform across the state as the "other" association near me does things differently. The assignor does not collect a booking fee directly from the umpires. He withholds the first game check and pays the umpires from his office as he collects all money from the schools and then distributes to umpires.

I would hate to see us treated as employees. Too much of a headache with that and really our association is not setup for the paperwork involved. I truly wonder how many assignors would keep at it given the amount of paperwork and bookkeeping they would have to do if this came to pass.

Lawrence