It's very similar to being a coach IMO. We all don't do it for the money, but the reality is that we still have bills to pay and families to support. Therefore, it does have to be somewhat about the money, especially in today's expensive economy. Times are different, sadly. Unless you are a retired with a healthy pension, or just a millionaire, these ref's have other jobs. The juice has to be worth the squeeze for these guys to clock out of their full time jobs, travel miles to a game up to 4 nights a week, get screamed at for 3-4 hours, not eat anything for supper unless you grab some fast food and pay for it yourself, and then get home late after your family is all asleep. Factor all of that in, of course there has to be more of an incentive than just the love of the game. I love coaching football more than anything on this earth other than my love for Christ and my family, but I wouldn't do it if I couldn't pay the bills. I think you can draw a similar line with the teacher shortage as well. How are they fixing the teacher shortage, paying teachers more, well...paying 1st year teachers more. With that said, I don't think ref's are trying to get rich at all. I feel like they want their services to be valued with the times of today, not 1980.
I have no issue in paying ref's more at all. None. They are a valued part of the game and we wouldn't have a game without them. I wouldn't blame them at all for banding together and asking for more money.
