Any money in refereeing collegiate sports?

[Journeyman]

Where do you go to get into this?

You look around at some of these old men refereeing in the conferences, how hard can it be to get involved?

Any refs out there?

I use to upmire little league thats about it lol...years ago (10 bucks a game lol)

 

[TheGeneral+]

Steve Welmer lives like a king.

He officiated my high school football games in 1985/1986.

 

[lander]

D1 Lacrosse refs get $550 a game (or so I hear).

 

[winkyduck]

pac 10 hoops refs make about $800 EACH PER GAME!

and if they have to travel - their airfare (if they have to fly) is picked up and they get per diem.

in the big west refs get about $500-$600 per game - and with title ix - the men and women's hoops game refs get paid the same. if BW refs have to travel (say they live in so cal and have a game at pacific) their air fare is paid for and they get $150 per diem to pay for their room, food, lodging, etc. i know some refs who split the cost of the car and room with another ref coming up for the game - and sometimes if a ref lives in the area - they stay at his place and pocket most of the $150. they get taxed on it, but still.

college refs in D1 make a FORTUNE! it is hard to get to that level (i should know - i am trying to move up from HS to college - and it is TOUGH) but those who do - make serious $$$.

i know a ref in the area who makes about $40-$50k a year from reffing college ball. he also does NCAA tourney games, too - and that is some $$$, too, but this is a side job for him - so he makes a decent living.

when i do games and someone calls me a "Foot Locker reject" i laugh and tell him that's not the case - i make a LOT more than anyone who works at foot locker. during the season - i make more in 1 day than most foot locker employees make in a weekend.

 

[Journeyman]

Sounds cool Wink...I wish I had the time to do it...

Winky, how do you move up anyway?

Maybe you should come over and do SEC Football...

Winky any chance you`d fix a game lol????<kidding>

 

[bettorstalk.com]

Journeyman,

Did you actually beleive those boys out there don't get any $ for doing what they do??

 

[Dante]

about the same money I get for coaching youth Hockey 0.00

I know this is not a ref but I knew a guy on the chain crew at Wac games he made like 30$ a game .. thats nutin'

 

[Mr NJ Sports]

Sure they get $. Anyone watch the 1st 5 minutes of Gonzaga-Nevada?

I was watching the Bowl game they played in Hawaii this year on TV and the back judge was actually Marc Ratner from the Las Vegas Boxing Commision.

 

[Fishhead]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dante:
about the same money I get for coaching youth Hockey 0.00

I know this is not a ref but I knew a guy on the chain crew at Wac games he made like 30$ a game .. thats nutin'<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would do that for FREE.

That would be cool.

 

[Illini]

I used to umpire baseball, and did some non-conference D1 games. The money is not as good in baseball. Non-conference games are about $100 a game. I think for the lower conferences, like the MAC and MVC, the pay is about $600 for a weekend series (4 games Friday night thru Sunday), plus mileage and meal money.

 

[IDENTITY]

800 a game is nothing...how much is that, like at most 50k a year?

 

[~Falco~]

The perks and kickbacks from gamblers make this a worthwhile profession.

 

[ClayHenry]

I'm actually surprised they make as much money as what winkyduck says they make. I was thinking college hoops refs probably made around $150-$200 a game plus meals, airfare and lodging, I didn't realize it was so lucrative for just a few hours of work.

 

[ClayHenry]

winkyduck- how does someone even go about becoming a HS hoops ref, I've always thought I would be pretty good at it.

 

[winkyduck]

clay - send me an e-mail and let me know what area of the country you live in - and i can help

as for "fixing" a game - "NO" - because at my level - no one really cares about it enough to bribe me. BUT - i will say at times i have called a foul in favor of a kid whose mother was there - and she was smoking hot. there was 1 mom who leaped up off her chair every time her kid scored a basket. this mom had a rack and in her tight sweater it was even better. i knew him scoring would lead her to jump up - so a few times i gave the kid the benefit of the doubt so i could see this mom jump up - and see those massive boulders bob up and down.

as for how to move up to college - there are exceptions, but this is usually the way it goes:

you do HS ball for a few years - and get REALLY good at it. you will start out doing freshman/sophomore games, then eventually moved up to JV and varsity games.

after you have moved up to a consistent varsity sked - and maybe even do some playoff games, you start going to ref camps in the offseason. in so cal - they are held during the summer months. you pay about $150-$200 to attend these camps. they videotape you doing games - then critique your on-court effort to try and make you better.

at these camps are assignors for JC ball as well as some NAIA or D3 or higher college ball.

if they like what they see of you - you might get to do a few JC games the next season. in so cal, JC refs make about $70-$80 a game.

once you do some JC games - you can then go to more camps to try and move up to D3 or D2 ball.

again - after a few years - and after going to more camps - you hope you can make it to D1.

i will say this - it is harder to make it to a d1 as a ref than player. think about it - there are only 3 D1 rfs on the court at 1 time - while there are about 2 dozen players on both teams. do the math.

this is why the D1 refs get so freakin much to do their games.

as an alum of fullerton - i have been watching pcaa/big west games for 20-something years. during that time, the refs have gotten worse and worse. i hate to blast my "colleagues" but most big west refs are pathetic (don't even get railbird started on this - we can't agree on much - but the fact big west refs suck - is something we can). i also do NJB games (youth leagues - www.njbl.org - on sunday's and during the off-season - i do about 300-350 of these games a year) and i promise you i could get 14 other njb/HS refs - and we would be the best 15 refs in the BW.

 

[FunkSoulBrother]

Would a D1 refs job be in jeopardy if someone found out he was posting around here? Or that he liked to gamble on Pro Sports?

 

[Brock Landers]

VERY interesting topic!

I have often thought about looking into being an umpire in MLB. But the question is how do you get started, where, whats it take. All that. Its not like they advertise!

But that would be a dream job for most people.

 

[Illini]

Brock-
Hey bro, I'm in Bloomington, so not very far from you. I actually went that route and tried to make it into the pro game. You have to go to either Jim Evans or Harry Wendlestat's school. It's 5 weeks long, and they send the top 10% or so to work Spring Break college games, where they evaluate the students from both schools that made the cut. Then they offer as many jobs as there are available. If you don't make it, you have to go back to school the next year, if you want to try it again. Starting salary for rookie umpires is only $2,000 a month, and you only get paid for the months of the baseball season. Give them about 5-8 good years, and if you don't get let go, you'll be in Triple-A, making about $3,000 a month. Then, after 5-6 more years, a job in the majors may come available, and a Triple A guy will get hired. Triple A guys work some big league games when the big league umpires are on a vacation week, but it's very, very tough to actually become a MLB umpire. And if you look at some of the recent hires, Brian Runge, Hunter Wendlestat, etc, you can't tell me that politics aren't involved. Both of their dads were MLB umpires. So, most people give 10-12 years making no money, and then realize that it's not going to happen, and start another career. But I have some friends still in the minors, hoping that they will get the call someday. I wouldn't recommend it, but I can let you know more, if you are interested. College is a much better road to go, although I burned out, and don't have any plans to get back into it.

 

[winkyduck]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by FunkSoulBrother:
Would a D1 refs job be in jeopardy if someone found out he was posting around here? Or that he liked to gamble on Pro Sports?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

wouldn't be in any jeopardy at all. they'd be fired so fast it would make their heads spin.

 

[CharlieMaxwell]

When I officiated Junior College hoops in the late 70s I made $70 per game. I don't know what it is now.

I also umpired pro softball in the late 70s in Detroit (the Detroit Caesars) and made $100 per game and we had a doubleheader every Saturday and Sunday).

Former Tigers Norm Cash, Jim Northrup and Mickey Stanley were on that softball squad!

Charlie