NFHS Baseball Umpire Associations

[johnnyg08]

Does your association charge the schools an assigning fee? 

Since the schools are literally 99% of the work...do they have some skin in the game? 

[noumpere]

Assigners (which are separate from associations here) do.  Official gets, say, $90; assigner gets, say, $10.

 

Other places have the school pay "more" to the official ($100) and the official pays the assigner ($10).

 

Other places have the school pay the full fee ($100) to the association and have the association pay the official  ($90).

[johnnyg08]

2 minutes ago, noumpere said:

Assigners (which are separate from associations here) do.  Official gets, say, $90; assigner gets, say, $10.

 

Other places have the school pay "more" to the official ($100) and the official pays the assigner ($10).

 

Other places have the school pay the full fee ($100) to the association and have the association pay the official  ($90).

Thank you. This is less about the actual game fees. I guess I'm referring to more like a model where a school would contract with an assigner/association by paying a fee to have their games assigned. Then obviously the game fees to the umpires. 

 

[noumpere]

2 hours ago, johnnyg08 said:

Thank you. This is less about the actual game fees. I guess I'm referring to more like a model where a school would contract with an assigner/association by paying a fee to have their games assigned. Then obviously the game fees to the umpires. 

 

Just pointing out that there are lots of models for that to happen -- and the economics are all the same (given standard fees) no matter how it happens.  Yes, the assigners should be paid for their work.

[JonnyCat]

Our HS association does not charge the schools an assigner fee. In fact, I believe per CIF rules, they are not allowed to. The school pays the game fees as per the CIF contract. Then we as officials give a kickback to the assigner.

The HS association does the same thing with other tournaments, LL, travel-ball, that they contract for. Those organizations pay a set game fee, and then the officials give a kickback to the association.

Interestingly enough, the adult ball association I have worked for, does the same thing. We get $100.00 per game, but must kickback $5.00 to the assigner. But yet, that organization has the teams pay the owner league fees to have a team each season, that includes umpire fees.

But instead of just charging the teams what the owner needs to run the league, and then paying the assigner himself, and let the umpires keep the actual fee. Oh no, can't do that. The assigner has to chase down his money from the umpires. That's how he gets paid, not from the owner of the league, but from the umpires.

As you can see, it's a stupid system all the way around. It needs to change.

[johnnyg08]

8 minutes ago, JonnyCat said:

Our HS association does not charge the schools an assigner fee. In fact, I believe per CIF rules, they are not allowed to. The school pays the game fees as per the CIF contract. Then we as officials give a kickback to the assigner.

The HS association does the same thing with other tournaments, LL, travel-ball, that they contract for. Those organizations pay a set game fee, and then the officials give a kickback to the association.

Interestingly enough, the adult ball association I have worked for, does the same thing. We get $100.00 per game, but must kickback $5.00 to the assigner. But yet, that organization has the teams pay the owner league fees to have a team each season, that includes umpire fees.

But instead of just charging the teams what the owner needs to run the league, and then paying the assigner himself, and let the umpires keep the actual fee. Oh no, can't do that. The assigner has to chase down his money from the umpires. That's how he gets paid, not from the owner of the league, but from the umpires.

As you can see, it's a stupid system all the way around. It needs to change.

It's a bizarre model, but it's pervasive. 

The schools are 99% of the work for an assigner, yet the schools have no skin in the game outside of game fees.

 

 

 

[JonnyCat]

7 hours ago, johnnyg08 said:

It's a bizarre model, but it's pervasive. 

The schools are 99% of the work for an assigner, yet the schools have no skin in the game outside of game fees.

 

 

 

I agree. No other business can run like this. The umpire associations need to contract with the schools the money they need to operate a legitimate business. Having CIF set the officials fees is ludicrous.

Associations should collect enough money to run their businesses, not with their members funding them. We should just collect a game fee, and not have any assigner fees or membership dues. We have to fund the organizations we work for?

No wonder there is a shortage. The whole system is stuck in the 70's.

[Kevin_K]

In my part of NJ, the school conferences contract with assigners for individual sports. Game fees are set by a group of athletic directors with nearly 0 input from any representative of any officials in any sports. Some assigners in NJ tried charging officials assigning fees a while back and the state slapped their hands pretty hard so that isn't a part of our fee schedule.

HS associations are responsible for training, testing, and certifying their members meet all the eligibility requirements sent down from the all knowing NJSIAA. Officials pay dues to the associations and to the state.

I don't really know what I get for my dues monies, which is why I got involved in the executive board of my volleyball association and will be its president come spring time. I can assure anyone who is interested that he old guard is not going to like some of the things that are in the offing. There are many people collecting lots of money who are not really doing anything of value to collect thousands of dollars from the membership. That will not continue one way or another.

 

[lawump]

In South Carolina, the assignor is paid $100 per varsity team and $75 per sub-varsity team.  The assignor also gets $25 for assigning any tournament (pre-season or spring break) hosted by the school.  And we have a lot of tournaments.  This is set by the SCHSL (state association).

My association has 31 schools.  Probably 60% have three teams (varsity, JV, and "B" Team (a/k/a middle school)) and the rest have two teams (varsity and JV).  So, if you do the math, one can see that our assignor makes a good chunk of change from the schools.

Also, our association (not the assignor) is paid by each school $25 for each scrimmage hosted by the school.  We (the association) are free to use the money as we see fit.  We typically use it to purchase training materials.

[johnnyg08]

27 minutes ago, lawump said:

In South Carolina, the assignor is paid $100 per varsity team and $75 per sub-varsity team.  The assignor also gets $25 for assigning any tournament (pre-season or spring break) hosted by the school.  And we have a lot of tournaments.  This is set by the SCHSL (state association).

My association has 31 schools.  Probably 60% have three teams (varsity, JV, and "B" Team (a/k/a middle school)) and the rest have two teams (varsity and JV).  So, if you do the math, one can see that our assignor makes a good chunk of change from the schools.

Also, our association (not the assignor) is paid by each school $25 for each scrimmage hosted by the school.  We (the association) are free to use the money as we see fit.  We typically use it to purchase training materials.

Thank you for this. For the amount of work involved, the comp model seems appropriate. 

Are the fees mentioned in your post the sole compensation model? IOW, the schools are 100% funding the assigner's compensation. Or are the umpires paying a per game fee or something as well. The assigner serves two groups differently...service to the schools & service to the officials. 

[lawump]

51 minutes ago, johnnyg08 said:

Thank you for this. For the amount of work involved, the comp model seems appropriate. 

Are the fees mentioned in your post the sole compensation model? IOW, the schools are 100% funding the assigner's compensation. Or are the umpires paying a per game fee or something as well. The assigner serves two groups differently...service to the schools & service to the officials. 

We (the umpires) pay our assignor $3/game.

[johnnyg08]

33 minutes ago, lawump said:

We (the umpires) pay our assignor $3/game.

Got it. Thank you. 

[The Man in Blue]

Wild West here.  Local associations technically do not do scheduling.  I say “technically” because the boys at the top of the association do that on the side for pay from the schools.

No, officials do not kick any money to them.  Awhile back one guy tried pawning “his Arbiter costs” off on us.  Then word got out that he was getting Arbiter for free … 

[johnnyg08]

7 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

association do that on the side for pay from the schools.

So in a sense, the schools do pay the associations. Yes?

[grayhawk]

6 hours ago, lawump said:

We (the umpires) pay our assignor $3/game.

What are your game fees?

[dumbdumb]

12 hours ago, lawump said:

In South Carolina, the assignor is paid $100 per varsity team and $75 per sub-varsity team.  The assignor also gets $25 for assigning any tournament (pre-season or spring break) hosted by the school.  And we have a lot of tournaments.  This is set by the SCHSL (state association).

My association has 31 schools.  Probably 60% have three teams (varsity, JV, and "B" Team (a/k/a middle school)) and the rest have two teams (varsity and JV).  So, if you do the math, one can see that our assignor makes a good chunk of change from the schools.

Also, our association (not the assignor) is paid by each school $25 for each scrimmage hosted by the school.  We (the association) are free to use the money as we see fit.  We typically use it to purchase training materials.

and i would imagine that if some in your area, state or states, have that same model and assign pretty much all the sports mens and womens (football, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, field hockey, wrestling, baseball, softball, track and field for a school and then get 50 to 100 schools that is some $50-100k grand gig just from the schools. nice if they have a sweet paying regular traditional job that allows the time needed to do this on the side. would imagine some might charge the official a flat fee amount for each sport rather than 3$ per game also.

[lawump]

8 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

and i would imagine that if some in your area, state or states, have that same model and assign pretty much all the sports mens and womens (football, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, field hockey, wrestling, baseball, softball, track and field for a school and then get 50 to 100 schools that is some $50-100k grand gig just from the schools. nice if they have a sweet paying regular traditional job that allows the time needed to do this on the side. would imagine some might charge the official a flat fee amount for each sport rather than 3$ per game also.

We're a one sport association.  But I'm sure that's true elsewhere.

[lawump]

13 hours ago, grayhawk said:

What are your game fees?

$80 plus a minimum $11 mileage reimbursement.  If you travel more than 18 miles round trip, the mileage goes up.  Most of my checks are $100-$110.  

[BLWizzRanger]

So the ones getting mileage... what is the area your association covers?

I know this is hard to compare areas or difficulty to get somewhere. But like mine, from using the interstate exits, we can go 65 miles north and south, but, on any one exit, we could go another 30 miles to the farthest field.  Luckily, we have good coverage that it is rare to travel the farthest points even one time a year.  For reference, my closest field is 10 miles and my farthest is 70 miles from my house.

We don't get mileage. Our fees are $95/$75 and we set them. I don't know what the assignor's arrangement is for their fees, if any.  We have good relationships with other boards in the state that if the schools decline to meet our fees and they try to arrange other boards to come in, the other boards will ask for a 100% increase from our fees and we do the same. I like to think we have a quasi-union (never spoken out of course).

 

[834k3r]

1 hour ago, BLWizzRanger said:

So the ones getting mileage... what is the area your association covers?

Regardless of where I'm heading for a game(s), 99.9% of it is non-interstate, and the vast majority is state highway.

The association with which I do the most work is roughly 140 miles by 50 miles; the more rural games can require a 2 hour drive one way. Our association paid $88/$69 for a two-man crew plus ~$1/mile for 2024; that's going up a couple dollars per hour in 2025.

The other association with which I work pays $75/$55, but pays $2/mile plus a small per diem.

Like you, I don't know what the arrangment is for our assignor (I stay in my own lane)

[The Man in Blue]

On 1/13/2025 at 7:15 PM, johnnyg08 said:

So in a sense, the schools do pay the associations. Yes?

 

Nope.  The schools pay the assignors.  Most of our area assignors just happen to be the bigwigs of the local association.  Purely coincidental.

The association does important work, like put on one clinic per sport per year (which also pays those same people to teach the clinic -- and by "teach" I mean they put up the NFHS PowerPoint and read it to the room), host a test review meeting so the dumb guys can get the answers, and host a banquet to celebrate those same people mentioned above (and costs $25/head to go to) . . . oh, and they put on a golf tournament.

[johnnyg08]

14 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

 

Nope.  The schools pay the assignors.  Most of our area assignors just happen to be the bigwigs of the local association.  Purely coincidental.

The association does important work, like put on one clinic per sport per year (which also pays those same people to teach the clinic -- and by "teach" I mean they put up the NFHS PowerPoint and read it to the room), host a test review meeting so the dumb guys can get the answers, and host a banquet to celebrate those same people mentioned above (and costs $25/head to go to) . . . oh, and they put on a golf tournament.

Oh okay..so the assigner does not necessarily need to be part of the association in your area. 

[lawump]

Our mileage is $0.55/mile.  The furthest school from my house is 70 miles, one way.  So that would be $77 for mileage...or a $157 check (game fee + mileage).

[The Man in Blue]

21 hours ago, johnnyg08 said:

Oh okay..so the assigner does not necessarily need to be part of the association in your area. 

The two assignors who I will work for are not part of the local social club.  The three that I try not to work for all either have been or are officers.

Years ago, one of them got butthurt at one point because he lost his seat, so he went off and created his own association (which continued to prop up his assigning).  In the last few years, he has worked his way back into the good graces, so he folded his association (but retains the name, which he uses for his assigning).  This is one reason I am loathe to do some of the things our area needs (which would involve creating an umpire-focused association to recruit, train, retain, and support umpires).

I'll be honest, assigning in this area is not about money.  It is about power and control.

[lawump]

To keep an assignor from getting too much power and control you (1) need to have an actual association with a board, by-laws, elections, etc. (2) you need to make the assignor answerable to the Board (3) you prohibit the assignor from also being the CEO/President.  

There is no fool-proof way to prevent an association from being dominated by the assignor.  At a minimum, it requires that you have a Board with a spine to stand up the assignor AND/OR an assignor willing to realize (s)he is just one position in a much larger organization.  I also believe there is a way to draft By-Laws to minimize, as much as possible, this occurring.

I am willing to share our portion of our By-Laws that deals with our assignor:

Booking Secretary

1.      The position of “Booking Secretary” is hereby created.  The position of “Booking Secretary” is not a corporate officer position.  The Booking Secretary shall be appointed by, and serve at the leisure of, the Board of Directors.

a.       The Booking Secretary shall be the only person authorized by the Board of Directors to assign members of the CBUA to umpire baseball games for which the CBUA has been contracted to provide umpires;

b.      The Booking Secretary shall be the only person authorized by the Board of Directors to assume the title of “District Director” (or any similar title) bestowed by the South Carolina High School League to the person authorized by that League to assign umpires to officiate High School League games;

c.       The Booking Secretary shall be the Association’s point of contact between the Association and the High School League;

d.      The Booking Secretary shall be paid $3 by each CBUA member for each game a member officiates after having been assigned by the CBUA’s Booking Secretary;

e.       The Booking Secretary shall be entitled to all sums, if any, paid by the High School League, or its member schools, (as well as any other entity that the Association contracts with) that are classified by those entities as “booking fees”.  The Booking Secretary may (but is not required) appoint one or more persons to the position of “Assistant Booking Secretary”.  These assistant booking secretaries may be assigned the duty of assigning umpires to work games sponsored by entities other than the South Carolina High School League (for example, “Top Gun” or “American Legion”).  All sums paid by either the entity or a CBUA member as a “booking fee” as part of the CBUA assigning umpires to work games for a non-SCHSL entity shall be paid to the person actually assigning the games (whether the Booking Secretary or Assistant Booking Secretary).  This amount may be split pro-rata should more than one person perform these duties for a non-SCHSL entity.  At all times, the Assistant Booking Secretary shall be answerable to the Booking Secretary who, in turn, is answerable to the Board of Directors as set forth in Paragraph 1(a) supra.; and,

i.      NOTE:  The $25 fee paid per scrimmage by High School League member schools for the assigning of umpires to scrimmages is not a “booking fee” subject to the rules in this subsection “e”.  Rather, pursuant to South Carolina High School By-Laws this is a fee paid to umpire associations across the state for use as the Board of Directors for each association deems fit.

f.        The Booking Secretary shall perform any other duties assigned to him/her by the Board of Directors.

2.      Any person serving as President and/or Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Carolina Baseball Umpires Association, Inc., may not concurrently serve as the Booking Secretary of said Association;

If a person serving as the Booking Secretary/Assignor of said Association is elected Chairman of the Board of Directors and/or appointed President, he must either resign as Booking Secretary prior to being sworn in as President or Chairman, OR decline his appointment as President and/or decline his election as Chairman of the Board of Directors;

If a person serving as the President and/or Chairman of the Board of Directors of said Association is appointed Booking Secretary, he must either resign as both the President and/or Chairman prior to assuming the duties as Booking Secretary or decline his appointment as Booking Secretary.

3.      The entirety, or any portion thereof, of this section (entitled “Booking Secretary”) of the Policies and Procedures of the CBUA Manual may only be amended pursuant to a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors.