The shortage of officials has plagued high school sports and the problems have intensified.
For more than 37 years, Arbiter has been at the forefront of high school and collegiate sports through products that manage and coordinate sporting and scholastic events, their tracking, record-keeping, and payment processing that leads the industry. In the last year, for instance, Arbiter has impacted over 65 million Americans, one in every five of us, through SaaS solutions for online Registration, Scheduling and digital Payment systems.
With over $500 million in payments processed, 35 million events coordinated each year, impacting 15 million high school students in more than 25,000 high schools, and 60 million official assignments each year, Arbiter possesses data and develops insights that can shed further light on the shortages of officials. This concern is not limited to high schools; the shortage of refs also affects middle schools and colleges and universities that typically draw their referees from experienced and talented high school officials.
In this report, Arbiter highlights some of the findings, attitudes and perceptions from research and discussions with Athletic Directors, Assigners and Coaches.