4 or 5 Man Crews

[Ed Hickland]

Originally posted by cw3Retired
Random thoughts here.

What does the standard of living have to do with officiating fees? Just curious. It seems to me that it is the same game, played by the same types of people. We can all order the same equipment from the same suppliers. And we all work primary jobs to meet the needs of our families. Why should the standard of living be a concern for what fees we get to officiate a football game?

With that said, at $94.00 a game for a 4-man crew, the school pays $386.00 for the crew. You could go to a 5-man crew at $77.00 a game, still make a good nights pay, and provide a much better officiated game (in my opinion) for the students.

Please understand, I am not mad at anybody. The concepts presented in the last couple of posts are foreign to me here in Georgia, and this is the only place that I have worked H.S. football. I wish I could get $94.00 a game. But, I wouldn't want to do 4-man mechanics for a varsity football game to do it.

I have to agree with you but that is easy for me to say.

Pay should be the last concern any official has other than to provide enough to make it worthwhile to take time to officiate. Given that the fee must be appropriate to attract and retain good officials.

I love the game of football and my profession is lucrative enough and time plentiful that the fee really is not a concern. However, the New York metropolitan area is the most expensive area in the country to live and for many an adequate fee is necessary to get on the field.

In traveling this country the price of houses in many areas is crossing over the $100,000 barrier while here that same house is crossing the $300,000 barrier. Tax on the average home for a month equals a years taxes in many other parts of the country.

Attracting good officials requires a equitable fee. Even with that fee we often run short of officials on certain days.

My hope is one day to have the opportunity to leave New York and work varsity football in another part of the country for less money.