I have heard this a lot. That the reason that some of them would bet on games would be that they don't get payed enough. I don't think they are underpaid at all. Sure players earn a lot, but the league is centered around them...they sell tickets and merchandise and are the reason the league is there and just because the athletes are overpaid doesn't mean the refs should be too. NBA referees earn around $100-300K per year so on average I guess it's 200K per year. That's a great salary, especially if you add in meeting all the players/coaches, getting the best view of the game and all the other nice things about being a ref. At 200K they would be making 150-155K more than the average American per year. There are a lot of people in the country who worked just as hard or harder than most of the refs to get where they are and they don't make half of what those referees do. You could live very comfortably with a 200K per year salary and I think it's a poor excuse for the ones that just like to gamble.
That's a lot of money. I'm sure all their travel & meals are covered, so the dough is all pocket money (after taxes of course).They're not exactly CEO's, so they probably don't need a raise.
They make good money, and I they do get their flights and stuff either paid for by the NBA or they are reimburst(sp?) for them, there was a scandal a few years ago involving this and NBA refs. they also get a per diem, which I believe is around 50 bucks a day, which might not sound like a lot but if you're hotel is paid for, your meals, and transportation you're not going to spend that much money.
yeah, these guys pretty much have 300k in pocket money for working about 70 games per year. Adding in meetings and everything, they've still get about 750 dollars per hour. Since many refs referee for 30+ years, and everything is paid for, they've pretty much got enough money to do anything but get a mansion.EDIT: Not to mention that 90% are awful at their jobs.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ASUFan22 @ Jul 23 2007, 11:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I have heard this a lot. That the reason that some of them would bet on games would be that they don't get payed enough. I don't think they are underpaid at all. Sure players earn a lot, but the league is centered around them...they sell tickets and merchandise and are the reason the league is there and just because the athletes are overpaid doesn't mean the refs should be too. NBA referees earn around $100-300K per year so on average I guess it's 200K per year. That's a great salary, especially if you add in meeting all the players/coaches, getting the best view of the game and all the other nice things about being a ref. At 200K they would be making 150-155K more than the average American per year. There are a lot of people in the country who worked just as hard or harder than most of the refs to get where they are and they don't make half of what those referees do. You could live very comfortably with a 200K per year salary and I think it's a poor excuse for the ones that just like to gamble.</div>That's a good amount of money, they don't need more. I believe 200k is much more than an average American's salary per year. If they had paid Donaghy more it wouldn't have stopped him from gambling on games and it won't stop any other refree if they want to. Also, after this incident, I'll be surprsied if the ref's get more money. I'm sure Stern is very dissapointed.
Though they probably will not get a raise now that this whole tim donaghy scandal has surfaced, I believe that they should get a raise for many reasons.1. They easily have the toughest officiating job in the world of sports. Jalen Rose made a good point on ESPN the other day, he said that NBA officials have to make more judgement calls than any other official in any other sport. For example, Jugement calls in NBA include: Personal Foul, Technical Foul, Block/Charge, off/def 3 seconds, carrying the ball, etc. Judgement calls in NFL include: Holding, Pass Interference. Judgement calls in MLB include: Ball/Strike but for the most part that is very concrete and there is a strike zone.2. They are criticized by players, coaches, and fans more than any other official in any other sport due to all of the judgement calls that they are required to make.3. They travel more than any NBA player during the season. Which means less time for family, home, etc.4. They are in the game the WHOLE game. They dont have referee substitutions unless they are injured and unable to perform to their full ability.5. They spend as much time at the arena as players do, before & after the game. After every game, the refs are required to watch the game that they just officiated again to critique each others performance. Also just thought I would let yall know, my friend who is a ball boy for the spurs sometimes has to prepare/clean the ref locker room and he tells me that Dick Bavetta constantly walks around completely naked. Before and after the game.There are probably more good reasons for them deserving a raise but this is all I can think of right now. I hope some of yall agree with me.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JRICH23 @ Jul 26 2007, 12:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Though they probably will not get a raise now that this whole tim donaghy scandal has surfaced, I believe that they should get a raise for many reasons.1. They easily have the toughest officiating job in the world of sports. Jalen Rose made a good point on ESPN the other day, he said that NBA officials have to make more judgement calls than any other official in any other sport. For example, Jugement calls in NBA include: Personal Foul, Technical Foul, Block/Charge, off/def 3 seconds, carrying the ball, etc. Judgement calls in NFL include: Holding, Pass Interference. Judgement calls in MLB include: Ball/Strike but for the most part that is very concrete and there is a strike zone.2. They are criticized by players, coaches, and fans more than any other official in any other sport due to all of the judgement calls that they are required to make.3. They travel more than any NBA player during the season. Which means less time for family, home, etc.4. They are in the game the WHOLE game. They dont have referee substitutions unless they are injured and unable to perform to their full ability.5. They spend as much time at the arena as players do, before & after the game. After every game, the refs are required to watch the game that they just officiated again to critique each others performance. Also just thought I would let yall know, my friend who is a ball boy for the spurs sometimes has to prepare/clean the ref locker room and he tells me that Dick Bavetta constantly walks around completely naked. Before and after the game.There are probably more good reasons for them deserving a raise but this is all I can think of right now. I hope some of yall agree with me.</div>I'm sure the Pops already gave them a nice raise if ya know what I'm sayin. :no1: J/K of course. Anyway, like I said, there are people who work longer hours at tough jobs that required a lot of education that earn less. They don't travel as much, but going to work when their children are asleep and coming back when they are asleep would be kind of the same because they don't see much of them. I have friends who's dad is a ref and he lives here and does a lot of Suns games...and how many games do they do...about 60 games a year? They work less than teachers.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JRICH23 @ Jul 26 2007, 02:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>1. They easily have the toughest officiating job in the world of sports. Jalen Rose made a good point on ESPN the other day, he said that NBA officials have to make more judgement calls than any other official in any other sport. For example, Jugement calls in NBA include: Personal Foul, Technical Foul, Block/Charge, off/def 3 seconds, carrying the ball, etc. Judgement calls in NFL include: Holding, Pass Interference. Judgement calls in MLB include: Ball/Strike but for the most part that is very concrete and there is a strike zone.</div>I will agree if you're saying that the NBA is much more subjective with their rules than other sports, but the NFL and MLB have a lot more than what you listed. NFL has placement of the ball, fumble vs. not a fumble, catch versus a drop, offsides, blah blah. At least they have instant reply, but that doesn't make it perfect either. Baseball has more than balls and strikes. Sure, it's rarer, but they have to make safe vs. fair calls, fair or foul, home run versus in the park (I know that sounds insane, but in some parks it's just a yellow line that divides fair from foul). They ref a ton of games too, so there's more room for error with those things.As for the other crap, they're making 6 figures, so I don't want to hear crying about how they have to spend time away from home or have to work more than three hours on any given night.
