I do not have to pay my assignors anything. ;)

Peace

I don't know how many times I can say this so this will be the last.

What you say applies to *you*. It does not apply to everyone.

The method you use is no better or worse than any other method. If you have to deal with the AD's office then you do it. If not then you don't.

I deal with them and in my experience it's not a big deal.

Email doesn't work if your partner is a corrections officer or a construction worker.

Everything goes through our commissioner. He gets a handsome fee to take care of all the communications. If he or the school screws up we still get paid for the game.

I guess I'm one of the unique people that deals with both the schools directly for some leagues, and through an assignor for other leagues. Most of the smaller schools hire the officials directly, so we deal directly with the AD's when it comes to contracts, getting paid, changes in schedules, etc. The schools set their own fees. The advantages are the schools don't have to deal with a "middleman" and pay for that service, so all of the available money for officiating goes directly to the officials. There are plenty of downsides as well - fees are widely different from school to school, sometimes a school will save time by hiring a "crew" instead of individual officials, so one official will now have the responsibilty of making sure they have a partner(s), and the obvious potential conflict where a school might hire officials they "like", instead of hiring the "best".

I also deal with 5 different assignors at both the HS and college level, and they all require/recommend that at least the "R" assigned to the game contact both the school and partners a couple of days ahead of time to verify the date and time of the game, and that the crew will be there. Also, any weather issues have been handled both by the school and the assignor contacting the officials. The schools still pay us directly, either by check the day of the game, or it is mailed to us within a week or so after. The assignors are paid directly by the leagues.

I'm not sure I like the "all or nothing" approaches. Obviously dealing only with the school can present problems if there is an issue between the official and the team/coach/player. However, I would think dealing only with an assignor or association can present its own set of possible problems, or conflicts of interest.

I guess there's no consistency from area to area. At least we all use the same rules...oops...never mind.

You do (indirectly). The schools just take his cut out to pay him directly before you see your check. It all comes out the same. Either way, it will cost the school the same amount and the assignor will get paid the same and you'll get paid the same. Its just a matter of when along the transaction each person's piece is taken out.

JRut means he doesn't have an assigner. :)

Oooooo...Dan needs a nap. :p

Posters are just offering how things are handled differently from place to place. I haven't read where anyone said one way was better than another.

You can put it any way you like. I do not have to dig in my pocket and pay anyone to work a single game in any conference. Actually I am paid more money in the conferences that have assignors than the schools where the AD is the person that assigns the games. The fees with the conferences and the assignor are between the conference and the assignor. The officials do not play a direct part in that in any way. There is no association that is apart of the process and if someone wants to hire me, that is between me and the assignor. The assignors in my area can hire whomever they want to regardless of association or specific area. So I do not see this as I am paying anyone anything. And if I was, that would be a tax issue. I cannot claim any money that comes out of my check that goes to an assignor because I do not see it. ;)

Peace

You may not dig into your pocket to pay them but the school just puts a little less in your pocket so that they can pay the assignor. Whoever does the assignments is going to get a piece of the pie (noone does it for free, not even the AD's). The fact that you might get paid more for conferences where assignors are utilized only says that those particular schools/conferences are willing to pay more to have someone else find the officials. The ones where the AD's handle it want to save a little money (or want more direct control) and pay you a little more and bypass having an assignor (and having to pay an assignor).

When I can put down the expense of paying the assignor as a business expense, I will then consider my fee as "paying the assignor." Until then, I do not have to pay an assignor for anything. ;)

Peace

Assigning around here is done by associations and via The Arbiter. Our contact info is available online for fellow officials, schools, ADs, coaches, etc. to see. It's been no problem.

However, we are instructed to confirm the date/time of the game with the AD and our partner by phone. And once in a while, it saves everybody a lot of grief because when game times and locations change, nobody seems remember to contact the officials.

Now as for the spam, that's interesting. Is The Arbiter selling email addresses? :confused:

Another aspect of confirming the school is that some schools have two campuses where I live. Some play both the girl's and boy's basketball at different locations. It is possible without confirming with the AD or Athletic Office that you go to the wrong site. With school expanding left and right around my area, you may make a mistake and go the wrong campus. As you just stated, the officials are usually the last to know about significant changes.

Peace

I agree. Dan must be quite tired. He can't even keep track of which poster wrote those words. In fact, I did back in post #10. I can only guess that 181174 attempted to quote me when expressing how things are done in southern Indiana (which I already knew btw :) ) which he later deleted by editting his message, but Dan got confused and felt compelled to respond yet again.

Perhaps this is a good example of how emails from multiple contacts to an official could lead to confusion. :p
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Maybe that's an issue in some places. I haven't had a venue change in more than 10 years.