Officially A Problem

Episode 9 Guest: Mike Webster (Basketball Official/Referee)

- Everyone loves their youth sports, but without refs... There IS no youth sports.

- Referee abuse is a real issue and it's causing MAJOR ripple effects with shortages nationwide, across all sports. 

- Losing more #s in officiating than we are gaining. Not a sustainable model. 

- Quality officiating is declining because there's no incentive to improve. Even bad officials HAVE to get games because of low #s.  

- As coaches, players, fans... you want to show up to a game and trust that you are getting quality officials.  

- If you're yelling at officials, you aren't coaching your team. 

- If something doesn't change with ref shortages, it won't be a pretty picture. And rural areas will be impacted the most disproportionately. 

- Will the shortage actually impact/change behavior toward refs?

- What causes rational people to act so crazy toward refs?

- The average person doesn't know nearly as much about a "call" as they think they do...