NFHS - FT mechanic rational?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Good point, and one, as an official in a state that does not use three person mechanics on any regular basis, that I have a question about.

When a state, or local region, goes from two person to three person, does the total cost of the officials for that game increase, or does the normal two person total fee get split three ways instead of two ways?

Also, shouldn't the total fee increase a little, since the school is getting a better officiated game?

Are there states, or local regions, where officials in a three person game received a check for a normal two person fee, but the school just passed out three of these checks instead of just two? Now that scenario could be quite expensive.

Regular season is controlled by the conferences or the tournaments. The IHSA plays no role in those games and how many officials should or should not work.

Secondly, all our games have a check for all the officials that are supposed to work. If it is 3 officials, then three officials get paid. I cannot imagine it being any other way. And this is why I say that trying to expand from 2 to 3 for all games might be difficult for some areas. Because 3 Person is required in the post season, schools follow because it only makes sense to see the same officials in the regular season that you see in the post season.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Secondly, all our games have a check for all the officials that are supposed to work. If it is 3 officials, then three officials get paid. I cannot imagine it being any other way.

I'm sorry. I don't think that my questions were clear enough.

Let's say that a state, or a conference, is thinking about going from a two person game to a three person game. Let's also say that previously, each official in the two man game received $50, for a total cost of $100 to the school for the game. In going to a three person game, would each official receive $33 each, for the same total cost of $100 to the school for the three person game as for the two person game? Or would each official get $50 each for a total cost to the school of $150?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I'm sorry. I don't think that my questions were clear enough.

Let's say that a state, or a conference, is thinking about going from a two person game to a three person game. Let's also say that previously, each official in the two man game received $50, for a total cost of $100 to the school for the game. In going to a three person game, would each official receive $33 each, for the same total cost of $100 to the school for the three person game as for the two person game? Or would each official get $50 each for a total cost to the school of $150?

No, you pay them each the same fee. Or at least that is what I would expect. And considering what they pay others that have nothing to do with most games, I do not see why this is a problem. I do not ever remember a fee reduction unless the school had a double header policy for the officials. But that was the case with the smaller schools that did that, I never heard of the larger schools (outside of the Chicago Public League) making their officials to work both games.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

No, you pay them each the same fee.

So if I received a check for $50 for doing a two person game last year, and assuming no increase in fees over the off season, and the state, or conference, decides to go with three person game this year, then I can expect the same $50 check this year, only this year it's for a three person game? Sounds expensive, $100 for a two person game last year, $150 for a three person game this year. How did you guys in three person states get this first started? Did you threaten to go on strike?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

So if I received a check for $50 for doing a two person game last year, and assuming no increase in fees over the off season, and the state, or conference, decides to go with three person game this year, then I can expect the same $50 check this year, only this year it's for a three person game? Sounds expensive, $100 for a two person game last year, $150 for a three person game this year. How did you guys in three person states get this first started? Did you threaten to go on strike?

Billy,

I really do not know that there was much issue with the schools. For one this was done years ago. We have had 3 Person for all playoff games since 98. Schools in many cases were using 3 Person for many of their games anyway. I do not think schools took this position like you suggest. Also basketball is a revenue sport and they pay more for a single football game for officials than any basketball game. I did not see an issue with fee that big of a deal. The smaller schools as I said would sometimes try to get officials to work a JV/Varsity double header and the money would not be as much as if they paid the JV officials separate, but that has gone away in many cases too. But those were schools that assigned their own games for the most part, and if you did not pay a high enough fee, officials would on their own not go there. And the market in a sense dictated the fees going up. Because schools and conferences wanted to not have officials not go to their places just because of money alone. Basketball is a pretty big deal in this state. It is not difficult to come up with an extra $50 in your example. But so you know, most fees are in the $60 range now and some are higher.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

...schools that assigned their own games for the most part, and if you did not pay a high enough fee, officials would on their own not go there. And the market in a sense dictated the fees going up. Because schools and conferences wanted to not have officials not go to their places just because of money alone. Basketball is a pretty big deal in this state. It is not difficult to come up with an extra $50 in your example. But so you know, most fees are in the $60 range now and some are higher.

JRutledge: Good, informative post. Thanks. From your post I can see two reasons why I'm having trouble wrapping my arms around this three person issue, and, again, I'm in a, for the most part, two person state.

First. Individual schools in Connecticut do not set fees for officials. There is no competitive bidding. They all pay the same fee, as set by our state high school athletics governing body. So we all happily go where our assignment commissioner sends us. Travel never becomes an issue, because we have different assignment commissioners for each county. My longest trip is 50 miles, one way, and I'm seldom sent to that school. Many years ago we even stopped negotiating with the state body, and now we automatically accept a yearly fee increase equal to the average teacher pay increase across the entire state, so, for example, if the average increase in teachers' pay, statewide, is 2.5%, then we will get an automatic 2.5% increase in our game fees. No more yearly negotiating sessions in smoke filled rooms.

Second. I believe that Connecticut basketball officials may be some of the highest paid basketball officials in the nation. This is probably due to the general wealth of the state, as well as the high cost of living in the state. The varsity basketball fee for 2009-10 is $86.63. The subvarsity fee, which not only includes junior varsity games, but also includes freshman, and middle school, games, is $56.18. Only ice hockey gets more, $90.00 varsity, $58.00 subvarsity. To add a third official to a varsity basketball game would mean an additional $86.63 game cost to the school, meaning an additional cost of $866.30 over a ten game home schedule, and that's only for varsity three person games, it doesn't account for junior varsity three person games. To compound economic matters, we are about to enter our first year with mandatory fees, dictated by our state high school athletics governing body, for preseason scrimmages, I believe in the $50.00 range. Previously we officiated preseason scrimmages free of charge, or for some small, undetermined ahead of time, form of compensation (T-shirt, sandwich, pizza, $10, $20, etc.) that was decided by each individual school. This will now add an additional cost to the school's basketball officiating budget.

Connecticut may eventually catchup. Some of the big city schools in the southern part of the state occasionally use three officials for some of their "big rival" games, and three person crews are mandatory for the state quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, in all three (school size) classes. The funny thing about the state tournament three person games, is that some of our best officials, that are selected by coaches, to officiate the state tournament, have litttle, or no, experience with three person mechanics, so we often see a lot of finger pointing as partners help each other in regard to where, and how, to switch. In some cases there is an NCAA official on the crew that kind of takes charge. Last season our local board had its first ever three person mechanics training session. You heard me right, first ever, in 2008. Only about a twenty officials, from a local board of over 250 officials, attended the session. I'm sure that the poor turnout for this training session was due to lack of confidence that Connecticut will be going to a lot of three person games anytime soon.