Warmups

[Rich]

Originally Posted by AremRed

And what, pray tell, is wrong with pregame fist bumps?

Just more for us to watch. Waste of time. They can shake hands and fist bump before the opening toss. They do that anyway.

Regarding 2-person versus 3-person:

I moved here in 2002. Everything was 2-person then, even the post-season. To get 3-person work, I licensed in Illinois and worked about a dozen games there a season.

A majority of my games now are 3-person. Our entire post-season is 3-person, from the opening round until the state finals. I have made a personal decision to never schedule another 2-person game for myself (I have one more this year and maybe 2-3 next season) and I won't hire a 2-person crew for schools personally.

The conference I assign -- I've allowed crews to bring 3 to games all season. I didn't have any extra money for them this year, but as was said, next year all games are assigned 3-person for $60 per official, which is the going rate around here (and what we paid for 2 officials this season).

The thing our state gets wrong is not mandating 3 officials for varsity games.

Originally Posted by AremRed

In Wisconsin, those that hire 3 are in a minority now. The conference that Rich assigns will be 3-person next year at $60 per official.

Another thing his state gets wrong.

What, the $60? That's what our conference pays for 2-person now.

Some conferences only pay $50 for 3-person -- they cut the pay when they went to 3 officials. I strongly recommended that not happen for us.

Yes, our officials probably could make a bit more, but we're competitive with neighboring conferences.