Grass-root sports official applications have gone down 48% from 2023 into 2024, with more than 60% of already enlisted sports officials quitting.

The average wage of a grassroots level official is $13 per hour, while the average wage of a fast food worker is $16 per hour.

Sports officials make on average 1-3 controversial calls per game, however 95% of officials claim that they received verbal harassment from the spectators while 1 in 5 say they were physically assaulted from players as a result of controversial calls.

All in all, the wage of the refs is not proportional to the criticism they receive - whether verbal or physical. Start up costs and the complicating process to become a grassroots (low level referee) is to much and to challenging. Referees need to be more incentivized with more fair wages as well as more respect from spectators and players, otherwise more and more sports officials will continue to quit and pursue other (better) jobs.