By Preston Kim
Introduction
The national referee shortage has been a recurring problem for years, with it being more prominent in some areas than others. States like Illinois, Texas, Maine, Tennessee, New York, Minnesota, and Arizona suffer most from the shortage. This varying severity raises the question: why do some areas struggle while others are minimally affected?
Since 2017, there has been a steady increase in the number of states across the U.S. that have been facing the problem of a lack of referees in youth sports. Particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic, the referee shortage has become truly problematic as sports shut down during this time, causing many to walk away from officiating. This shortage has become a huge challenge for leagues, schools, and sports organizations across the country. This issue has caused the postponement of games, cutting of seasons and in some cases, youth sports programs have been completely abandoned. This has caused young players to walk away from playing the sports they love and lose the physical and social benefits that athletics can offer. Geography is a significant factor in the referee shortage across the U.S. as actions of local organizations and government, commute to different areas, and local sports culture all influence referees’ decisions to continue officiating. These geographic factors are all responsible for creating stressful situations that lead to burnout among referees and eventually quitting youth sports officiating.
Literature Review
Existing research cites an uprising in struggles concerning the referee shortage. Recent research and articles discuss the primary reasons for the lack of recruitment and retention of referees. One of the most consistently stated causes of the national shortage is poor sportsmanship and referee abuse. “Why Referees Stay in the Game”, written by Lynn L. Ridinger, Stacy Warner, Jacob K . Tingle, and Kyungun R. Kim, addresses the question why referees initially pursue officiating, why they choose to continue, and what makes them eventually give up refereeing. In a survey, 10% of the respondents claim that they have discontinued officiating due to the verbal disrespect and abuse from players, coaches, and spectators (Ridinger, Warner, Tingle, & Kim, 2017, p. 30). While verbal abuse is one of the leading factors of why referees decide to quit officiating, 10% is a relatively low percentage. The leading factor in this survey were actually physical limitations, which 58% of the respondents claimed to be the main reason behind their decision to discontinue officiating (Ridinger, Warner, Tingle, & Kim, 2017, p. 30). Physical limitations are concurrent with the increasing age of referees. Dr. Matthew Williams in “The Real Cause of Losing Sport Officials” cites a survey from The National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), stating, “77% of current officials are over the age of 45, with slightly more than half over the age of 55.” (Williams, 2024).
In an article for The National Federation of State High School Associations, “Number of Officials Continues to Rise Across Country”, Jordan Morey, manager of communications and media of the National Federation of State High School Associations discusses the positive trend that the recruitment of referees is seeing. This article discusses more the regional aspects, talking about efforts different states are making in order to limit the damage the referee shortage has already caused. While it captures a minimal scope, only covering a couple states, it provides insight into what states and organizations can do to aid the shortage including recruiting campaigns and support systems for officials.
Despite addressing the main aspects of the prominence of the referee shortage, these papers have notable limitations. In their research, Ridinger, Warner, Tingle, Kim, Williams, and others fail to grasp a significant amount of referee perspectives. For example in the survey Ridinger, Warner, Tingle, and Kim use, only 18% of the 17,000 officials the survey was sent to responded. Further, the research does not adequately examine regional and state differences. However, the disrespect, physical limitations, and other factors discussed aid in the research of the geographical and regional factors that contribute to the national referee shortage.
Body
The referee shortage has affected areas all over the country, however, the extent to which this problem has affected different areas varies. This is largely due to the varying actions that different regions take in order to diminish the shortage. According to Jordan Morey in his article “Number of Officials Continues to Rise Across Country”, the state of Iowa has seen a 36% increase in high school officials since 2018 (Morey, 2025). Morey claims, “IHSAA (Iowa High School Athletic Association) Assistant Director Todd Tharp, who as a part of his duties oversees officiating, said Iowa has found success in growing its numbers in a variety of ways. The IHSAA is targeting high school students, college students, parents of former athletes and former coaches, among other groups. Last year, Iowa rolled out RefReps in high schools to provide a new avenue for officiating, Tharp said. RefReps works with 46 NFHS member states, as well as groups in the Marshall Islands, South Korea, Germany, and Dubai, and as a part of its services provides online programming to help students get certified.” (Morey, 2025). Iowa has made countless effective efforts to improve the referee shortage. The IHSAA’s intentional decisions have reduced the negative impact of the referee shortage. Initiatives like those of Iowa can provide an example for other states to implement similar actions as well, and aid in the effort to resolve the referee shortage. However, this contrasts to states who are being most negatively affected by the referee shortage. In “ILLINOIS' OFFICIAL PROBLEM: A shortage of qualified referees is hitting sports leagues hard”, Reporter Danny Ecker asserts, “The downward trend, exacerbated by low pay and the proliferation of camps and travel leagues creating more games to be officiated, is forcing high school sports officials statewide to redouble their efforts to find refs and, in the meantime, fill gaps with inexperienced ones.” (Ecker, 2017). Compared to Iowa, Illinois has been largely ineffective in addressing the issue of the lack of referees. While some actions have been taken like financial grants and other incentives, Illinois failed to address the official shortage like Iowa has. Sports organizations and schools in Illinois continue to offer low wages and attempt to temporarily fix this problem by hiring inexperienced referees. Rather than helping the problem, this can exacerbate it as inexperienced referees can make controversial decisions, increasing the animosity against officials. Geography is crucial to the national referee shortage as organizations in places like Iowa and Kansas are taking effective measures that improve the referee shortage in those areas. On the other hand, other states that struggle the most are making fruitless efforts.
The location of certain schools and sporting events are also a reason why geography is considerably influential to the referee shortage. The location of sporting events contributes to the shortage as long commutes can make it difficult for officials to officiate games in certain areas. Ridinger, Warner, Tingle, & Kim describe referees' experiences in “Why Referees Stay in the Game” claiming that time spent travelling can be problematic. Long commutes are straining for many and time spent away from family can also be conflicting (Ridinger, Warner, Tingle, & Kim, 2017, p. 31). Commuting to distant areas can be very common for referees. Long commutes can be both physically and mentally tiring, especially for older referees. Sporting events that are in rural areas or seemingly in the middle of nowhere are particularly far, making it hard to find willing referees to travel to those areas. Additionally, many referees are expected to travel using their own money. Ecker writes, “A varsity football official, for example, is typically paid $60 to $70 per game. But some drive an hour or more on their own dime to get to their assignment” (Ecker, 2017). Along with grueling, long travels, part time referees and even some full time referees have to pay for transportation. In some cases, officials make little to no money as they spend much of their wage on transportation while travelling long distances. In this way, geography is a primary factor in the referee shortage as more rural areas and other places that are far and difficult to travel make commuting exhausting for referees, making it hard for these areas to find referees. Further, many referees already have low pay, and paying for their own travel makes officiating like a voluntary job, giving them even less motive to continue refereeing.
Another reason why geography plays an important factor in the national official shortage is because of the local sports culture as well. Ecker writes, “Fenwick High School infamously filed a lawsuit last year to have its loss in the Class 7A football state semifinal game overturned because of an incorrect call by the officials at the end of the game.” (Ecker, 2017). The sports culture in certain areas can greatly affect the attitudes of players, coaches, and spectators. 7A football is one of the highest levels of football in Illinois, and it being a playoff game just further increases the tensions. This highly competitive sports culture and atmosphere contributes to harsh attitudes toward referees, in this case, it goes as far as to filing a lawsuit. The increased pressure in more competitive areas causes referees to be discouraged from officiating, especially in these places.
Counterarguments
While some may argue that there is no correlation in competitiveness and the prominence of the referee shortage as many referees still opt to officiate for more competitive games, despite the increased pressure and disrespect. However, this further supports the importance of geography and location in influencing the referee shortage. “Why Referees Stay in the Game” addresses a survey for referees, noting that Administrative issues was mentioned the second most when referees were asked about what the most problematic issue was in officiating. Administrative issues include unfair game assignments (Ridinger, Warner, Tingle, & Kim, 2017, p. 31). Many referees, especially experienced ones, believe that they deserve to officiate higher level games. This makes it much more difficult for areas where sports are less competitive to find willing officials. Also, more competitive games offer better wages. In “What Determines Youth Football Official Pay Rates?” Casey Haywood claims more competitive leagues and events involving older kids generally pay more (Haywood, 2025). This gives even more motivation for officials to referee higher level events, despite it contributing to increased pressure and abuse. As referees are more drawn to areas that offer higher level games and events, it leaves other areas with a less competitive sports culture struggling to find referees, and suffering more from the national referee shortage.
Discussion
This research exposes further causes and correlations behind the issue of the national referee shortage. Not much research has been done to find how geography and location influences the extent to which the national referee shortage affects different areas. This research helps view the referee shortage from a different angle. This new view will help to develop a better understanding of why the issue of the referee shortage is so prominent. These findings are relevant to the broader field of referee recruitment and retention as they can help develop new strategies that consider geographic factors rather than typical approaches. Future research should expand on the geographic effects by exploring additional factors that may explain why certain areas are affected differently by the referee shortage. This new geographic perspective can help to examine how to better assess the referee shortage and mitigate this longing issue.
Conclusion
Geography plays an extremely impactful role in shaping the severity of the national referee shortage as government and organizational decisions in local areas, location of events and schools, and varying sports culture determine the effect of the national referee shortage in different areas. The actions of local government and associations are impactful in mitigating or intensifying the referee shortage. Also, location can make referees reluctant to continue officiating. Long commutes can be tiring and expensive, causing areas that are distant or rural to suffer most from a referee shortage. Finally, local sports culture can greatly affect the extremity of the shortage. While competitive areas lead to increased tension and pressure, non competitive areas also can struggle as they offer less pay. It is important to consider this geographical lens rather than the typical perspective that the referee shortage is looked at. This view offers effective actions that are catered geographically to each government, organization, and sports league to aid in minimizing the negative influence of the referee shortage.
References
Ecker, D. (2017). Illinois' official problem: a shortage of qualified referees is hitting sports leagues hard. Crain's Chicago Business.
Haywood, C. (2025). What determines youth football official pay rates? Faircall. https://www.faircall.org/blog-posts/what-determines-youth-football-official-pay-rates
Morey, J. (2025). Number of officials continues to rise across country. NFHS. https://nfhs.org/stories/number-of-officials-continues-to-rise-across-country
Purnell, D. M. (2024). The referee perspective: an exploration of the referee experience at the Elite level of competition. https://www.proquest.com/openview/4aa45268c8d952774036631352e4f21a/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar
Kim, K. R., Ridinger, L. L., Tingle, J. K., & Warner, S. (2017). Why referees stay in the game. Global Sport Business Journal, 5(3), 22–37. https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=busadmin_faculty
Williams, M. J. (2024). The real cause of losing sports officials. Sport Journal, 24(1),1. https://thesportjournal.org/?s=The+Real+Cause+of+Losing+Sports+Officials
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (Version 5.2) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/. Portions of this paper were revised by ChatGPT. ChatGPT was used to make small edits for clarity and to summarize sources. All content was reviewed and verified by the author.
