MILWAUKEE, Wis. — High school football games are increasingly moving away from traditional Friday night kickoffs to Thursday evenings or Saturday afternoons, largely due to ongoing referee shortages across Wisconsin.
While the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) reports statewide improvements in referee numbers, local associations continue to struggle with staffing challenges that affect game scheduling and quality.
"We've actually increased by five football crews this fall as well. That's up from 153 to 158," WIAA assistant director Chad Schultz said.
Watch: Why Wisconsin is experiencing a shortage of high school referees:
However, the Milwaukee Officials Association (MOA) hasn't experienced the same growth locally.
"In certain areas of the state, there's probably increases. In the Milwaukee area, we're always looking for people," MOA board member Heath Powell said.
The shortage creates operational challenges that can impact game quality. Officials must be reassigned from other games to ensure adequate coverage, and crews sometimes operate with fewer referees than preferred.
"You have to have four (referees)," MOA board member Pat Miles explained. "You prefer five. If that happens, you're losing the back judge. Well, now you're losing that coverage deep down field for some of the pass plays, goal line plays that the short wings have to get to the goal line on a long pass play, and yeah, things are going to get missed."
The referee shortage stems from multiple factors, with verbal abuse from fans being a significant deterrent. However, the COVID-19 pandemic also intensified time commitment concerns for potential officials.
"The emotion and the temper and everything just goes to a whole other level, and now the officials have to put up with that, and they miss the anniversary, and they miss – is this worth it anymore?" Miles questioned.
Even when associations recruit new officials, availability issues persist.
"We could have you know 500 officials in the Milwaukee area alone, but if their availability is that they can only work every other week, well, then they're not truly available for the whole season then at that point," Schultz explained.
Despite these challenges, veteran officials like Powell and Miles, who have a combined 50-plus years of experience, continue officiating because of the relationships and atmosphere.
"I'm very fortunate to work in the NFL, work college, and so forth – have had some great assignments – but when you work a Friday night football game, it's both cities there at that site. Both are there. It's the atmosphere. They're playing for the love of the game. They're not playing for anything other than the love of the game. It's pure sports. The energy, the cheerleaders, the band, everything that goes into that. That's what I just love," Miles smiled.
Powell encourages others to consider officiating as an opportunity for personal growth.
"Take a chance, you know, get out there and do something different, you know, challenge yourself," Powell said.
The WIAA continues recruiting officials across all sports. For information on how to become one, click here.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
