First Louisiana now Mississippi

[SCalScoreKeeper]

Mississippi basketball officials are now threatening to strike on the eve of competition after receiving two $5 raises over the last decade.

High school basketball practice began today but will the referee - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

[Raymond]

Obligatory "what happened to doing it for the kids?" response.

Now that's out the way.

Interesting to see if the Louisiana officials will cross over after what they've been through. Were Biloxi officials coming over to Louisiana during their dispute?

[SCalScoreKeeper]

I wouldn't dare cross that line in an official's strike.

[ODog]

$40/game for varsity?! That's INSANE!

They should absolutely strike. Even the fees listed (which may be inaccurate) for Alabama and Louisiana are criminally low.

I didn't get the impression they were, but are these 3-person games at least?! Some of the videos showed three officials, but the president was talking about a goal of $110 total for two officials.

I'm with you, Mississippi!

[Mregor]

Originally Posted by ODog

$40/game for varsity?! That's INSANE!

They should absolutely strike. Even the fees listed (which may be inaccurate) for Alabama and Louisiana are criminally low.

I didn't get the impression they were, but are these 3-person games at least?! Some of the videos showed three officials, but the president was talking about a goal of $110 total for two officials.

I'm with you, Mississippi!

The way I read it is they work 2 games a night and not 2 refs per game. They make $40/game or $80 with a goal of $55/110.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Mregor

The way I read it is they work 2 games a night and not 2 refs per game. They make $40/game or $80 with a goal of $55/110.

Here in South Carolina, a 3-man crew makes $78 apiece plus mileage for a varsity doubleheader (which is typical) and $55 apiece plus mileage for a single varsity game. Just for comparison.

[Rich]

The conference I assign is rural. 348 games, all 3-person. This is the first season games are assigned with 3 officials. I let crews bring a third last year and split 2 checks if they wished. A surprising number chose to do so, even though it cost each official $20.

I did have a few officials ask why we didn't raise the fees and work 2-person. Every one of those cared more about the money than the work.

[Mregor]

AZ is all 2-man. We get $65 +$10 travel in Phx metro area. Very rarely are there double headers (only at the smallest of the independent schools). I think sub varsity gets $45+45+10 for JV-Frosh double header w/travel. Every once in a while varsity will fill in (no show). We get to school around 5:30 for 7:00 game. More and more of the sub varsity guys are just in it for the money these days. Don't even want to move up because they make less per night. I have a problem with that when they don't even try to do a good job, but it sure makes everyone appreciate us more for the varsity game.

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by Rich

The conference I assign is rural. 348 games, all 3-person. This is the first season games are assigned with 3 officials. I let crews bring a third last year and split 2 checks if they wished. A surprising number chose to do so, even though it cost each official $20.

I did have a few officials ask why we didn't raise the fees and work 2-person. Every one of those cared more about the money than the work.

Amen. My local board committed this year to finally going all 3-p for varsity. They took a $10 cut per game ($85-$75) and the 2-p JV officials are also going to eat a $10 cut ($55-$45) to help subsidize the increased varsity cost on the schools.

I'm all for it and I think most folks in the room agreed. But there was a subtle grumble from the cadre of permanent JV officials.


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[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Amen. My local board committed this year to finally going all 3-p for varsity. They took a $10 cut per game ($85-$75) and the 2-p JV officials are also going to eat a $10 cut ($55-$45) to help subsidize the increased varsity cost on the schools.

I'm all for it and I think most folks in the room agreed. But there was a subtle grumble from the cadre of permanent JV officials.


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Now that's the right way to do it. When NV shifted to 3-person, the Varsity crew split the previous two-person fee. The frosh and JV fees were not changed. That meant that the Varsity game fee was only about $5 more than the JV/frosh fee. It didn't make sense then and doesn't now.
People in NV still do better taking the frosh/JV double-header over a single Varsity game.

[Remington]

Just for comparison, in North Dakota, our fees are:

Class A Basketball (18 min halves): Varsity $73.50 - Soph/JV $40.50
Class B Basketball (8 min quarters): Varsity $71.50 -Soph/JV $40.50
Freshman: $35
7th-8th Grade: $30

NDHSAA is working to narrow the gap from Varsity to Soph/JV games.

**Rates are the same whether it is 2 or 3 person crews. Nearly all varsity games are 3 person crews.

**Mileage: Our state pays the state rate of $.575 per mile for the driver. Any roundtrip over 100 miles includes $.05 per mile for the riders.

[zm1283]

Originally Posted by Whistles & Stripes

When you only work 9 months out of the year, you can't expect the taxpayers to pay you for 12.

I don't know anyone who expects that, but teachers only get paid for 9 months. That pay is just spread out over 12 months.

We had a fee increase in our area in Missouri in the last year or so. Our game fees are based on the length of the quarters being played:

6 min = $40
7 min = $50
8 min = $60

The majority of nights are JV/V doubleheaders where you make $110 or $120 depending on if the JV teams play 8-minute quarters or 7-minute quarters.

We get a $15 fee added on to any single game played (Usually a varsity-only night when they don't have a JV team), so it's $75 for a single varsity game.

We meet partners and ride together the vast majority of the time. The driver gets round-trip miles at 40 cents/mile.

I don't have many complaints about our fees. The only thing I don't like is that we make a half-game fee for working half a game. We could work a half JV game and make $25, whereas if we just didn't work the game at all and got the $15 single game fee, we would only be making $10 less. So in a sense, we are working that JV half for $10. I feel like we should do something like knock $10 off the game fee if you only play a half.

[IowaMike]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Amen. My local board committed this year to finally going all 3-p for varsity. They took a $10 cut per game ($85-$75) and the 2-p JV officials are also going to eat a $10 cut ($55-$45) to help subsidize the increased varsity cost on the schools.

I'm all for it and I think most folks in the room agreed. But there was a subtle grumble from the cadre of permanent JV officials.


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I don't blame the jv guys for grumbling; why should they subsidize the varsity guys?. I work a lot of varsity but still work some lower level stuff too and I wouldn't work a 2 person HS jv game for $45. You work harder doing a 2 person sophomore boys game than you do working a 3 person boys varsity game.

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by IowaMike

You work harder doing a 2 person sophomore boys game than you do working a 3 person boys varsity game.

"Work" isn't just how much you run. I think a lot of 3p varsity officials feel they work pretty darn hard.

Don't forget that varsity officials don't get home until 10pm most nights; that also deserves compensation.

At the end of the day it's like that line from the movie Moneyball: "It's not about the money. It's about what the money says."


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[zm1283]

Originally Posted by Whistles & Stripes

WTF?!?!?

I've been in this referee business for quite some time, and I don't recall EVER being scheduled to only work half a game.

Am I alone in this?

It usually happens at smaller schools that don't have enough players to play full JV games. They have to use some of the would-be JV players during the varsity game and they are limited to six quarters a night, so they don't have enough quarters left to play a full JV game.

Some of them will just play one JV quarter. Some only have 7-8 players total and will only play the varsity game with no JV game at all.

This is the exception more than the rule. The vast majority of nights are JV/V doubleheaders.