Besides Pay, What Do You Get?
 

Northern Illinois ADs have decided we football referees of Chicagoland will not get a pay increase next season. Oh, sorry, we will. 1% (mostly lower levels.)
The IHSA is increasing its playoff game pay $10 this year. A 20-percent increase coupled with an effort to keep such lucky guys closer to home. It is a top-heavy state population-wise.

I've heard other states and associations require such things as towels and security for game officials. Can you provide examples, please?

You get abused. Does that count?

You get to spend lots and lots of time away from your family.

Lots of perks.

The IHSA did not promise any pay increase of regular season games. The increase that was requested was for post season games. The IHSA has nothing to do with regular season or conference assignments. School districts are responsible for the budgets of schools and what expenditures are paid for. This is not something the IHSA can mandate, because if they did there might be a violation of tax status of the IHSA and other organizations.

The IHSA increased the pay for playoff games and increased the gas mileage compensation this past year. Your beef should be with NISOC and the way they conspire together to fix prices. And there are a few efforts to change that or change their practices. That does not mean it will work. The only way you will get some kind of satisfaction is everyone to not work games under those conditions. But you know that will never happen, because if someone gives up a varsity game, there will be someone that will take it regardless of the pay or situation.

Peace

In MD we get to use luxury locker rooms complete with hot showers, jacuzzi, a lounge with big screen TV's, video games, and a hot meal served by women in bikinis and high heels....sorry, what was the question again?

In ND we get to dress on the way to the game, provide our own food and drink (Except for Midway HS which is the best), listen to ignorant fans and some coaches too, go to our car at half-time, request that a car turn out its lights because they are shining onto the field, work on fields where you need a miner's hat to see...but, we get to see small town football and for the most part respectful kids and enjoy the long drive to the game on beautiful fall days. Tomorrow will be 110 miles each way. Best is the friendship and teamwork of the crew and the satisfaction of a job well done.

Perks? We don't need no stinkin' perks!

We sometimes get a bottle of water or Gatorade at half time.

Nebraska
 

Schools treat us pretty well in Southeast Nebraska. They really try to do what they can. We are usually greeted by someone from the school, have a nice place to dress, and offered water / gator aide at half time and following the game.

A couple of schools have fed us after the game when they had cook outs, and one school packs a nice sack lunch for the trip home.

Our interactions with the schools, and with the great majority of the coaches have been very positive.

As for pay, there is no standard rate, in Nebraska, schools (and conferences) establish their own pay rates.

For the most part water/gatorade at half time, sometimes a hotdog and popcorn or if we are lucky pizza.
A couple of schools provide a box lunch.
Dressing rooms from your car to a nice locker room.

I must say most places we work have had very good hospitality. It seems to be getting better each year. We usually have an adequate locker room with showers (sometimes cold water) and towels. We usually have a cooler with water/Gatorade/sodas with enough to drink before the game, during halftime, and after the game.

Some schools take us someplace different at halftime because the locker room is far from the field. They will offer us candy bars or drinks at halftime and often have additional food after the game. It is usually left over concession food but we occasionally get a pizza or Subway sandwiches. Last week we had a meat and cheese tray at halftime! As long as we get a decent locker room, showers, towels, and something to drink, I'm satisfied.

I've also noticed the smaller towns generally have better hospitality than the bigger schools in Indy.

Pay here is decided by the schools during the season and it is fairly consistent ($60-$75). Once the playoffs start, the schools pay us but it is a predetermined amount by the IHSAA. I think the first round is $55 plus mileage (20 cents/mile) and each round goes up a little. Depending on where you get assigned in the playoffs it is actually a pay cut.

It really depends upon the school here. For anything below JV, we show up dressed or dress in the parking lot anyways.

I had a JV game where they offered us a roomy changing facility with a couch, bathroom and shower. The next week, I had a JV game where they initially offered us a roomy area to change but then came in and told us we had to move and moved us to essentially a closet in the trainer's room.

We are treated anywhere from fairly well to very well in our games. The exception is 6 man games and games with schools who don't have a home field and have to play whereever they can find. Treatment there ranges from poor to OK.

At most of the subvarsity games, drinks are there for the asking, but we usually have to go to the concession stand to get them. In varsity games, drinks are usually provided and about half the time, so is some kind of food -- ranging from candy bars to fast food or cold cuts. Towels are available at about half the venues, but I always bring my own (old basketball habit).

We are treated tons better in football than in basketball. Hell, if they can find a decent dressing room for us in hoops, I'm happy.

My company needs to hurry up and get me transferred to Texas. :)

I will say any football accomodation I've ever received has been light years ahead of baseball accomodations as a whole.

Most of the time in La. we are lucky if we get a Powerade. On occasion though we have been places that had pre-game sandwiches or something.

There are some places - typically at playoff time that will provide gumbo or jambalaya after the game.

Sometimes on the road we get really lucky and wind up with hot water for a shower but that's rare.

Our contract states we get a lockable room big enough to accomodate the entire crew, and drinks.
This usualy means a few bottles of water. Most of the time I have to track down someone from the home team and get them to give us some of the bottles from their sideline.

We are forbidden from travelling in our uniforms, and must dress on site.

Almost always there is showers (with hot water). Some places will give us a hamburger or hot dog after the game. One team leaves a bag of cookies or some chocolate in the room.

That's it. Bring your own towels, soap, and to some stadiums toilet paper.

Baseball games no accomadations, if your at one of the better schools you get water, gatorade, and sometimes a hot dog if your good looking, since i dont lack in that area i get hot dogs ;).

Basketball you get to dress in the locker rooms used by students. You may get water you may not depends if its an inner city school or not.

Volleyball, dress in car. You get drinks at some schools.

Football anything below JV, come dressed. The few varsity that i have done as a box man, they give you a locker room and drinks at halftime.

Private schools are the best schools at taking care of the officials in my opinion. You usually get paid within a week too.

There is a cultural difference. In Germany you get chocolate, in the USA you get candy bars, so in France you would probably get cheese.

When you go to a cafeteria in France and it looks like a bowl of custard or pudding in a dessert display and it is not it is kind of disappointing.
"This pudding tastes funny."
"That isn't pudding."
"Oh."

We get paid the night of the game before the game starts. I've heard of many other payment systems around the country. It's interesting to hear how different areas do this so differently.

Sophomore games in IL were nice - locker rooms, showers and you were done by 7:30 and on your way out on Friday nights. You got a check in the mail later, though.

In AZ they'll usually hook you up with water or a sports drink and if you want something from the concession stand, it's all good. But only once have I had or even seen a locker room. Below varsity, seems like everybody just shows up dressed or changes in the car and then just gets out of dodge when the game's over. But you get a check (or cash, in at least one instance) that night.

Youth games are paid onsite with a check though a couple weeks ago our crew got paid with envelopes full of cash at halftime of the last game. That looked just a little suspicious! :eek:

High school level games are paid through the association at our meetings. They collect our fees, and then distribute them to the officials so we don't have to work with the schools directly.

OAB, I've noticed that during most of my subvarsity games, we split right after the game is over. I enjoy getting together for a meal or at least a beer or two afterwards and discuss the game but most would rather just leave. Ah well.

In a crew situation, that bonding would be welcome and very useful. In the melange situation we often find ourselves in at the lower levels, I've yet to have partners who didn't have someplace else to go.

Get paid within a week???? Wow. We get paid at halftime.

Unfortunately, too often in our area we sign a voucher and are paid within a week or 2. Sometimes we come across schools that pay on site, but that doesn't seem to be the norm. There's no excuse for vouchers, the schools know well in advance who's coming, and all of the other pertinent information.

Pee-wee football and pop warner pay us on site though.

Most of my youth games are paid at halftime of the last game - some are paid two weeks later. My HS games are paid at the end of the season. :eek:

Oh, post-season! Well, that's very different. Nevermind.
Still not paid enough in the regular season. Trying to make comparisions.

Paid before the game.
Sports drinks/water at 1/2 time and after the game.
Two large pizza's at 1/2 the games we work.

One school has "student ambassadors" (girls who volunteer) who greet us when we arrive, take our 1/2 time orders (drinks-food), meet us at the gate to escort us to our locker room, and were waiting for us at our locker room with pizza after the game. That was as good as it gets!!

We arrive in uniform except for playoff rounds. The towel you use is the towel you bring.

Pre-game is usually in girls locker room or weight room or coaches office.

Amenities run the gamut from nothing to water/soda/sports drink & candy bar and or hot dog at halftime.

One school does have a chicken dinner and jug of ice tea from KFC waiting on us but that is NOT the norm. A school I worked in Winston-Salem would leave us a dozen Krispy Kremes. KK is headquarted in W-S.

We are to be paid before the end of halftime at the latest, except for a few middle schools that mail us a check within a few days. Many of the youth league teams pay cash or cash the checks out for us.

Schools are billed by and pay the association. We receive monthly checks. Current rate is $50 for a varsity game plus mileage. Mileage can vary from a minimum of $12 for local games to over $30 for others. Local mileage is paid to each official. Out of town games pay mileage to the referee who drives the crew.

Each school is required to provide a changing room before the game and at half time, and showers and a towel after the game. Most provide bottled water or gatorade at half time. Some provide a snack at the end of the game.

Reciprocal privileges, please? :D

Wyoming
 

In Wyoming we get paid at the end of the season for the Jr. High games that are in town. Out of town Jr High games we get paid before the game. All High school games but one are paid before we take the field. All high school games we dress either in a coaches room or they have a room for us. Showers are provided with towels most of the time. Most the AD's in wyoming treat us OK.

Time to buy a nicer car.;)

Its time for us all to demand better treatment and pay. I think everyone should pay at the site -- cash or check. If some states do it (or require it) that means any school district can do it. I think dressing rooms with showers and drinks should be a minimum requirement for all games. Its easier for me to go ahead and dress at home for subvarsity football games since we show up and work -- no real pregame, but some guys come directly from work.

I'm sick and tired of officials being an afterthought, and that's coming from someone who admits he is treated fairly well (in football) compared to others.

What of those of us who prefer getting monthly or even annual checks, lump sum? I don't want to be paid at the game. I like the relationship I have with the AD's an coaches as it is. I don't want them handing me money before during of after the game. I get paid for about 20-25 games at a time and prefer it that way.

I'm speaking about those of us getting paid per game from the district/school/etc/, not those of you getting a lump some X number of times per year from a single source. If you guys are happy with that system, that's great.

I personally wouldn't accept it, but that's just me.

We get paid at the end of the season in mid December and make it into a fun evening called "Pay night". Yeah, I know, real creative....

FOA pays for beer and pizza (Yes, we do put Canadian Bacon on them as a matter of fact) and we hand out fun awards and our guys go home with nice big cheques a couple of weeks before Christmas. We allow the younger guys to take the money monthly if they request, but they seem to be happy with the one big chunk of dough at the end (our wind up is in mid January after the xmas rush).

As for F&B during the games, some of the minor organizations (Bantam and under) allow us free consessions, but that's about it.

Most schools are attentive to us on Friday nights. Someone meets us, gets us into a decent sized area for changing. I can think of only one school we've been to where the room and we've told them we need a little more space if possible. They said they'd try. If you don't ask, you don't get anywhere.

Some schools offer prime, secure parking, an escort (not that kind) on and off the field, snacks, cookies, drinks, etc. Obviously some are much more generous than others; the generous ones have no trouble filling their schedules, I am sure. Most pay the night of the game but a couple of the big schools voucher the game and you see the check about three weeks later. I don't care for that but I know they have the rules.

Ditto to whoever said something about the time spent with some good guys, to and from the game, and all the interesting things that happen in between. No better place at a football game than being on the field where the action is.

One school somewhere in NE, I cant remember where we were actually expected to use the same lockerroom/showerroom as the cheerleaders. Interpret that however you want.

Yowza! That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.... or a penthouse forum letter.

We have an interesting system in my midwestern state. We are licensed by the State but are independant contractors with the schools. Our license, however, prohibits us from organizing or negotiating as a group. Thus, we are completely at the mercy of the schools themselves. Since the schools see us as a necessary evil, they have no interest in paying a fair amount. We are paid on average 55 per varsity game with no travel expenses paid.

I believe this to be a clear anti-trust violation by the state that no one has challenged.

Who's the license with? What's the authority of the "license" that prohibits organizing or negotiating as a group?

I am generally not a labor union type guy (totally understand the reasons for workers to be safe and have a certain quality of work environment, but we all have to admit there are some unintended consequences that unscrupulous people can use to make things unfair). But I wonder what would happen if a state's officials just all decided that they were going to band together and if you didn't like it, you could have Joe Blow officiate your games for a year and see how you liked it.

Of course, there would be those who would cross the line - there will always be some people who won't go along with a union's activities for whatever reason.

I'm not advocating a Norma Rae situation here, I'm just thinking out loud - if coaches and administrators want quality officials, the quality officials in some areas may have to take a short-term hit for a long-term gain. I don't know if $55 or $60 a game or the couple grand you might make in a season is enough to bother about, but it's an interesting concept.

And I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know that I would throw terms like "clear anti-trust violation" out there if I'm not sure about it. Do they, in some respects, have an advantageous market position? Absolutely. Are we going to unionize to make sure we have a towel and a Gatorade? I'm not sure.

I think one's state association needs to recognize the work we do and mandate that its member schools adhere to certain minimum standards. It seems to me that MOST of those standards could be easily adhered to at little actual cost to the schools.

Pay is a whole 'nother can of worms. That's always going to be the sticking point. We feel our services are worth more, obviously. They feel they can get five guys to do this for what they're paying (and they're probably right).

Here in Twin Cities metro area we get $79 per varsity game. If we go outstate we negotiate our own rates and that may or may not include mileage. As for perks, we normally get water and/or gatorade at halftime. Some schools, especially the rural ones, treat us to hot dogs or popcorn at halftime as well. As for a changing room, we normally show up dressed for a game in the metro area but have a locker room when we do an outstate game. In a JV game you get paid $58 and you normally get no perks at all.

Houston ISD is pretty bad, they have the same rep amongst all officials in every sports. You get paid from them anywhere from 2 weeks to never getting paid.
There the worse, I did a baseball game in March and did not get a check in the mail until the end of july. Good thing Im an engineer and make decent money but there are guys in our association who main source of income is officiating.

That seems like a lot. Is that one of the higher rates in the country? Do you have a lack of officials in MN?

$58 for a jayvee game might be the only perk I'd need.

All a matter of perspective, I guess. We get $42 ($35 + $7 mileage flat rate) for a sub-varsity game.

That's doing better than here. $70 for a varsity game, $55 for JV and no travel.

Dear Penthouse Forum,
I'd never thought this would ever happen to me, but one Friday night before a football game....


Seriously...it looks like we have it pretty good here in northwest iowa. Varsity games range from $80-$95, we get treated quite well by the AD's, and the checks are generally on top of the cooler (filled with water, candy bars, gaterade, etc.). Lower level games can range from $60 for jr. high games to $85 for frosh./soph. double headers.
I believe we get treated so well because we live in a rural area and have a long history with the school's we officiate. Many times we will officiate for coaches we went to college with, played against, and even been coached by.
cheers,
tro

There doesn't seem to be a lack of officials, but to keep it in perspective, I was a varsity fill-in the first year I started working football and a varsity white hat with a full schedule by my 3rd year. The reason I think we get paid so well is that our various officiating associations work together to set a rate for the Twin Cities metro schools. A little cooperation seems to go a long way in this regard.

As I'm sure most of you would agree, this is an avocation rather than a vocation. You can't be in this to have it be all about the money. The money is nice, and it pays for the uniforms and beer, but there is more to it than the money.

Of course not. I can make a hell of a lot more with other avocations.

But we were talking about pay and perks. If you give me 25-30% more, I don't need as many perks. That's all I was saying.