Infographic: The Nationwide Decline in Sports Officials

There are around 300,000-350,000 total high school sports officials in the U.S. but states like Tennessee, Nevada, and Kansas are all reporting a decrease in registered officials. In fact, Oregon saw a 12 percent decrease in the last three years alone.

Factors like low pay, negative environments and a lack of advancement opportunities are discouraging those who are interested in becoming sport officials. The decline in Tennessee is even being attributed to a new background check policy implemented in November 2015. This policy requires officials to pay their own fee to get a criminal background check each year to remain an official. With a fairly low wage, this could be hard for those who rely solely on officiating games for their income.

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