2 officials, no teams
 

We get to the gym 30 minutes before the game is to start and there isn't a soul in sight, just 2 members of the cleaning crew who have no idea about any game.

We finally track down an AD and find out Oops, they forgot to call the officials to let them know that because of the weather, the game was cancelled. He literally said " That sucks for you".

If this happens to you, do you get paid? We didn't travel too far, I'd say about 5 or 6 miles each way, but there's time, gas and traffic.

If I miss an assignment, I have to pay a fine. ( a whole game fee ). Do you get paid if they forget to call and tell you?

This is the 2nd time in 10 years, yes, the last time, we got paid. This is a Christian school. Not sure how I feel right now. No, right now I want to get paid. In a few days, maybe I will feel different, I don't know.

Maybe for varsity games it is in the contracts but for sub-varsity we don't. I've been burned a couple of times by that. All I can do is write off the mileage and any tolls I paid to get to the site.

Deadbeats ???
 

Around these parts, if you show up, without a cancellation contact (phone, email, Arbiter) you get paid. Period. Contact your assigner.

If we show up at a site and Game management did not cancel us before hand we get paid unless it is a weather call. We understand that if the school is closed or after school activities are cancelled we are not to show up. I check the school website and the local radio station website which lists cancellations before I go. We are also supposed to call the AD the day before but at the latest the morning of a game to confirm we are working the game. I have yet to actually speak to an AD, I always get their voicemail but I am explicit in providing my cell # and a message to call me if anything changes. I have not had a problem with middle and high school games.

At the Rec level if we get to the site and they cancel the game we get paid. They are supposed to contact us 24 hours before the game if the game is rescheduled or cancelled unless it is for weather. Since most rec games are in school gyms we know if school is closed for weather there is no game. We also have access to the league coordinator's phone numbers to verify if there is any doubt about a game being cancelled for weather.

Same here.

Same here. Fortunately I have never run into this situation as our assigner is good about letting us know as soon as he does and the schools are good about letting him know as soon as they decide to cancel.

Must be a new AD...no experienced AD would in their right mind say "that sucks for you" get paid or don't work there again. pretty simple...how far you had to travel should have nothing to do with it...it's the principle of the matter. Let's reverse the scenario...let's say that officials don't show up at the gym...is your assigner going to say..."well that sucks for you" no he wouldn't.

Around here we get a travel fee. Usually half the game fee.

Damn right I'll get paid.

You could have planned something else (such as with the family), or taken a game elsewhere, such as further away, and be paid for that game.

+1

Yes, we'd get paid, which is the only real incentive they have to inform you of the cancellation. Contact your assigner (if applicable). If there's no assigner, check your state association to see if they have a policy in place; then send the AD a polite note reminding him of the policy. Provide your address as a cover. "Dear Mr. Jones, My name is Johnny Official and I was scheduled to officiate the game on xx/xx/xx, which was cancelled at the last minute. In case you don't have it on file, I've enclosed my address for you to mail my check for the game fee."

Hopefully, you have an assigner to fight that battle for you; it'll go much more slowley otherwise.

We would get paid as well. However, since you said it was a Christian school, they may chalk it up to you doing the Lord's work or some type of "Missionary Officiating" I think both could be tax deductable!:D

I have worked Christian schools and they would always pay me when I walked in the door. Never had any issues with them - can't say the same for some public schools. Always got paid but sometimes had to do some searching for the guy with the check :rolleyes:

Usually I have the same experience. My favorite is the school that pays from the Coke machine. We get a LOT of singles........unfortunately no place to spend them;) SO I have to walk around with a bunch of singles in my pocket

The same thing happen to me last week, Terp, only I drove 30 miles. (I mentioned this in another thread.)

The AD emailed our assignor, and told him that he would call us. He didn't. I have to admit that I was seething about it.

A few days later, my partner told me that we get half a game fee plus mileage when that happens. We'll see.

"No, it sucks for you." Because in NC, you just spent $255 on three officials who don't have to work a game for their $85 each.

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.

We would probably show up 40 minutes or so before the game with no preliminary game, but that's only because we have to be on the court at T-20 minutes.

If we arrived any earlier, there'd probably be nobody there to let us in.

This is another thing that's regional. I worked in an area where we were told *never* to contact the school -- all communication before and after the game was to go through the assigner.

Here I'm emailing an AD right now working with the game that just got canceled for tonight. Thank goodness. It was a 70 mile drive and the blizzard conditions are expect to arrive right about gametime.

Speaking of blizzard, a foot of snow and 30+ mph winds in Oklahoma today. Trust me when I say folks here have no idea what to do!

I am waiting for the cancelation of my game tonight up here too. The visiting team had school canceled today with a blizzard warning as well. I am surprised I have not yet been called. Kind of a bummer though - only an 8 mile drive to get to the game.

My 70 mile drive has just been canceled. My only drive will be to pick my kid up from school later. She had a 2-hour delay this morning.

Here we get paid if we show up, travel and game fee if they forget to cancel.

I'm fully expecting a call from my assignor tomorrow.

That is the way it is here - we are to work everything through the assigner. Personally I like it that way - the less people I have to engage with over a game situation the better off I am.

I can understand no shower at some of these smaller schools, but not to have a dressing room? That's unacceptable, in my view. Even if they have to let you use the principal's office, you need to have a room to get away.

If I'd had games tonight, they'd have been cancelled. Schools closed all over the Front Range.

We had a massive cancellation last Tuesday. Tornado watches and warnings all over the map. Assignor emailed us at about 1:30 pm. Asked us to contact our crews. His email said only one game would be played in the 3 county area. That was down near me, and we ended up with a late tornado warning.

By later that evening, I had 2 new games scheduled for Wednesday & Thursday. And I assume the re-scheduled games went to someone else because I was booked. It all evens out.

Last year, I had a Saturday evening game canceled at 3:30 or so. I got paid.