High school games at risk in pay dispute with Idaho referees. Here’s what they want.
A standoff between referees and Treasure Valley schools threatens the start of the upcoming high school sports season, which hosts its first games in less than three weeks.
The two sides have yet to agree to a new contract as referees fight for higher pay and improved travel expenses, two pillars of a pay scale referees say is among the lowest in the nation.
John Cannon, the vice president of the Third District Officials Association, said 90% of his organization voted to reject the latest contract offer from the District Three Board of Control, the local high school sports governing body.
Cannon added 70 high school football officials are refusing to register for the upcoming season until a new contract is signed. Unregistered referees could not work games this fall, further tightening a shortage of officials.
The Treasure Valley had approximately 85 football officials last season, Cannon said, when referees in all sports agreed to work without a raise and under an expired contract during the coronavirus pandemic. It had 120 football officials before the pandemic.
The latest board of control offer included an average 17% raise in game fees across all sports and levels by the end of the three-year contract. The referees’ association wants an average 26% raise in game fees by the end of the contract.
“Our officials are not in this for money,” Cannon said. “But we’re independent contractors, and our costs are going up.
“If you take our time — not just the game, but preparing for the game, traveling to the game, the amount of time we put into training — if you put that on a per-hour basis, you can go down the street to McDonald’s and it’s a higher per-hour pay.”
The Third District Officials Association represents referees for seven high school sports — football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, baseball and softball — and covers schools from Boise to Riggins to Oregon’s Malheur County.
A widespread walkout would leave more than 50 high schools scrambling to find replacement referees, reschedule games or possibly even cancel contests days before the season begins. The first Idaho high school soccer games start Aug. 20, followed by volleyball (Aug. 25) and football (Aug. 26-27) the next week.
Negotiations have dragged on for 18 months, and the two sides have yet to agree on a date to meet again, Cannon said Tuesday afternoon.
Terry Beck, the president of the District Three Board of Control, said the board’s current offer already commits significantly more money to officials. It would cost schools in District Three and Eastern Oregon a combined $130,000 more in game fees in the first year of the contract compared to last season, the board estimates.
“I think we are doing our part to take care of our schools, our communities and our kids, and to make sure officials get a substantial increase,” Beck said.
LOW PAY LEAVES REFEREES ASKING FOR MORE
A 2020 survey by the National Association of Sports Officials found Idaho high school football officials made an average of $64 per varsity game, ranking 46th out of 49 states and well below the national average of $86.81. (The self-reported survey did not include responses from Rhode Island and the District of Columbia, Cannon said.)
Treasure Valley schools paid each varsity high school football referee $65 per game last fall. The Third District Officials Association proposed to raise that fee to $71.50 per game this fall, $76 next season and $82 in 2023 — a 26% increase by the final year of the contract.
The Board of Control instead offered raises of $69 per game this fall, $70.50 next season and $72 in 2023 — an 11% increase by the final year of the contract. Yearly raises were also part of the last contract.
Game fees vary by sport and for varsity or non-varsity levels. Both sides have agreed to raises for all sports and across all levels. The amounts remain the sticking point.
The officials association also wants schools to use three referees for varsity basketball games, matching what Idaho uses for its state tournaments, but some schools have declined to implement the additional referee during the regular season. And it proposed equal mileage reimbursement for sub-varsity and varsity officials by the end of the three-year contract.
Cannon said referees’ pay has not kept up with the cost of living in the Treasure Valley, which continues to climb in one of the nation’s fastest growing regions. The improvements would help retain veteran officials and recruit younger ones, an important goal as a slew of veteran officials reach retirement age, Cannon said.
“We don’t expect to get to the national average right away,” Cannon said. “That would be our long-term goal as the growth in this valley continues. What we’re offering is still $15 less than the national average.”
SCHOOL FUNDING ALREADY TIGHT FROM PANDEMIC
Beck has served as the president of the board of control for longer than he can remember, at least 25 years, he said. But this is the first time negotiations with referees have stretched into August.
Beck pointed out officials will receive a substantial raise in the board of control’s latest offer. But going any further doesn’t make financial sense for Idaho schools, which have the lowest per-pupil spending in the nation and whose athletic programs are emerging from a pandemic that limited their ticket revenue and hampered fundraisers last season.
“This pandemic really put schools in a bind,” Beck said. “Coffers are empty.”
The board of control’s latest offer would cost a 5A school with all seven sports and a full slate of sub-varsity teams approximately an extra $2,700 in game fees the first year of the contract compared to last year, an Idaho Statesman analysis of contracts shows. Those costs would rise to an extra $4,100 in game fees in the third year.
Smaller schools would pay less as they have fewer sub-varsity teams.
The referees’ latest proposal would add another $1,100 in the first year and $2,400 in the third year on top of the board of control’s offer for a school with all sports and teams.
Those estimates do not include district tournament games or mileage, both of which would vary by school.
Beck said increased costs would force schools to seek new revenue sources. That could include increased ticket prices, which the 5A and 4A SIC last raised in 2015-16 to $6 per adult. Or it could mean more fees or fundraisers for athletes and their families.
“Every school district funds activities differently,” Beck said. “But the bottom line of who pays for that is mom and dad.”
REF’S GAME FEES DON’T GO FAR
Cannon pointed to Doug Gochnour’s 2019 season as an example of how little referees actually make.
The veteran football and softball referee made $1,818.50 for working 34 games. But he only brought home $347.14 when factoring in mileage he was not reimbursed for; federal, state and self-employment taxes; and expenses like registration fees, a pocket timer and new uniform shorts.
Gochnour estimated he invested 162.5 hours between those 34 games, travel, meetings, training and testing. That comes to $2.14 an hour in take-home pay.
Those low wages mean officials can often make more money from local youth football leagues, Cannon said. The Boise and Meridian Optimist Youth Football league will pay $40 per game this fall. An official could earn $120 for three Optimist games on a Saturday for the same amount of time spent on a single varsity football game, according to Cannon, who assigns referees for the Optimist league.
As a group of independent contractors, referees do not have to follow their association’s lead if it advises them to sit out the season. But Corey Turner, another veteran football official, said he believes the referees are united.
Turner stayed home last season due to the open contract and the coronavirus pandemic. He said he would sit out again without a satisfactory agreement.
“My life was stress free last year during football season,” he said. “It takes a certain kind of person to go out there and get ridiculed by fans on the sidelines.
“I think officials can hold. In the scheme of things, we should be respected more than we are. And we’re not.
“Everything we do benefits the kids. But there comes a point when you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, what about all the time I’ve spent?’ ”
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 3:00 PM.
