Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. The NFL pays referees an average of $205,000 per annum. Were capable and not just capable but like beyond excellent and can do the job just as well as our male counterparts.. Our paths are all different but we all got to the same end goal.. "Did I hear it? Effectively the glue for a crew through consistency, teamwork, and communication - makes partners better by carrying a larger portion of the crew's load than an Umpire. The NBA now has the most . As the NBA continues to normalize the notion of women officials in this male-dominated space, Holtkamp-Sterling is confident the league is moving in the right direction. Listed is the 2021 WNBA roster of officials, along with their number. As a young girl, the basketball court was one of the only places where Simone Jelks could simply be herself. Durant, a four-time scoring champion, now sets his sights on Hakeem Olajuwon in 12th place. Add onto that insurance, retirement plans and the opportunity to travel the country for free, it's no wonder referees stick around for the long haul. Palmer and Kantner were so much more than just trailblazers; the weight they shouldered eased the burden for all who came after. And to the people who run the NBA's officiating program, efforts in recent years to open recruiting pathways and increase diversity are far from merely symbolic: They're practical for a league always striving to improve. The NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee has approved the 11 game officials, who will bring a combined experience of 63 Women's Final Four appearances, to officiate the three games . Because I've seen it done before.". Thirteen of the 31 referees in the WNBA are women. "We are a very empowered group of women," Jelks said. The NBA promoted Danielle Scott to a full-time official on Monday, making her the sixth woman on the league's current staff. Inspiration was even easier to come by for Jenna Schroeder, 35, another former collegiate athlete who, like Holtkamp-Sterling, transitioned to the officiating side following college. The NBA feels very strongly that this should be a meritocracy. WNBA announces officials for WNBA Playoffs 2021 presented by Google, WNBA Draft 2023 presented by State Farm to be held on April 10, NBA legend Pau Gasol named recipient of 2023 Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award, WNBAs streaming platform, WNBA League Pass, to include 2023 Athletes Unlimited basketball games, First-ever WNBA Canada game to feature Sky and Lynx in Toronto, Defending WNBA champion Aces to host AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023, DICKS Sporting Goods becomes Official Sporting Goods Retail Partner of the WNBA. Please logout and login again. Simone Jelks, the first Black woman hired in this role since Palmer herself, was also one of several women to attend Palmer's yearly refereeing camps before reaching the NBA level (such camps are common in the refereeing world, both for development and scouting; Palmer's is open to all collegiate officials). But, its hard for someone whos a player to sit down and read the rule book and understand it because its so its not relatable to how a player understands the game.. Furthermore, a lot of WNBA referees spend their off-season refereeing Division I women's (and men's) college basketball games. #NBA #NBAReferees twitter.com/i/web/status/1. Six women referees took part in the . Subscribe to get the Referee.com Review every week plus periodic free training and special offers on the sports you officiate. October 13, 2022 9:36 AM. It put tears in her eyes "that someone would actually put me in that class of people." (Suggested reading: Blake Griffin trolled by YouTuber courtside), Be the first one to comment on this story. And thats the way our society should be, McCutchen said. She joined the pros as a full-time ref in 2018 and had a side career as a bartender while climbing her way up the ranks. Referee Kevin Fahy on Sunday ejected Astou Ndour of the WNBA 's Chicago Sky after she appeared to accidentally make contact with his stomach as he walked into her. Maj Forsberg, who came from Denmark and played for the Rainbow Wahine from 1996-2000, sat behind . 4 Sean Wright, Compared to other sports, referee's earnings in the NBA and WNBA are among the best. She was blown away recently when a friend referred to her as the "Jackie Robinson of officiating." With no big distinguishable difference between the referee pay for men and women, it's still clear that being a referee is a high-paying job. 12 12. After all, she could have stayed in women's basketball, where she was one of the top officials in the college world. Career Explorer Guide also estimated . Tramel: Referee Amy Bonner earns ultimate compliment in historic debut season in Big 12. It does not store any personal data. (Prior to entering the league, Palmer worked as a referee in NCAA Division I women's basketball.) So my predecessors recognized this and put those seeds into the G League. Conley was in the G League for seven seasons, Schwab for five and, like Scott, they also worked WNBA games this season. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. If they are working full then they are paid $250,000 per season. Michaela Gilmer is an Interactive Producer for NBA.com. Who will win nationals? Her currency? Today, there are five full-time women referees in the NBA -- the most in the . The current group of eight full-timers all did games, as did Clare Aubry, ShaRae Mitchell, Blanca Burns and Jenna Reneau. In the second game, the fifth-seeded Phoenix Mercury faces the eighth-seeded New York Liberty at 10 p.m. Looking for a way to soothe anxious nerves, she called Kantner before her first WNBA game, then again before her first NBA preseason game. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". With four more working on a part-time basis and two fill-ins from the NBA G League, the league has a dozen women on call to make calls on any given night. She dedicated herself completely to the game, but also to earning respect just like anyone else. Five full-time women in officiating today eclipses the total of the NFL, MLB and NHL combined. NCAA gymnastics 2023: Who has surprised this season? Last up on the list is Jenna Schroeder. The NBA's roster of female referees continues to grow. They were audible conversations for Palmer and Kantner, and sometimes more. Women's College Basketball. On top of that, shes getting as many reps as she possibly can at various levels and navigating up to four different sets of rulebooks, depending on her schedule. The NBA's roster of female referees continues to grow. According to numbers provided by the NBA, 16 of the 65 referees (28 percent) in the NBA G League are women, and at the conclusion of the 2017 WNBA season, 12 of the 32 referees (37 percent) were . Under scrutiny from her first tipoff, Palmer instantly proved she could withstand the grumbling and ref . Palmer broke barriers in 1997 when she became the first female to referee an NBA game. Women officials now make up 8% of the 75-member officiating staff as the league continues its focus on hiring the most talented and hardest-working referees in the business. Facebook. "Because I answered those questions early in the process for myself, it helped me create a career that is sustaining and meaningful.". Moyer-Gleich officiated three seasons in the NBA G League, including the 2018 playoffs. "I see little girls sitting courtside, parents asking me to take a picture with their little daughter," Moyer-Gleich said. Holtkamp-Sterling, now 40, had just finished officiating a youth boy's game as the solo referee. McCutchen said the league has no data indicating referees are challenged more or less based on gender. Palmer recalls all the media hubbub that surrounded her and Kantner when they entered the league; when Holtkamp-Sterling did the same 17 years later, there was hardly so much as a press release -- something Palmer delighted in seeing. It does take time to develop officials, McCutchen said. Referee Michael Oliver, however, waved play on and the VAR, Darren England, saw no reason to ask him to look again at his decision. The first female NBA referees. Entry-level NBA referees earn $250,000 per year as "rookies." She served as a WNBA referee in 2018. Turner is permitted to get to a spot twitter.com/i/web/status/1, TONIGHT Ashley Moyer-Gleich has been a hooper her whole life. As the buzzer sounded, the father of one of the boys in the game approached and accosted her over her gender. None of it bothered me. In 2003, she was the main referee for the 2002-03 Women's DFB-Pokal final between 1. She would love to see the MLB bring women into the umpire ranks, just as the NBA has demonstrated with its own officials throughout the years. I think when I got hired, that had its own sort of significance and same for all the women after me. Danielle Scott decided to join the family business. Ex-Rainbow Wahine Maj Forsberg makes mark in WNBA landscape as league's only female crew chief. Before finally making her way to the league, Schroeder reffed in almost every league imaginable. While top NBA stars such as LeBron James and Steph Curry pocket about $38 million to $40 million annually, the highest-paid WNBA stars don't even broach half a million. Sago says she will always praise the WNBA for helping prepare her for the NBA. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The other five Sage, Schroeder, Simone Jelks, Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling and Ashley Moyer-Gleich are active in the league today and among . That only works if there are sufficient aspirants to form a true competitive pool of candidates. . "I said to the guys: 'You can curse! Its not based on your gender, race or ethnicity.. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. A native of Cleveland, a city she describes as being filled with underdog energy and soul, her family relocated to the suburbs where Jelks, like many teenagers, yearned to fit in among her peers. "And I say that very positively. "Once or twice a week in the summer, we would get on a Skype call and spend an hour or two hours talking rules, talking scenarios, situations. NEW YORK - The WNBA today announced the 15 referees who have earned spots to serve as on-court and/or alternate officials in the WNBA Playoffs 2021 presented by Google.. Playoff officials are selected by the WNBA Referee Operations management team based on three specific criteria throughout the season: WNBA Referee Operations' graded rankings, play-calling accuracy and team feedback. Included aren't just the five women who have achieved full-time NBA status, but also many more working their way up through the G League or WNBA training ranks. 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Your login session has expired. Boger is the only referee to retire this offseason. Long before she was hired in the NBA, the Flint, Mich., native didnt know that refereeing could be a full-time job. With the second half of the 2021-22 season well underway, shes now starting to develop those relationships as she gets more reps across the league. The first category of referees we're going to be looking at is WNBA referees. View. Those inside the program aren't the only ones seeing this progress anymore, either. Its just that they werent there to be recognized as a referee.. She struggled at times with the constant demands from those she encountered, both stated and implied, to justify herself or explain her pursuit of success in a heavily male-dominated field. Fifteen of the largest college conferences paid their male referees on average 22% more than female referees in . Ability to recognize and appropriately manage shifts in game conditions (intensity, emotions . Flores has spent nine seasons in the G League and 10 in the WNBA, and is also an accomplished women's college referee with . Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. Danielle Scott (right) talks with officiating partners during a game. "There are a lot of things I want to say about the officiating . By. rights reserved. "Here we are in a very male-dominated space, and the league was very proactive to make sure I had what I needed.". Scott has spent much of her first year in the league building rapport with the players and teams. The Associated Press released a study Friday regarding the NCAA referee pay gap. In terms of explaining certain officiating calls during live games, Moyer-Gleich uses her past experience as a player to translate and articulate the rule book into basketball jargon that players and coaches will understand. The entry-level referees are paid around $600 per match. Female NBA Referees Are Becoming a Normal Part of the Game. Now in her third NBA season, she feels this is a whole new grind in comparison to her journey but there is no place else she would rather be. Cheryl Flores and Dannica Mosher have been promoted to the level of full-time staff officials, the NBA said Thursday. McCutchen has long said that the NBA will hire the best people to fill the job, regardless of gender. "She'll always say, if I did it, you can do it. She is the leagues longest-tenured woman official. She also has five years of high school officiating experience in her home state. The two even got to officiate two high school games together, a moment that seems like yesterday in her memory even as she's gone on to call contests in both the WNBA and NBA. When we see one referee get some type of accolade, we highlight it on our pages on social media. Touchy, touchy. The women that are coming on the scene now are helping us -- we're not helping them.". As far as WNBA referees, they make considerably less. Cheryl Flores and Dannica Mosher have been promoted to the level of full-time staff officials, the NBA said Thursday. Instead, the Farmington, Mo., native spent most of her time traveling with her dad, a high school and collegiate basketball referee for 35-plus years, to all of his games and tournaments. "She did it way before all of us, before the world we live in now that's all accepting," Moyer-Gleich said of Kantner. copyright 2023 National Basketball Referees Association. WNBA referees even less. Penn Manor wrestler Trinity Mowery taking part in the PIAA junior officiating program referees a match at the Elizabethtown Optimist Club Junior High wrestling tournament at Elizabethtown High . College basketball referees for D-1 men's NCAA games make over $2,000 per game and they can work over 70 games per season, so their annual salary for working the NCAA season is approximately $150,000 the same as an entry-level ref in the NBA. Rather, they've tried to go further. It's needed that we strengthen each other emotionally, and just have that good support team.". . We are excited for them to have reached this milestone in their careers.. R denotes rookie. Referee, the world's original sports officiating magazine, educates, challenges and inspires officials at all levels. Referees: Katie Lukanich, Darren Krzesnik, Kyle Bacon. Collect, curate and comment on your files. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. The average salary of a male basketball player is put at $7.7 million while that of their female counterparts is a mere $100,658. Then, five years later, there was one: Palmer. However, her journey was slightly different from some of her female counterparts. "I have always shown great respect for the referees and my career supports me," Ndour wrote on Twitter with a clip of the incident after . Republication or distribution of this content is 2020 WNBA Inside the Rulebook: Block, Charge. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Flores has spent nine seasons in the G League and 10 in the WNBA, and is also an accomplished women's college referee with two Final Fours on her resume. We [officials] are human, too. 2 min read. These goals are attainable now in ways they just couldn't have been even a generation prior. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. You can talk about the girl in the fifth row with the big ta-tas! Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. In 1997, Violet Palmer and Dee . These officials begin with a salary of $250,000 as first-year referees. (Suggested reading: Floyd Mayweather interested in buying NBA team). Basketball Referee Salaries for Other Leagues. Weve all been rookies, whether youre a coach, a player or a referee. Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com, Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the, The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star The most recent estimations put NBA referees annual salaries between $180,000 and $550,000. Luka Doncic Arguing With The Female Ref Fouling In Love What? Two black women did something this week that no other women have done before: They refereed a professional basketball game together. New to motherhood another around-the-clock job Moyer-Gleich remembers getting hired in 2018 as the jumping-off point for the league, which has now been a domino effect of more women coming through the officiating pipeline. Jelks describes one of the many attributes of being a great NBA official is holding players and coaches accountable for their actions. She officiated games for the B-League, WNBA, Big East, and ACC during her journey to the top. "There's no reason why we shouldn't have more women as officials, coaches and basketball executives in our league," Silver said. Mosher has . Ashley Moyer-Gleich talks with Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell. Jelks views Palmer as a key mentor in multiple ways. WNBA 2019: Points of Education (Part 2) The 15 referees assigned to the 2021 WNBA Playoffs are below: Copyright 2023 NBA Media Ventures, LLC. WNBA 2021: Points of Education (Part 1) . Today, we're going to be taking a look at all three categories, how much each make and how a referee can climb their way up to the top level. Five women officials is a step up from one or two, but still represents a minuscule percentage of the league's 65 total referees. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. All Rights Reserved. The referees had to be ready and so did the players, coaches and fans. There was an error submitting your subscription. Most notably, then-Celtics broadcaster Cedric Maxwell used a stunningly offensive "get back in the kitchen" line for a game Palmer was officiating in 2007 (Maxwell would later apologize). Before becoming a ref in 2018, Moyer-Gleich officiated games for the WNBA. NBA.com spoke with each of the six women to learn more about their unique journeys to the league: Jenna Schroeder talks with Spurs guard Dejounte Murray before a game. By accessing any information beyond this page, you agree to abide by the Privacy Policy / Your California Privacy Rights and Terms of Use. By accessing any information beyond this page, you agree to abide by the Privacy Policy / Your California Privacy Rights and Terms of Use. In this particular business, thats one of the loftiest goals of diversity: Sameness. After finishing up her studies in physical education at the University of Missouri-St. Lois decided to make her way into a career of reffing basketball. Twenty-four of the G League's 57 referees are women, plus several who jump between the NBA and G League (all NBA officials with under four years of experience are commonly assigned as crew chief for G League games to gain experience); 15 of the WNBA's 33 referees are women, nine of whom also work games in the G League. Referee assignments are posted at approximately 9:00am ET each game day. Those whispers Holtkamp-Sterling would hear as she entered the league years later? As our numbers are increasing, that sort of noteworthiness is becoming more about this collective experience and collective momentum that is here and thats just really, really rewarding.. Schroeder said she'd love to see her daughter take up officiating when she grows up -- although she joked her wife, Anderson, may represent the more lucrative career path as a physician. She competed in the Sweet 16 of the of the 2010 Division II NCAA Tournament. Just as meaningful, though, is the broader support structure that's been created. | Subscribe to access all D1 ref data. Holtkamp, Moyer-Gleich, and Sago were the only three female referees that were active in the NBA for the 2018 season. No portion of NBA.com may be duplicated, redistributed or manipulated in any form. During one year of Schroeders journey, she worked seven days a week for six months straight. But Holtkamp-Sterling believes shes the one paying homage and praises Palmer and Kantner for breaking barriers as the first two women officials in the NBA. This article is the copyright of Referee Enterprises, Inc., and may not be republished in whole or in part online, in print or in any capacity without expressed written permission from Referee. WNBA referee Kevin Fahy is facing criticism for his extravagant ejection of Chicago Sky center Astou Ndour. The other five women officials speak highly and graciously of her and look to her as a mentor as well as a trailblazer for referees. You really dont know until you sit down and read a rule book, says Moyer-Gleich. These were different times. In recent years there has been a massive uptick in female referees in the NBA. I dont notice whether coaches are hands off. I havent seen any [bullying]. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. I grew up watching her.". I think that the NBA is very visual and theyve done a great job of showing that. NBA officials Simone Jelks (left) and Ashley Moyer-Gleich working a game together in Chicago.