The recent ejection of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello for protesting umpire decisions has reignited the debate over the working conditions of umpires in the NCAA. It’s certainly an essential part of the sport, but it’s definitely not a job for everyone.
How Much Do College Baseball Umpires Make?
NCAA baseball umpires earn an average of $22.88 per hour, but that salary varies greatly depending on the division and conference in which the umpire works. In Division I, an umpire can earn up to $400 per game.
This brings the annual NCAA referee salary to a range of $11,703 to $787,514 with a median salary of $57,506 (2024 data).
In contrast, the base salary for an MLB umpire in 2021 was $84,000 per season, although it could be as high as $400,000 depending on experience and other factors.
At lower levels, such as junior or little leagues, salaries are even lower. Many umpires at these levels work for free.
This has resulted in a significant umpire shortage that affects all levels of baseball. Although the problem is multi-causal, low pay has been identified as the core of the problem, especially in the lower levels.
Although it may seem that salaries at the college and MLB levels are not excessively low, the problem is that an umpire must develop through the lower levels in order to make it to the major leagues. Not all are up to the challenge.
In 2022, the general manager of the Rawlings Tigers Baseball Club, David Birkby, gave an interview to the Rawlings Tigers YouTube channel in which he evaluated the problem and showed that he was very concerned about it:
“Put yourself in their shoes for just a second,” he said. “I mean, this [2022] would be my 13th year coaching and obviously I played a long time before that. I can’t even count how many times that I have witnessed coaches, players, parents, other spectators, over and over and over, verbally abusing umpires for trying to do their job.”
“Most [umpires] are good people just literally trying to go out there and officiate a game. They make a bad call because they’re humans, and when they make a bad call, everybody goes nuts on them.”
“I just saw something posted on social media the other day, of a woman umpire who got hit in the face, got a black eye over a call, like what are we doing? That’s insanity, and I got a newsflash for you folks: they don’t get paid that much.”
“That’s a simple answer. In my mind, I go: ‘I want to deal with verbal abuse, possible physical abuse, over and over and over, and get told of what a absolute piece of crap I am, by so many people, for X amount of dollars..?’”
“It’s really not a net positive on my life. I mean, that’s the actual math on it.”
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The Rawlings Tigers Baseball Club is an organization dedicated to the development of youth baseball with locations throughout the United States.
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