Short Notice Cancellation
Recently had a game cancelled 3 hours before tip off and prior to arriving at the game. Game was cancelled because other team did not have enough players to play.
Under this scenario, in your local areas, do you get a half a game fee or whole game fee for short notice cancellation? If you bug out on a hotel room or dentist appointment you would be charged! |
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I would pay my officials. As an official I would be asking for payment since I couldn't accept any other game at that time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro |
It use to be in the OhioHSAA contracts that if the game was canceled after the officials left for the game they were to be paid the entire game fee. But without telling anyone the OhioHSAA changed its contracts about five years ago such that only if the game was canceled after the officials arrived were they to get paid. Mark, Jr., and I learned about the contract language change the hard way: We were 45 minutes into a 90 minute drive to officiate a girls' JV basketball game on a Saturday afternoon when we were called by the Home AD. The Visitors, were only a 20 minute drive from the Home school, canceled the game because the parents of the Visitors thought it was too cold, :eek:, to travel in a school bus.
MTD, Sr. |
Canceled Games ...
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Almost forty years ago I had a freshman assignment, got to the site, home team was there, my partner was there, got dressed, and waited. Some snow showers came through the state and the visiting team decided not to make the bus ride. Both of us got full fees. Since the home team was dressed and ready to go, I asked the head varsity coach if he wanted me to hang around and officiate a couple of intrasquad scrimmage periods. For years after that he never gave me any problems, even though he was known as a hothead. A little good will goes a long way. Also in ancient times, before cell phones were invented, I had a junior varsity assignment on a Saturday night. Started snowing in mid afternoon. I called the school and, of course, on a Saturday, there's nobody there. I called my assigner, nobody home (Christmas shopping). Figuring (correctly) bad road conditions, I leave about forty-five minutes earlier than I normally would for this site. I get there, no game, but the junior varsity cheerleading coach is there, and the police officer (who stands in the corner) is there, they hadn't been contacted. I get home hours later (the ride home was really treacherous) and my wife tells me that the school called to cancel about thirty minutes after I had left home. I called my assigner, told me he would get back to me early the next week. He did, telling me that because the school called me (they said that I had left home too early) they weren't going to pay me. My assigner said that it was out of his hands, the one and only time that he ever disappointed me. Now, with Arbiter access to athletic director's email and cell phone numbers, we are advised to call if we think that there may be weather related cancellations, and of course, they have Arbiter access to our email and cell phone numbers. In my new life as a subvarsity official (thank God that they only shoot horses in my condition), retired from my day job, I did my first ever board assigned middle school mid afternoon game yesterday. Visiting team walked in the gym twenty minutes past game time. My partner, a middle school veteran (he's a high school teacher, gets out of work early) told me that once or twice a season middle school teams just don't show up (not due to bad weather, but scheduling errors, bus issues, etc.) but we always still get paid. By the way, my first ever board assigned middle school game: very late start, no possession arrow at the table, no scorebook at table, just a clipboard with a sheet of blank paper. I had a blast. Kids were all enthusiastic, coaches coached. I ran an errand on the way home (bought chicken scratch at a feed store near the site) and still got home before 6:00 p.m. with $63.05 in my Arbiter account. |
Nevada pays one game and travel if there is a cancelation after the officials have begun to drive to the game site.
If the school admin can contact the assignor or the officials prior to departure, they won’t be charged anything. Of course, the school needs to have a decent reason for canceling. |
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There is not standard or one-size-fits-all policy here. Some schools will pay you anyways. Others barely will send you anything. It really depends on what the assignor demands or what the school feels is fair.
Peace |
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I've had this happen with conference games that I assign. I pay those officials when the reasoning isn't what one would call "an act of God." Last spring an AD forgot about an academic event and the schools agreed to move the game to a later date with about 3 days notice. I sent checks. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro |
Jinxed ...
This thread jinxed me.
As I'm walking into the gym this afternoon (thirty minutes before game time) for a freshman game I get a call from the athletic director canceling the game. Holiday tournament mix up. I'm getting paid. Both teams were there. I ended up working a four period one person scrimmage. Was home before 5:00 p.m. and will get a check for $63.05. |
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$63.05 for a H.S. Freshmen game??!! MTD, Sr. |
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Here, an official who works solo on games where there should be two will get 1.5x the normal rate. |
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It's just about that for subvarsity in Mass. too. |
All Dressed Up With No Place To Go ...
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We have two middle school leagues that play an "extra" ten minute running time period after the "real" game allowing the kids that didn't get a chance to play in the "real" game a chance to play. Each official gets an additional $15.76. Win for the kids, win for the officials ($78.81), but it's the worst ten minutes of basketball that you've ever seen in your entire life. Quote:
In my case, I showed up at the site (actually got the cell phone call canceling the game while I was in the gym looking for someone to unlock the locker room door). My partner never made it to the site, he just stayed home. I knew that I was getting paid, I could have just got back into my car and gone home. But there were two teams (actually four, both junior varsity teams were also at the site, as well as the freshman teams) on the court, dressed for the game, and table crew (students) was ready to go. Since I already made the ride to the site and planned my day around the game, I figured "What's the rush?", and voluntarily offered to work a few scrimmage periods, it was accepted, and I got dressed. I hadn't worked a one person game in over thirty years, and had forgotten how physically easy (I've got a bad bone spur in my ankle) it was (free throw line to free throw line), so after one period I offered to work three more (total of two junior varsity and two freshman) periods. A little bit good will goes a long way. This morning I got a thank you email from both the athletic director and my assigner. There's nothing wrong with doing it "for the kids" some of the time (as long as it's totally voluntary and just some of the time). Another win win situation, the kids got to play and I got paid to do something that I like to (but didn't have to) do. No need for the extra one half fee for a one person game. It was my choice, I could have just gone home. The 1.5 fee never even entered my mind. Let the "stone throwing" begin. |
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The Running Man (1987) ...
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Each official gets an additional $15.76. Officiate ten minutes of the worst basketball one has ever seen in one's life at a rate comparable to $94.56 an hour. I'll do that any day of the week that ends in "day". I'll even work these games on days of the week that don't end in "day". |
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As always, Act of God cancellations do not obligate a school to pay an official unless the official has already left for the event, at which time a partial payment is due if the event hasn't started. For example, the official (who lives 30 minutes away) is notified three hours before a game that due to weather conditions, the game is cancelled. No payment is due. If in the same situation, the official is on the way or has arrived but conditions do not permit the contest to start, the officials are due 1/2 a game fee (IIRC, I have never had this happen). If the contest starts and then it is cancelled, a full game fee is due. (Only a fee for game 1 of a multiple game event is due if cancelled during the first game). What has changed is with non-Act of God cancellations. Per the state association, any of these cancellations outside of 10 days from the event mean no payment due. Any cancellations within 10 days require the payment of the official if the official does not pick up another assignment for that date (must be that date). This largely came about by volleyball teams overscheduling officials for tourneys and dropping officials when they realized they had too many officials for the number of teams. I have a few examples of this from my assigning this season (all within 10 days). 1) Team notifies me the day of a meet that the meet is cancelled due to a band concert that night. I pushed for the official to be paid (until another official was sick and bailed and I was able to use the cancelled official as the replacement.) 2) Team notifies me that the meet is cancelled because of a scheduling conflict with the facility for that date. Guess what, I'm pushing for payment for the official. Your inability to schedule your facility isn't a problem my official should be punished for. 3) The one I'm dealing with now was a school having a water main break, which means they can't use the running water at the facility so they cancelled a meet. (They still have the team practicing in the facility though). To me a water main break is an Act of God so I don't think I will pursue this one. |
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As for the rate of pay for those games. I wish it was closes to the hourly rate you guys get. We don't get close to that for the 5 quarter games we do, or for the 8 minute quarter games some leagues have started using. |
In my experience, if games are cancelled while I am in transit, I am paid half of the game fee ($40 for a JV baseball game, $44 for a varsity baseball game). However, if I am on site, but the game is cancelled without me being notified (I have signed up for Arbiter Connected, so I receive both email updates and text messages about games), I am paid the full game fee ($80 for JV baseball, $88 for varsity baseball). This had also happened to me in other sports, and I was also paid full fees when a game was cancelled without me being notified (once was a softball game when the Maryland School for the Deaf and St. Andrews booked two sets of umpires, both in Frederick (where Maryland School for the Deaf is based) and in Potomac (where St. Andrews is), the game was played in Potomac, but the game assigned in Frederick was not cancelled in the Arbiter).
ODog, is this also the case in your part of MA? |
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How is it possible to be an AD and officiate at the same time? Being an Athletic Director is very time-consuming, and there is an automatic conflict of interest with the school that employs you as AD, so I don't imagine that many AD's also officiate.
Still, it is weird that some AD's treat officials better than others. Perhaps some assigners have better relationships with AD's and/or are able to negotiate better contracts, including cancellation pay. |
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Randy McCall was an AD at a large school up until a few years ago. There are a number of ADs that officiate
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Conflict Of Interest ...
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Over the past ten years I had a day job that prevented me from doing any mid-afternoon games. I did block out the high school in my system until about two years ago since I was very close to both the boys and girls coaches and the athletic director. After they all moved on I took off the high school block (I've got them on the road after the holidays). In my new life this year as a subvarsity official, now retired from my day job, I forgot about my middle school. Back when I was there their games were assigned locally, not by my local board's assignment commissioner. It never dawned on me that I would be assigned one of their games. Sure enough, I got assigned a home game at my middle school. At first I was going to keep it, it's been more than ten years, but I know many teachers, administrators, and both coaching staffs, so I turned back the game, and blocked out boys and girls, home and on the road. I don't need any headaches, or to lose any sleep. There are plenty fish in the sea. |
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Here once showed up at a site, game was cancelled days before but someone forgot to call our assignor. As it turned out the visiting school had a lockdown situation on campus which also precluded them from traveling. We got half fee.
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The only other major problem I had was a swim meet where the concession stand burned popcorn. The fire alarm goes off everyone has to exit the facility, including all the swimmers who are told to immediately exit, in their suits into 40 degree weather. The districts policy requires the fire department to clear the building before anyone can re-enter. We had some very PO'ed swimmers, coaches and parents. The only thing we could do is give them an extended period to warm up after they were allowed to reenter the building. |
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As for the way the AD's treat officials. This boils down to two things. Some areas have AD's who have experience within the sporting community as a coach, official or athletes. Some of them have no experience with sports and are AD's because it was an administrative position within the school district. It is obvious which schools actually care about athletics and which ones care only about $$$$$$$. |
Now it makes more sense, when an AD is an official at a different level, but it is still a big time commitment to be an AD.
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No Conflict Of Interest ...
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It was just another game. I do know the varsity coach (he's a new official, wants to officiate in the summer, he's a teacher and wants to make some extra money), but from my coaching days (he was at a different high school at the time), we would bump into each other coaching at summer camps, there are more than a few of these coaches in our officiating area, I haven't coached at a summer camp in almost fifteen years. Home junior varsity coach (whom I also knew from my camp coaching days) yanked my chain during game "Hey BillyMac, didn't you use to teach in (town)?". I replied, "It's been almost fifteen years". He replied (smiling), "Well, OK, no problem, but how about calling them both ways?". I still block off the middle school that I taught at, and coached at, home and on the road. |
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As an official in Alaska, I’d be curious to know what the “too cold” temperature was. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Spolied Young'uns ...
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(It was the dreaded Polar Vortex.) Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. has had schools in Ohio close due to "cold", we've had the same thing here in Connecticut. It's the latest dance craze. And to think, when I was a kid in ancient times, I walked several miles to school in several feet of snow, and back home in the afternoon, uphill both ways. I drive by the bus stop on the corner on the coldest day of the winter and the kids have on a sweatshirts, shorts, sneakers, and baseball caps. On cold days, my Mom dressed up my bother and me like the Michelin Man. https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.t...=0&w=227&h=182 Why can't they be like we were, perfect in every way? What's the matter with kids today? (Bye Bye Birdie, 1960) |
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I think the biggest issue is schools don't want to be held liable because the parents don't know how to dress their snowflakes. I think we missed 1 or 2 days total due to cold when I was in school, and one of those was due to it being too cold for the busses to start (it was like 20 below that morning). |
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