Unofficial (ha, pun!) update
 

Our basketball association met last night briefly, as we do every year prior to the middle school basketball season (Sept.-Oct.). The football situation was discussed briefly, and off the record. Our commissioner is also a football official (not one of the assoc. involved in the strike) and he has spoken to most other football commissioners around the state. It looks like there WILL NOT be any organizations willing to take these football games. The FHSAA is not really revealing that yet. I believe they will try to lean on the surrounding associations to cross the "picket line".

My opinion, the FHSAA will wait until the last minute to say they can't get anyone to cover the games. Games will get cancelled and the FHSAA will paint the football officials as greedy and willing to "penalize (ha! another pun) the poor kids".

Guess the FHSAA couldn't keep their promise.


https://www.news-press.com/story/sports/high-school/football/2019/08/14/preseason-football-games-cancelled-lee-county-work-stoppage/2009506001/

Good. Stand strong. It's always "for the kids" but only in one direction.

"We're looking to get coverage (for the games) so students don't have to suffer as a result of the SGFOA extorting the district, using students to get more money," Patricca said.

**** that guy. You want a quality service but don't want to pay? No amount of guilt is going to make anyone show up and work a game if the fee isn't up to snuff. They have no one to blame but themselves. I'm not surprised the other associations are content to let this happen.

A: They don't get blamed for cancelled games
B: If Florida relents, they all get a pay raise.

Sounds like a good quote to hang onto and repeat when the teachers and other school staff want a raise (particularly the ones representing the schools in this issue) ....that is what they do over and over.

Were the fees included in the contract when they signed?

I'm wondering the same thing. Contracts are negotiated in the spring between associations and school districts, but fees are set annually by the FHSAA when?

Also:

“It is with great disappointment that we are writing this to inform you that all home high school football scrimmages will not be played this week due to breach of contract by the South Gulf Football Officials Association (SGFOA),” the post said."

Which individual officials signed contracts with Lee County? That contract was agreed to my an entity, an entity that depends on independent contractors to fulfill the terms. If no independent contractors agree to work under those conditions not sure how that is considered a breach.

According to the article, that guy is a gal.

This whole thing is strange.
1. Why would an assn sign a contract to cover games without it specifying a fee that it is comfortable with? Clearly, I don’t understand how it works in FL.
2. Some of these schools are making up to $7,000 per game in ticket sales and want to pay the referees only $65 each! (A total of 5x$65=$325) That’s laughable. A paragraph says that the private schools have already signed an agreement to increase the pay by $10 per official, so we are only left with the public schools refusing to pony up an extra $50 per game while they are bringing in thousands!!! (BTW how do these schools sign such an agreement given that the FHSAA hasn’t altered its maximum game fee? This doesn’t make sense.)
3. How stupid is it that a school would lose out on making $7K because they won’t pay $50. A smart AD would ignore the FSHAA and pay the officials in cash out of the gate receipts instead of losing out on the money-making contest for his school.

Sorry, saw "Chris Patricca". **** her too.

"On Wednesday, Eddie Lewin, vice president of the SGFOA, said all nine schools outside of the Lee public district had signed contracts with the group. The new deal calls for $10 more per official per game, plus each school would pay a $300 administrative fee with the money going back to the refs.

Athletic directors at all schools but Moore Haven and Port Charlotte, who could not be reached, confirmed the deal."

Seems like the private schools knew this was coming.

That was my thinking as well. Notice that in the article it says that when the association lost its sanction, the officials could still join other groups by August 30th in order to ref. Note the following from an earlier article:

"At a meeting Friday, administrators from the Lee County School District told the SGFOA they would not meet the group’s demand for a pay raise this season. The county’s private schools followed suit."

So it seems that the private schools were all on board with this pay raise, paid the refs, and then reneged when the public schools refused to pay higher fees as well. No info on what was in the public school contracts. This explains why some articles state that the association had already collected payment from a few of the schools. Admin fees which were part of the signed contracts.

Found another article stating that this was brought up in April to FHSSA, and was ignored by the ADs. This has been coming down the line for over 4 months. Maybe if they didn't ignore it back then, it wouldn't be a problem now.

"Mantica serves on the FHSAA’s football officials advisory committee. He said the group voted in December to raise their pay to $100 a game. A pay raise was brought up at the athletic directors advisory committee in April when FHSAA supervisor of officials Justin Harrison stated it was time to start looking at the issues, and acknowledging the FHSAA pay was low compared to other states.

The FHSAA said it would bring the motion to its athletic directors advisory committee, Mantica said, but the issue did not make the AD group’s agenda."

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/sports/...but-strike-loo

Given this, why sign the contract in May? Should have said nope, we need to reach an agreement on the pay first.

One game is a go...

https://www.news-press.com/story/spo...ly/2019470001/

"However, on Thursday afternoon, Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers announced its preseason game with Lely would go on as planned. Bishop Verot athletic director Jason Baumgardner said there would be a game less than five hours before the scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff."

Because these SOBs have been dragging their feet for years. If the schools don't have the authority to negotiate the rates directly, and the state ignored your request when you properly submitted it, that forces drastic action. Is it ethical? Maybe not. It's business. Why give your enemy 4-5 months to find new refs or other solutions? Wait till the last minute and force their hand.

https://twitter.com/ECFOArefs

It worked for at least one association. I think only one county is holding out at this point. I saw the volleyball officials in Florida are getting in on the action as well. I didn't know that basketball only pays $55/game down there.

Football is back on... Good for that association and the others that supported them. A deal is in the works.
https://www.news-press.com/story/spo...es/2030765001/

Seems that not everyone supported them as a crew from outside the area came and worked the game Thursday night.

Additionally, the schools/FHSAA are not going to pay the extra $10 per referee for the rest of this season. A private business stepped in and donated the money to cover that. Probably leaving the referees back in the same situation next Fall. So although the officials will receive an extra $10 per game this season, it doesn’t appear that they’ve made any progress with the schools or the state association.

From the above article:
“Though the officials' holdout is done, the refs will not receive any more money from the schools. However, they will receive more money thanks to a $9,000 donation from a group of local businessmen headed up by Brian Rist, founder and executive chairman of hurricane protection company Storm Smart.
The money will go toward giving the officials the $10-per-game raise they were seeking from the schools.”

6-hour drive and a one-hour rain delay and if they didn't get extra compensation, they have undermind officials for getting a raise.

I really starting to hate "doing it for the kids"!!!