I have it happen twice in football. Both were JV games where the AD just flat out didn't calling the booking agent. Yes, we got paid.

Not even a discussion here, you should be paid.

+1. Mileage and game fee. If this were here, I would raise hell to be paid for the entire night, not just the varsity game. (We work mostly JV/V doubleheaders here) This is why it is important to confirm the game before you leave though. If your assigner will fight for you, I would try to go through him first. The ADs in our area are very good for the most part at contacting us for any cancellations in basketball. It's always either them calling us or our assigner putting the cancellation on the Arbiter early in the day if he hears from the AD first. Most of them have their cell numbers on the Arbiter as well, so it's usually pretty easy to get in touch with them.

There is a baseball assigner locally who will not stick up for officials who get screwed out of game fees when schools don't call the officials to cancel. I showed up to a Saturday tournament one time and the games had been called off on Friday. He uses his answering machine for cancellations, and the games were not on there on Saturday morning, so we showed up. Not a soul at the field and we didn't get a penny. That tells you why I rarely work for him. The AD at the host school is not on my Christmas card list either.

I've had a coach cancel during a snowstorm when we had already driven 60 miles and were 5 minutes from the school. I told him we'd be there in 5 minutes to pick up our checks. Upon arrival, I rolled the window down on the car, took the checks from him, and drove away. To be honest, I was seething -- the roads were dangerous and they should've canceled hours earlier.

You didn't call the school before you left, or a day prior?

We have a blizzard rolling through tomorrow here. I asked for the AD's cel phone this morning so I can keep contact on my drive (or skid).


Btw, 30 minutes?

His Bad ???
 

In this case we would get a full game fee, not from the school, but from the assigner.

Been There, Done That ...
 

Did you ever try to call a school after hours?

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To be really sacreligous: Since it is a Christian school it is probably sponsored by a church. If you DON'T get your game fee, then just go to Sunday Service and take it out of the collection plate!!:eek:

Different areas, different protocols. Around here, it's the AD's responsibility to call if it's been cancelled. He calls the assigner, who makes the change in arbiter and we get a notice. If it's last minute, the assigner will call to make sure we get the message.

We have a contract - we get paid - at all levels if we are not contacted about a game cancelation within a "reasonable" amount of time. ( usually at least 3-4 hours prior to scheduled start) This is enforced by the conference commissioners. One set of officials had an issue with a school and the State stepped in and made sure they were paid.

20+ years ago when I first began officiating there was a story about a guy who had arrived at a school and was told to go home the game just got canceled. They didn't pay him. According to all accounts - on his next visit to the school - he arrived and got his check, cashed it at the ticket booth (the school asked you to do this but I never knew why), then left without doing the game. :eek: Apparently he never worked there again. He was always kind of a surly guy.

While I certainly don't agree with his actions, I must admit I would have loved to have been there to see the reaction of the game administrator :D

Yeah, that would have been great. I knew the guy and worked with him a couple times. This little event kind of made him a legend. A good official but you just didn't want to cross him.

Yes 30 minutes before a game when there's only 1 game. They do not have a JV team, no game before our game. We go dressed because they don't have a shower or dressing room.

I always send an e-mail to the AD of the school we are going to either the aftenoon before or the morning of the game. I include a line that if anything changes or if they have questions, here is my cell phone. Please give me a call. I will guarantee you if I ran into this situation after sending this e-mail, a check would be coming.

While you should get paid, I also always call the school the day of to make sure everything is still scheduled as assigned. It's not required, but I find it's good practice and the ADs are almost always appreciative of my checking and confirming that we are going to show up.

Only once have I gotten the, "No, we don't have a game tonight!" message. In that case my assignor had made a mistake, and I was quite glad I called.