Since the NCAA is nothing more than an association of member schools, everything the NCAA does is based on what the member schools want it to do. I was under the impression the NCAA either does not, or cannot, control what happens during regular season athletic contests, other than specific issues like eligibility and recruiting rules. All the other issues are handled at the school and conference level. The NCAA does however control their "championships", or the NCAA post-season. If the schools want the NCAA to take over the officiating scheduling, they would vote to have it done.

The other issue that isn't mentioned much is the fact that schools, conferences, and the NCAA have to be careful how much control they try to exert over officials. If they put too many conditions on them, officials might then be considered "employees" by federal labor and tax standards, and then would be subjected to a whole other set of rules and regulations, such as federal and state tax withholding, FICA, unemployment insurance, overtime (no, Mark, not that overtime...) rules, and so on. And, since the NCAA will have more expenses based on officials being employees, the overall amount paid to officials will be less than if they treated them as independent contractors.

I agree, but they still could set some standards that make it an option for those to agree to those conditions. I do not think you would in principle violate independent contractor laws if you required some things while taking an assignment. They already do this now, but it is not about where you work and when you work. But they do say what you wear, what mechanics you use and make decisions based on that. I am certainly not a lawyer, but what is asked of them now could be seen the same way if someone wanted to challenge that in court. Something tells me that would be a very difficult case to fight.

Peace

I think if an organization like the NCAA were to make these decisions from the top, telling conferences whom they could hire (jeffpea's suggestion would include that) and telling officials for whom they could work, they'd be pushing the envelope a bit. I'm not labor lawyer either, so I couldn't say for sure.

The NCAA can set some standards. And if this is out of line, then telling officials what to not have on their shoes is also out of line. And all I am saying is if they go to regional assignors, that are what the schools have agreed to do, not just a dictation from the NCAA. And a challenge to that might be very difficult.

Peace

It might, as long as the schools are still in charge. I'm not sure what role it would play, but there are anti-trust and collusion issues to take into account, too; especially if the end result is to arbitrarily reduce the income of some officials.