Referees, LHSAA reach agreement that ends talk of strike for football

Last week, news of a possible referee strike hung over the first week of the upcoming high school football season like a dark cloud.
That cloud appears to have dissipated, thanks to a meeting Sunday between representative of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) and the Louisiana High School Officials Association (LHSOA).
The group that represents the state’s high school referees announced last week that the referees would strike if they did not receive a pay increase, leaving the first week of the high school football season in doubt.
While details of Sunday’s meeting have not been released, representatives on both appear optimistic that games will go forward as scheduled.
Abbeville High Principal Ivy Landry said Monday morning that he shared that optimism throughout this process.
“I knew an agreement would happen,” Landry said. “We have to have the officials. Officials need us and we need the officials.
“We want to do what’s right.”
As far as Erath High Principal Marc Turner is concerned, the right thing, the only thing, is making sure that student-athletes take the field.
“We’re all here for the kids,” Turner said. “We need to put the kids first. We need to come up with an agreement that allows those kids to have the best high school experience that they can.
“Not having football week one would have been the worst thing for these kids.”
While week one appears to be a go, how much it will cost to go to a game may have to be given another look.
“Again, we need the officials,” Landry said. “We will pay the officials what needs to be paid. Officials also have to understand that anytime we increase their pay, the money has to come from somewhere.
“That may have to come from increasing the gate.”
Districts determine how much admission is charged for various sports. Abbeville is now in the newly formed District 5-4A, along with Breaux Bridge, Cecilia, St. Martinville and Westgate. Landry said the district’s principals agreed on $7 for football.
“We are going to charge $7,” Landry said, “unless we have to pay a whole bunch more for officials. Then we have to get back together as a district and may have to go up to $8. Some districts already charge $8. There are some districts that go up to $10.”
Officials reportedly requested an increase between $5 and $10 per game. The effect of any increase in officials pay will be felt well beyond football.
“For basketball, base ball and softball,” Landry explained, “everybody has been charging $5. We may have go up to $6, so that we can get that extra money to pay for the officials.”
Landry said the math is simple.
“You are looking at $360 for officials on a basketball night,” Landry said of days with multiple games. “If you are charging $5, that means you have to get close to 80 customers coming through the door, paying, to break even.
“On a normal night, that is not difficult, but there are some nights where you don’t break even.”
There are other factor in play.
“It’s getting more expensive to recondition football helmets and buy basketballs,” Landry said. “Everything is going up.”
Neither the LHSAA nor the LHSOA released any financial specifics on their deal as of press time Monday. Landry said he expects those details to be finalized in the coming days.
“I believe the (LHSOA) has a meeting later this week,” Landry said. “I think the details will come out after that.”
Turner said once the pay numbers are set, districts will take a look at ticket prices. He said District 8-3A, which includes Berwick, Erath, Franklin, Kaplan, North Vermilion, Patterson and E.D. White, has not yet discussed admission prices.
“We charged $7 last year,” Turner said. “Depending on what they (officials) are going to get, we will have to do a re-evaluation.”
Landry said there are concerns, should increase be part of this process.
“You don’t want to get to the point where it gets so expensive that a family can’t come to a ball game,” Landry said. “You don’t want to overprice yourself so that families don’t come to the games. We want our families at the games.
“These increases are just something we may have to talk about to offset how much we pay the officials.”