I'm seeing several 1st round playoff games being moved to Thursday. Is this due to ref shortage?

St. X vs Butler has been moved to Thursday.

 

1 minute ago, Tigerpride94 said:

I'm seeing several 1st round playoff games being moved to Thursday. Is this due to ref shortage?

Yes. 

If I'm a 1 seed and big favorite I'm all over this opportunity. Gives my guys an extra day in between. 

4 minutes ago, Tigerpride94 said:

I'm seeing several 1st round playoff games being moved to Thursday. Is this due to ref shortage?

Probably a big reason. You typically also see some moved because of teams participating in the state volleyball tournament. Format is a little different this year, but the quarterfinals are all at George Rogers Clark on Friday, November 5. If your school is playing in that event, getting people back to run a football playoff game is a tough task.

Montgomery County at Frederick Douglass will also be played on Thursday, November 4 kickoff will be at 7:00pm. 

15 hours ago, Tigerpride94 said:

I'm seeing several 1st round playoff games being moved to Thursday. Is this due to ref shortage?

Yes, KHSAA sent out an email last week saying they were short of refs and needed some schools to change.

A lot of good quality refs have called it quits and not enough new refs have taken up the slack. This will be an ongoing problem; Thursday night games will be common for the foreseeable future. 

7 minutes ago, Roundsteak said:

A lot of good quality refs have called it quits and not enough new refs have taken up the slack. This will be an ongoing problem; Thursday night games will be common for the foreseeable future. 

I also wonder if these Thursday games allow for more seven-man crews on Friday night? I've been to games across the state every week this year and probably half of the games I've seen have had seven-man crews (and not every game would be considered a top-notch game).

4 minutes ago, Roundsteak said:

A lot of good quality refs have called it quits and not enough new refs have taken up the slack. This will be an ongoing problem; Thursday night games will be common for the foreseeable future. 

Without a doubt! 

KHSAA is facing a crisis because of many things. Many people lead a much more busy life now and just don't have the time to dedicate to officiating and improving as an official. They have a generation entering the ranks that won't enter because they don't want to start at lower levels and work their way up, they simply want Friday night lights. They also handcuff themselves in my opinion with some of the annual fees that they charge officials per sport. When you already have a shortage of interests, you cannot charge a fee for someone to come work for you. Add on that many local associations require another fee on top of that, and people simply turn elsewhere. 

There are too many leagues out there for all sports that will take an official and give them plenty of work without all the money out of pocket up front. 

29 minutes ago, ChickenWyngz said:

Without a doubt! 

KHSAA is facing a crisis because of many things. Many people lead a much more busy life now and just don't have the time to dedicate to officiating and improving as an official. They have a generation entering the ranks that won't enter because they don't want to start at lower levels and work their way up, they simply want Friday night lights. They also handcuff themselves in my opinion with some of the annual fees that they charge officials per sport. When you already have a shortage of interests, you cannot charge a fee for someone to come work for you. Add on that many local associations require another fee on top of that, and people simply turn elsewhere. 

There are too many leagues out there for all sports that will take an official and give them plenty of work without all the money out of pocket up front. 

All those are reasons,  but I think you missed the biggest reason of all for why refs may have quit, or people just not wanting to get into it. It’s because of how bad parents and a lot of coaches are to refs. It probably truly makes it not worth it, for the amount of stuff refs have to deal with these days. 

Anybody heard of any more Thursday night playoff games?

Gallatin County at Carroll County playoff game has been moved to Thursday night. 

Much as we see going on in fast food and other industries, if you want officials bad enough you will start paying more. I’m not refereeing a Region 5 game in Green County an hour away for $75. It’s more palatable at $150. Eventually, people will realize that the pandemic was the final push for all baby boomers to retire and not come back. There are not enough warm bodies to meet the open positions. It is a worker-command economy. Simple economics, really.

Ryle/Campbell Co playing on Thursday