Problems with the economy

[dportz]

The downswing in the economy has also hit umpiring.

Our Association has been in renegotions with almost all of our different leagues.... including high school. Everyone wants to pay a little less and get a little more. One of the HS teams, in an effort to save money, decided to have players umpire the games instead.

I get a call at work yesterday from a student who was asked to umpire a HS game and wanted to know if he could borrow my gear !!!?!!! WTF !!??

I told him he would have to borrow some catcher's gear from the team.

He then asked me if he should wear more than just a mask. I told him that the teams he was going to call were quite weak and the catchers would probably not do a very good job of protecting him and he might want to wear everything he could.

Next he asked "Tell me, what should I be looking for?":shrug:

I basically told him good luck and stay safe. I wonder how it went.

I have a feeling that the negotiations should speed up soon.

Oh Well .... Living the dream.

[Umpire in Chief]

Wow, Good luck.

[Stan W.]

We had an executive meeting of our summer ball chapter and these things are coming up with us as well... Our main league is losing teams as they shift towards leagues that are closer in distance rather than more competitive...we figured we would see some of this when gas was $4+ a gallon last year....

We are in contract negotiations with another one of our leagues and have agreed to a new contract holding the line on fees, despite the fact we havent had a rate increase in about 5 years...

We have heard about leagues now only paying for one man to do youth games...

[UMP6]

We are getting $42 JV and< and $52 Varsity in parts of Nebraska. $35 Youth

UMP6

[mstaylor]

We are getting $42 JV and< and $52 Varsity in parts of Nebraska. $35 Youth

UMP6

We get $50.00 for MS and JV

$70.00 for varsity

$35.00 to 70.00 for summer ball

All two man

[Astrosdawg07]

We get $50.00 for MS and JV

$70.00 for varsity

$35.00 to 70.00 for summer ball

All two man

Do you also get separate mileage fee?

[mstaylor]

No, but the greatest distance I have to drive is 30 miles. I live in a pretty rural area and 30 miles is nothing.

[Astrosdawg07]

Ok we get $45 a game for all levels and .585 a mile.

[mstaylor]

I would rather have more in a flat fee than milage. I have three schools with-in three miles of my house, one is across the street. I wouldn't make squat on milage. :confused: