# of games

[ref2coach]

Originally Posted by CMHCoachNRef

My point to you is that as long as there are enough officials to take these games -- it does not matter WHY they take the games (hobby, short on cash, love the exercise, etc.) -- $80 will be the number.

At the point when enough officials decide to do MS games, indoor (outdoor) soccer games, etc., the rate will change. It has to change -- unless they want to go to 1-person crews. until then....well, $80 may not seem so bad.

Sounds like options but reality intrudes. MS games are also assigned by the approved associations. TSSAA also sanctions high school Soccer. I am a soccer referee also. The other Winter sports provide very little opportunity to break a sweat while refereeing. Wrestling or Bowling anyone.

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by ref2coach

Sounds like options but reality intrudes. MS games are also assigned by the approved associations. TSSAA also sanctions high school Soccer. I am a soccer referee also. The other Winter sports provide very little opportunity to break a sweat while refereeing. Wrestling or Bowling anyone.

I am guessing they don't sanction club soccer. My point is that as long as enough folks are willing to wear a black and white striped shirt and meet the requirements AND are willing to do the games for $80, that is what you will get. I am guessing that soccer referees are more scarce (they certainly are in Ohio). Therefore, even if 10% of the soccer referees decided to do "something/anything" else, then there would be a shortage. With a shortage comes the options of either A) paying more or B) playing games with a less-than-ideal number of officials.

If there are tons of officials relative to the number of games, I would expect the pay to be low. If there are relatively few officials compared to the number of openings, I would expect pay to be higher.

While we may referee largely for fun and fitness, for 95+% of us, the pay is one reason why we do it. Otherwise, you would tell the schools to keep their check. Not many officials do that now, do they? Since money is at least a minor consideration, the law of supply and demand will hold in the long run.

We always have options -- may be bowling, but we do have options.