NOTE: This blog post DOES NOT apply to ITA and UIL events since they pay a decent wage and provide meals to their officials when necessary.
NOTE: This blog post DOES APPLY to sanctioned USTA tournaments and specifically in the Metroplex.
Three years ago the Metroplex Tennis Officials Association raised their rates to $18/hour for the referee and $15/hour for umpires. You would have thought the world had come to an end when listening to the gnashing of teeth from TD's and tournaments. To retaliate, the Dallas Tennis Association and the Ft. Worth Tennis Association promptly stopped providing meals for officials (which had been the policy since the beginning of time.) Since that time, numerous other TD's have followed suit in denying meals to officials.
Just to put it in perspective, here is a breakdown of our pay now as compared to three years ago:
THREE YEARS AGO:
$12.50/hour
Meals provided
Gas was less than $2/gallon
No toll roads of consequence
TODAY:
$15/hour
No meals provided
Gas is more than $3.50/gallon
Toll roads are everywhere.
Here is a MONETARY BREAKDOWN of your $15/hour today:
$90.00 Pay for one 6 hour shift at $15/hour
-$10.00 Cost for a decent meal
-$6.00 Average cost for tolls to tournament site
-$6.00 Cost of gasoline at $1.50/gallon more than 3 years ago and based on four gallons
per day to drive roundtrip to the site.
$68.00 Real pay for a 6 hour shift
That comes out to $11.33 per hour for a 6 hour shift.
And some people think we actually raised our rates and make too much money...
UIL pays $160 per dual match and when we work a UIL tournament they pay $15/hour plus meals and plus mileage--so why would we complain over wearing a $28 shirt??? I sure won't.
Every tournament where I serve as referee (at UIL, ITA, & USTA), I make sure that they provide meals for the officials and if they don't, we add $10 per meal to the invoice. Interesting enough--90% of the time they choose to add $10 so they don't have to mess with it.
Its time our referees stood up for the umpires and did what is right--and maybe that includes actually discussing raising our rates. The TD's and tournaments have sure raised their's since the bottom line is that they are in it to make money.
35 comments:
I heard from a very reliable source that the organizers of the Little Mo' National Tennis Tournament has convinced the head of the MTOA Board to train court monitors so they won't have to pay officials to work the tournament this year. Please say this isn't so!
Based on my past experience, there are quite a few parents at the event that are living their dream through their kids and get very irate over the slightless perception of their little johnny getting cheated. How are court monitors going to handle those situations?
In my opinion, the head of the MTOA Board should not train replacements for qualified officials. Doesn't this go against everything the Board stands for?
And now we will have to buy more shirts so we are making even less.
Please say it ain't so that the head of the MTOA is training replacements for qualified officials. We make great sacrifices to officiate and strive to fairly apply the rules. If what you are saying is true, then why should we pay dues to an association that is apparently undermining our job opportunities.
Is there any way I can get my $10 dues back from the MTOA?
At least the shirt is tax deductible and you can wear the UIL shirt out in public and people will be impressed that you are working with our schools, kids, and coaches.
Probably the best $28 you will ever spend in your entire life.
What's worse is that our Sectional Chairman, Bruce Sampley, is on the board and is the leader of the Ft. Worth Tennis Association who was the leader in denying meals to officials. Maybe we need a change of leadership at a lot of levels.
I agree with this whole MTOA issue. Why should we be required to pay dues to an association that doesn't look out for us. Being a new official, I have a hard enough time getting to work events. It has cost me a lot of money to buy the USTA clothing so I can work. This will make it even harder. Is this the reason why Steve Franklin has been asking some of us to work for him? He must have insight into some of the problems our association is having at the moment.
This is a valid concern and should be looked at very closely in the Texas Section.
RM... Regarding your recent comment about tax deductable... I would thing then that the toll roads, mileage and lunch would be deductable - if your deducting shirts?
What would be fair? What do you want the person that hired the referee to pay the Officials. Give us TD's a price... trust me - it won't be enough!
Lets talk about fair - how about the Officials DO THEIR JOB'S and stop sitting down all day next to the courts - some Officials are actually told NOT TO WALK on the court!?!?! Who is teaching these people?
Please tell me how much I can pay out of my HUGE budget to make you and all the "Tennis Officials" happy?
Why not just get "Court Monitors" whats the FREAKING difference?
Last time I checked what you pay officials and their lunches you provide are all tax deductible for you as a TD.
Who is getting the best deal here?
If your referee hires officials that don't work then don't hire that referee again since he's the one who knows them the best.
Check out with the USTA makes off a tournament.
$3.50 to enter online
$1.50 player development fee
$200 sanctioning fee
Plus they get an annual fee of $42 from every player in the tournament.
Randy,
Can you seriously ask for MORE money out of these tournaments?
Here is an idea... how about if the Officials Union just asks for a percentage of the tournaments entries? Say the Tournament Directors are paying out 15% of their budget to the Officials - how about we say from now on its 25% or we don't work?
Wait.... that maybe a bad idea - how about if we wait to see if the entries are high - then we could ask for more!
If they won't go with 25% - please tell them for us we want our tolls paid AND they have to WASH all of our shirts!
Let's all remember that TD's have tournaments because they make money. They wouldn't be doing them if they were losing money.
All of us officials understand that tolls and higher gas prices are part of doing business but don't tell us we're getting a raise or a huge amount of money when we aren't.
I think one thing that would help clear up this issue is for our TD's to produce a valid balance sheet from their tournament and show us exactly what you make. You already know exactly what we make so if you want more profit, then show us the figures.
As for officials sitting by the courts, you need to understand that the AVERAGE RATIO of officials to courts in a Texas tournament is 1 to 11 courts. A good official knows how to stand between courts and observe (you can usually see 4-6 courts) and then go on the court if there are problems. If you want an official stuck on one court then who will take care of the other 10?
For those who want to replace officials with court monitors--good luck. Volunteers don't show up, quit when they get mad, don't know what they are doing, don't have authority to do much of anything, and will cause you more grief than you have ever experienced. Plus, you have to feed them lunch...
Didn't tournaments quit giving t-shirts? Why is that? You know that's why players enter tournaments.
There's only one player in Texas that I know of that has an official on his court all the time (because he cheats)and he's suspended. At least we have time to do the other 10 to 23 courts we have.
I love the idea of getting a percentage of the tournament's receipts. That way we would actually see how much money is made and how much officials are really making.
Who wants to be the first TD to let us have 25% of the receipts?????
The Little Moe tournaments are "not sanctioned" by the USTA and are not required to use USTA officials.
I strongly believe the current rates are more than fair. Quite a few of my fellow officials forget we are hired as contract labor, and as such, don't have to work the event if we don't feel we are adequately compensated.
RM, you should conduct a pole to see how many Republicans vs Democrats we have within our officiating ranks. Based on the comments I've been following lately, it would appear most, if not all, complainers are Democrats, at least that is the way the are acting. Always wanting handouts and thinking big brother is out against them.
So if the tournament loses money, does that mean the officials have to pitch in 25% of the losses as well?
What's for Lunch today?
Great Idea MacDonald... Transparency!
You are a card right out of the current administrations play-book! Are you drinking in between your post and comments?
Careful what you ask for. Many TD’s use tournaments as major incomes producers to help us make a living! SOME of us work all year to build up our events. Some of us have successful events because of our reputation throughout the year on tournaments. How can you put a price on that? You want our income statements OPEN to the scrutiny of your eyes and ALL officials’ eyes. My son works at HEB – maybe I can get the owners or the Managers of HEB to open their budgets so that he can get them to SPREAD the wealth!
Here is an idea YOU put your name on the line for tournament sanctions, balls, staff, advertising, trophies, electricity, toilet tissue, phone calls, special request, sectional regulations, tennis official lunch - dinner, crying moms and dads, assumed messed up seeding, scheduling, water bill, liability - AND MOST IMPORTANT our reputations that sell or don't sell the tournaments throughout the year. If we cannot sell the tournaments... we cannot hire YOU and your complainer Officials!
My guess is that you will NOT be able to tell how much PROFIT is made? Tell me Ref - what part of - I hired you - do you NOT understand?
You never answered the 9:52 early question - HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT?
BTW, my name is spelled McDonald and not MacDonald.
I answered your question when I said we would be open to 25% of the net receipts as someone suggested earlier.
We are referees and officials do put our name on players and parents. The complaints aren't against the TD but against the officials.
I think if you honestly opened your books you would find that you NEARLY ALWAYS make a profit or you wouldn't continue doing them.
We do make a "profit" and its a really big one isn't it? After meals, mileage, and tolls we usually clear about $30 a day.
Back when I started officiating ten years ago, I was trained by an official, that had at that time over 15 years experience. I asked how much can you make? The reply was, if you cover your expences, you'll be doing good. So I never expected to support myself by officiating. If I make a little extra, life is good. If I don't cover expenses, then I guess I'll have to reconsider, but I sure would miss tennis!
Now, this thing about the head of the MTOA working with the L'il Mo folks to eliminate officials is some interesting stuff. Randy, aren't you on that Board? Does this demand further investigation?
Sounds like you want to be a UNION boss Randy and have people make a living Officiating... it may work for YOU in DFW but, not everywhere else... We are hired by a tournament director and that person pays us to do a job - why do you want to know what he makes? Why should you care? Is that how businesses work? Sad day in Tennis if so!
Personally, I don't care at all what a tournament director or a tournament makes until I listen to them constantly complaining about what we make as officials and how we are breaking them with our rates. The bottom line to always remember is that they are in this to make money or they wouldn't be doing it. And the chief among money makers is the USTA.
I have never said you could make a living off of officiating but I think we should be paid a fair and equitable wage for the hours we work and the people we must put up with.
If that offends you, I'm sorry.
Seems like this thread has evolved to a different topic. I have been a TD running several tournaments a year for some 10 years. A few facts that I am anonymously allowed to say, as our privatly held club would never open their books up for viewing...I have run tournaments that the income has been as low as $3,100 and as high as $15,000. The profit (which goes to the club I am employed by) has ranged from 20-25%. They constantly have to evaluate whether the profit from a tournament is worth the negativity from the members who can't get courts those weekends. The fees paid out to the umpires have ranged from 21 to 26%. I would love to have a higher ratio of umpires per court, but I am not allowed to by my club. I am paid hourly for my work on these tournaments, and I am paid less per hour than umps and refs. During the tournament I am running the desk full time, and since I do not have an assistant, there is no downtime for me the whole weekend (except during that 8:15 to 9:00am slow period). It seems as though the negative thoughts are that the TD's are making huge profits...I am sure that is the case in many situations, but it certainly is not true in all of them!
I agree - we are paid a fair amount. I have no complaints! I can say this - our Ref does the SAME thing we do and she is paid more - THAT is not fair!!
You know if we keep making an issue out of this stuff pay stuff - they are ALL going to get smart and use court monitors.
Everywhere tennis officials have gotten the big head; they are the reason the tournament is held; they are the big it.
Pay me more, they all say, when the get together and compare rates from different states and different types of events, ITA, USTA, etc.
Then they hound the chief umpire, referee or tournament director as the hiring agent for more and better and more often goodies--
like tee shirts, meals, travel pay, singles rooms and 1 hour rest every 30 minutes, like linespersons.
************************
As for officials who will take a 12
court assignment as the norm,
note that other areas top out at 6 courts and 4 most of the time with relief officials to allow rest and meal time.
But they work their courts, and do not clusterfug and make the tournament run smoothly, and are
treated as valuable additions, not
noisome affirmative action hires.
And they work for referees that demand fair recompense for work provided.
Anon 11:54. You obviously have never been the Ref. There is a little more to it than what the Rovers do. Somebody has to hire the officials, set a schedule and hope they all show up when and where they are supposed to be. Get it covered when they don't. Collect times and do the billing. Check the draw. Turn in reports and lastly hope they don't have to handle something another official screwed up. Besides being there the entire time of the tournament. And I probably didn't get it all. I am not one of the regular Refs, but I have done a few tournaments. Just because you don't know what they do or don't see it, does not mean something isn't being done.
GIVE ME A BREAK - you HIRE the SAME DANG people every tournament, and paying people...it takes less than ONE minute to hit send on a spread sheet. YOU DO NOT "CHECK" draws - I am a TD and I speak for MOST TD's when I say - YOU DO NOT DO YOUR WRITTEN JOB Description - WHY? because we do not want you to do it. A lot of you Ref's - have no idea how to schedule a tournament! You should have to go to MORE school to be a ref! Or at least be a court monitor or umpire for a couple years!
AND ONE MORE THING - Most if not all of you REF's sit "High and Mighty" at the registration desk and encourage your staff to sit on the picnic table and "watch" matches.
RESPONSIBLE COURT MONITORS are the direction I will be headed. Good Luck DFW Metro Officials - I have plenty of club parents and senior players that would like to get involved.
GIVE ME A BREAK - you HIRE the SAME DANG people every tournament, and paying people...it takes less than ONE minute to hit send on a spread sheet. YOU DO NOT "CHECK" draws - I am a TD and I speak for MOST TD's when I say - YOU DO NOT DO YOUR WRITTEN JOB Description - WHY? because we do not want you to do it. A lot of you Ref's - have no idea how to schedule a tournament! You should have to go to MORE school to be a ref! Or at least be a court monitor or umpire for a couple years!
AND ONE MORE THING - Most if not all of you REF's sit "High and Mighty" at the registration desk and encourage your staff to sit on the picnic table and "watch" matches.
RESPONSIBLE COURT MONITORS are the direction I will be headed. Good Luck DFW Metro Officials - I have plenty of club parents and senior players that would like to get involved.
I am a ref and I don't do all those things. I normally sit at the main desk killing time. I don't look at the draws since they are all done on line by the tournament director. All I have to do is show up before the first match goes on and then leave after the last score of the day is turned in. It's great pay!!!
Nice to see there are HONEST Officials amongst us!
Well, lets get the cat out of the bag. Most junior tournaments do not make much money, (capped by the, USTA), and the adult tourneys cover their cost of courts, to keep the members from rioting. This being said, lets get back to the grass roots of tennis, the local tourneys, and let people play tennis at a competitive level, and enjoy the game, (it is a game), and enjoy their time with friends, (that is what I call my fellow officials), and enjoy the time outside , in the sun. This is a game, of tennis, and we need to remember why we volunteered our time to watch this game, and keep it fair, so other humans can enjoy the sport.
Let's just enjoy the sport, and let things happen, and enjoy the time we have on earth.
Post a Comment