Defining a Harried Assignor

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by amusedofficial

I disagree. We live in an era when Best Buy's big screen TV spots before Super Bowl weekend refer to "the big game" because they'll get sued for saying "watch the Super Bowl on your new TV" even though the Super Bowl is what they'll watch.

The hucksters canot use IAABO or any the name of any other officials organization to promote their get-rich-quick scheme without the permission of the organization, and the national can delegate the authority to grant permission to local boards.

That said, a lot of these AAU operators use the phrase "patched officials."

Perhaps Dicky Lee is working the game.

It is a certification and training organization for officials, not a product like the Super Bowl. The only way you can keep someone from using it in the context of the qualifications of the officials working their event is to keep your officials themselves from using it for all events they participate in. And that would essentially make the existence of the organization irrelevant. The officials are either IAABO certified or not.

[ref3808]

$30-$35 per game in the New England area and usually the drive is less than an hour. No complaints I guess after seeing the comps.

[ODog]

Originally Posted by ref3808

$30-$35 per game in the New England area and usually the drive is less than an hour. No complaints I guess after seeing the comps.

I'm in New England too, and after reading this thread, we definitely have no room to complain if people are legitimately doing 2-whistle AAU (or similar) games for $20 ... or less!

I've done AAU just about every weekend since March (in Mass. and Conn.) and most of the tourneys in Conn. (from Hartford north, anyway) are gobbled up by the same assignor. He pays $28 -- by check.

In Mass., there are several tournaments that are $35 cash up front before you ever throw the ball up (the rest are $30 -- never less), so we sometimes moan about the $28-by-check scenario.

Never knew how good we had it.

One local program pays $25 cash just to come to their gym and officiate scrimmages w/o a book, so you don't even have to report fouls.

I'm sorry to hear of the plight of brother officials from other areas of the country.

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

It is a certification and training organization for officials, not a product like the Super Bowl. The only way you can keep someone from using it in the context of the qualifications of the officials working their event is to keep your officials themselves from using it for all events they participate in. And that would essentially make the existence of the organization irrelevant. The officials are either IAABO certified or not.

IAABO is trademarked, just like the Super Bowl is. Legally, the tournament organizer must get permission to use the trademark in its advertising. Just having IAABO officials isn't sufficient.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

IAABO is trademarked, just like the Super Bowl is. Legally, the tournament organizer must get permission to use the trademark in its advertising. Just having IAABO officials isn't sufficient.

When IAABO certifies the official, they have implicitly given that official the right to use and claim that certification. What good would a certification be if the certified official were barred from advertising it.

[Adam]

Seems to me that if a tourney wanted to guarantee IAABO officials to the coaches when promoting their tournament, they could do so without any sort of prior arrangement. They can then either do it by calling certified officials individually or working through an established assigner.

I can tell you, around here, they would go through an assigner. Now, if we can just fix this lousy summer pay. I know that'll only happen when enough people are willing to refuse to work for this pay rate.

[hoopguy]

No idea about the law, but playing the hypothetical game...

Suppose a building was being built paying far below union wages. The builder is able to hire all union employees who are not working union jobs and they are not hired through the union hall. Do you think it would be okay to advertise that the building was built by union workers?

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by hoopguy

No idea about the law, but playing the hypothetical game...

Suppose a building was being built paying far below union wages. The builder is able to hire all union employees who are not working union jobs and they are not hired through the union hall. Do you think it would be okay to advertise that the building was built by union workers?

Apples and oranges. The union membership is not a certification of skill...it is a labor organization. IAABO boards, and others (AFAIK), don't operate as labor organizations.

Still, if it was actually built by union workers, there is not much the union can do to stop them from claiming it was...it is merely the statement of a simple fact. They may not be able to cite that it was done so by a specific union or use the union's logo, but that is different than references to the general fact that the workers were members of the union.