how can you make officiating full time job

rookyref · #1 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 04:18pm

i am a new official who loves his job and has decided that i want to make this a career i wont work high school ball til next year and wish to get in as many games at any level to gain experience
i also value opionions and tips from you veterens who do such a great job in a field where the best recognition is from little to no praise and every call you make only gets at best 50percent positive feedback
im ok with that my skin is getting thicker every game i do
so where should i go to earn extra dough durning spring and summer
thanks pros

tharbert · #2 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 04:47pm

I don't know of anyone that makes a living on only one sport. I do, however, know several military retirees that officiate basketball in the winter, baseball and softball in the spring, football in the fall, vollyball, wrestling...you get the idea.
If you have made contacts within your local referee association, ask them about tournaments, youth summer leagues and adult leagues. It's hard to break into some of those areas a)because you haven't worked up to H.S. and b) sometimes it's not your abilities that get you the games.

Go for it!

rookyref · #3 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 04:51pm

thank for the info
i will look into doing hs football and basketball next
season i appreciate the words of advice and as a full time student it seems to be a great part time job what kind of money do the pros pro make div 1 nba etc
michael

tharbert · #4 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 04:56pm

Ah... a student. Try the school rec center. Ask about intramural sports. That's a great way to break into sports you don't necessarily know anything about.

Snake~eyes · #5 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 05:19pm

Don't be looking to make a living off of this. You will have to do professional to making a good amount of money. NBA and MLB can because of how many games they do but NFL just isn't that great. It will be really hard for you to make a living off of just officiating, I wish it was easy cause I would probaly do that lol

JRutledge · #6 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 05:48pm

If you do it in basketball, you have to get to the D1 level at the very least. Might take you 7 or more years to realistically get enough of a schedule to achieve that level. You could go to the NBA (or pro ball), at least they hire you and you work for them, unlike the other levels. But I only know of one official that does not have another job. Everyone else works somewhere else outside of officiating. This is not really a good way to make a living. And it is not very secure. Officials get fired every year from the pros and D1 officials get fired as well. One bad call or bad ruling, you lose all that money you worked hard to keep. Go to school, get a job that allows you to officiate and make some extra money to buy a car or to pay your rent or buy a house with. But I would not expect to make money and have no other job than officiating.

Now it could happen, but you have to be good, blessed, be at the right place at the right time to make that dream a reality. Many officials have tried and are not there. I never say never, but have something to fall back on.

Peace

Rich · #7 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 06:16pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Snake~eyes
Don't be looking to make a living off of this. You will have to do professional to making a good amount of money. NBA and MLB can because of how many games they do but NFL just isn't that great. It will be really hard for you to make a living off of just officiating, I wish it was easy cause I would probaly do that lol

I know some people who don't do anything but officiate. They don't live very well, as it's pretty hard to live on what you make working amateur sports.

The only amateurs who can pull this off and live well are D-I basketball officials at the highest level. Otherwise you'll have to take the shot and try to work a professional league. Odds are very slim that you'll succeed, so you should get a good education.

I regret not going to umpire school myself, but I simply didn't have the money when I had the time. Now that I could afford it, I don't have the time.

--Rich

One-Whistle · #8 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 09:36pm

We have a local official who demonstrated great promise as an aspiring umpire.
He was recruited to work lower level baseball down south.
I am not familiar with the reasons that he failed, but it didn't work out for him.
Now he is in PRISON,
as a correctional officer.

rainmaker · #9 (**permalink**) Mon Mar 15, 2004, 11:49pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser
I know some people who don't do anything but officiate. They don't live very well, as it's pretty hard to live on what you make working amateur sports.

Yea, there are a couple of folks around here for whom it's their only source of income. If you're basically healthy so that you don't need medical insurance, and have a very cheap apartment, and a good-running paid-for car, you can squeak by.

And it's nice to have as a fill-in when you're between jobs.

But it's a GREAT second income. If your spouse has a good job, with benefits, you can be the house-person, do the house things, and take care of the kids. Then reffing beats almost anything as that second little pocket amount (I mean, who wants to work at McDonald's when you could be tossing howler monkeys?!). It has worked out great for my family that way, and I know a few others in this situation.

And if you're in college it's a good solid job. If you intend to put yourself through school this way, you should e-mail Mark Dexter and get tips from him.

Mark Dexter · #10 (**permalink**) Tue Mar 16, 2004, 09:10am

Quote:

Originally posted by rainmaker

And if you're in college it's a good solid job. If you intend to put yourself through school this way, you should e-mail Mark Dexter and get tips from him.

Ha! I wish I could get through college on my intramural salary. Intramurals tend to pay somewhere between minimum wage and 10 dollars/game, depending on what school you're at. Of course, that's often nicely ofset by the fact that you'll do anywhere between 2 and 4 (sometimes more) games per night. It's a nice amount of extra money to have, though.

Working school ball will get you a bit more, but don't expect it to cover tuition, even at a small public college.

DJ · #11 (**permalink**) Tue Mar 16, 2004, 09:35am

First stay in school, go to college and get an education and then pursue it as a professsion after you have taken care of the important things in life. Also make sure you marry the right wife because if you don't have a supporting wife who doesn't mind if you are gone four or five nights a week it will not work out!!!

footlocker · #12 (**permalink**) Tue Mar 16, 2004, 10:07am

If you want to make a living here you need to get creative. Look at your current association and see if there are any areas for improvement in referee supplies. Is there a distributor problem? Can you fill a need for your area by providing referee supplies? This is not a huge money gainer and itÂ’s very seasonal but it could provide a good secondary income. There is also plenty of competition on the internet. If you can operate a quality, local run operation at a good price (if there is little or bad competition) then you may have a business opportunity.

Also, you can look into assigning games. You can gain contacts through your time working your way up the ranks. When you gain a lead to assign games for tournaments and leagues, you can make a few dollars assigning games. Again this is more supplemental income.

IÂ’m not going to get into the specifics of how these ideas can be run successfully. However, if you were truly interested, IÂ’d suggest posting a new thread about the idea that interests you.

Bottom line, get an education and a job that will support your love for officiating.