I am interested in knowing how whether your varsity crews are 4 or 5 man and the fee.

Baltimore

4 for city schools - $50
5 for private - $55 (plus paid chain crew at $25 x 3)
5 for county (upped from 4 this season!) - $48 (was $50)

NC
 

$60 per official for varsity, which is always 5 man during regular season and $70 each in the playoffs this year. This is a flat fee, no travel.

[Edited by BktBallRef on Nov 13th, 2001 at 10:51 PM]

In Texas 5 man crews are the standard for varsity (except for 6-man football where 4 man crews are used). Fees are based on size of the gate. Most games end up paying between $60 and $100 although many of the larger schools which draw huge crowds will pay $150 or more.

Each crew is authorized a driver who gets .28 a mile based on round trip mileage.

Illinois
 

In Illinois all Varsity games are 5 man. Lower level games are 3 or 4 man depending on what the school wants. There are no set fees. I've been paid from $40 to $65 for a single varsity game.

six man in georgia,most of the time, big weeks five

we work with shares throught our local association.
full share on the field
half share on the clock or chain crew

its about 56 to 60 dollars a full share.

WV uses 5 man for varsity @ 45 to 55 depending on size of school. Junior High uses 4 men @ 25.

Varsity 5 man
 

As Mike pointed out, in Illinois, all varsity games are 5 man. State playoff games are $55 per game.

Here is the breakdown of our contracts here in Coastal Georgia:

All of our public schools and one of our private schools are 6-man crews + ECO.
On field - $58 (goes up to $63 next year)
ECO - $29 (goes up to $30 (I think) next year)

One private school is 5-man + ECO.
On field - $60 (goes up to $65 (I think) next year)
ECO - $30 (not sure on next years increase)

Public school playoffs are 6-man crews + ECO + Chain crew.
On field - $80
ECO and Chain Crew - $40
$.11 a mile times 2 vehicles (split amoung everyone who drove).

Have never worked private school playoffs.

JV and Middle School games are 4-man crews at $35 per person.

Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area game fees are as follows:

2001 - $61
2002 - $64
2003 - $68

Outstate we've gotten anywhere between $57 and $61 (plus mileage in playoffs).

5-man crews are used throughout the entire state (except for 9-man games where 4 officials are used).

Now if we could only get Gov Ventura to give the schools more money ...

Ed,

Up here in Westchester Co. NY, we get $ 81 for a varsity game. I noticed you didn't mention what you get down there in Nassau. Our standard is 4 men, but this year we start a program to convince the schools that they should have 5. We got between 15- and 20 schools to go along the first year. We hope to increase that number next year and have it standard in our next contract.

I work in Suffolk where we get $94 for varsity (4-man), $74 for JV (3-man) and $56.50 for JH (3-man), although a number of JH games are scheduled for 5 periods which is a 20 percent premium for a total of $69.

Our contract is up this year. We have been told not to expect the fifth man for varsity. However, expect JV to go to 4-man and JH to drop to 2-man.

Just kidding about posting your fees. I negotiated the last two contracts in Westchester. We tried to get our fees up to your level as the standard of living is similar. Section One didn't go for it.

If they won't give you 5 on the Varsity, try what we did. If the section would agree that all officials on the field get paid a full fee, convince some of the schools to put 5 on the field. The more the coaches saw it they liked it. We started the season with 12 schools and ended up adding at least 5 schools during the season.

Surprising your fees are so much lower as the financial conditions are almost the same. Suffolk is the least expensive of (Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk) and the highest fee for football. There was a re-opener when the clock rule changed -- the morning games started one-half hour earlier and we documented the longer varsity games. That gave us a $2 increase.

Will pass on your strategy on getting five.

Standard of Living??
 

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.

Re: Standard of Living??
 

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.

Ohio

Five man

Fee is 45 to 50 dollars. No Mileage. We're getting screwed up here.

I'm moving to Texas

Emmitt,

I agree with you that the driving force for most of us isn't money. However, the scholls do pay us and make us negotiate contract. That was the basis for comparing the cost of living. (I know I originally said " standard of living"). There are costs associated with officiating and if we are going to get paid we should get paid what we are worth. Schools fight us tooth and nail here for every dollar, but have no problem paying teachers over $ 100 a game (pensionable) to operate the clock, usually incorrectly.

I disagree with your idea of putting more men on the field for the same net money. Once you start giving away services no matter what the reason you can never get it back.

I am not a labor guy. I am just realistic about what we do.

Here in Nebraska:

$50 - $60 per five man crew. Same four man crews. Playoffs $55.

Guys,

Thanks for your insights. I guess I shall count my blessings that Georgia thinks enough of football that the state association sets the fees, and they set them quite well, relatively speaking, as our cost of living here is pretty low ($.97 a gallon for gas, currently).

I have a bye week this week, so wife and I are going to progressive supper at church. Have good games all. And I can only hope the good Lord let's me get a playoff game next week, even if it on the chains.

God Bless All.

More money on game night just means a bigger steak dinner on the way home. Speaking of this, our crew does something for the wifes at the end of the season for letting us come out and play every friday night for 10 or so weeks. We all kick in $5 a week and take the wifes out to dinner at the end of the season.

4-5 man crews
 

In Arizona we use 5 man crews for varsity games and 4 man crews for sub-varsity games. Varsity game fees are $50 plus $3.00 milage. Sub-varsity fee is $30.00. Varsity play-off game fee is $50 x $1.25.

western PA
 

6 man crews for varsity, some outlying areas are 5 man:

AAAA = $70
A - AAA = $50 - $55

playoffs: 1st round = $55, 2nd round = $55, semi-final = $60

7 man crew in the playoffs
 

In the public school system on Oahu Hawaii, the JV games are 4 man crews with pay of $45. per game. Varsity is 5 man with $50 per game and in the playoffs including the state championship game this friday, we use 7 men at $50. per game.

Michigan

Varies in various parts of the State but here in Mid Michigan we get the following rates.

Varsity...All 5 Man...$45-$60 depending on the league.

JV & Frosh...Almost always 4 man ( there are a few 3 man hold outs)...$35

5th-8th grade...Played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons...$75 for a doubleheader.

For Varsity Playoffs the fee was $45 plus mileage...All crew members get mileage...This can be a raw deal if you volunteer to drive and the rest of the crew doesn't help out with gas. The later in the playoffs you go the further you usually have to travel. I did a semifinal this year and volunteered to drive my full size customized van for the crew to our game...250 miles round trip...Only one of the other crew members gave me anything for gas ($5)...We made approximatly $40 each for mileage...If I ever work with those guys again I'll have an understanding up front or I'll ride in the back of their van...LOL.