umpire salary?
- Thread starter rrito
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woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
There are about 6 chair umpires that are full time salaried and/or contracted chair umpires with the ITF, about 10 with ATP and about 7 with the WTA. They make roughly between $30,000-$70,000 per year, plus all expenses while on the road.
As ITF/ATP/WTA Silver and Gold Badge chair umpires, the rest of us make roughly between $15,000-$30,000 per year, with MOST expenses paid (although if we are not specifically hired as a chair umpire for a certain tournament like the Grand Slams, the majority of our plane tickets come out of pocket. Housing and meals onsite are included.
Line umpires make between $70-$150 per day usually. Wimbledon and Roland Garros it's a bit more because of the exchange rate only, but not by much.
batz
G.O.A.T.
That's only £19K:shock::shock:
axel89
Banned
wow i expected umpires 50k+ higher!
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
Shocking huh. And people wonder why I quit traveling as a chair umpire to get a real job.
skip1969
G.O.A.T.
lol. well, i hope your "real" job appreciates you. i certainly appreciate your 'inside the world of a chair umpire' insights here.Shocking huh. And people wonder why I quit traveling as a chair umpire to get a real job.
tennis_pro
Bionic Poster
Shocking huh. And people wonder why I quit traveling as a chair umpire to get a real job.
maybe you should try to attain the Gold Badge status? what would you have to do?
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
Even then. Not all of the Gold Badge umpires are contracted/salaried. Very select few. Some of it is based on experience/evaluations. A lot of it is political.
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
lol. well, i hope your "real" job appreciates you. i certainly appreciate your 'inside the world of a chair umpire' insights here.
Thanks, Skip.
I do miss umpiring this week though. Roland Garros was always my favorite tournament to work.
forthegame
Hall of Fame
Disappointing to see those figures. I thought you guys would earn substantially more, do you have an association/union? Surely the ATP/WTA/Grand Slam organisers can afford to pay much, much more?
Guess that's why some players are rude and disrespectful, same thing in football.
Guess that's why some players are rude and disrespectful, same thing in football.
TopFH
Hall of Fame
My ex-coach is umpiring at an ITF tournament this week. He told me they get almost nothing, and the federation keeps all their gear save for tees and shorts. Also, the "president" of our federation threatens umpires and ball boys with firing them if they don't obey what he wants.
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
Where is that?
They should be paid way more. That would be a stressful profession and very public as well. That is very cool that you were an umpire at the slams. What an experience!
At the wage levels you are speaking of, how do people do it? Do they have flexible second jobs? Are there other jobs available to make money on tour to supplement the income?
At the wage levels you are speaking of, how do people do it? Do they have flexible second jobs? Are there other jobs available to make money on tour to supplement the income?
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TennisLovaLova
Hall of Fame
there are several level of umpires
they have levels, junior, senior, manager etc
some of them make more money when they are tournament supervisors
that's where the real money is, in managing the other umpires and refs
they have levels, junior, senior, manager etc
some of them make more money when they are tournament supervisors
that's where the real money is, in managing the other umpires and refs
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halalula1234
Professional
theres a lady at my club who line judges at the aus open each year and she used to get free awesome tennis shoes + uniforms. and makes up to $5000 during the tournament depending on how much she works.
im applying
im applying
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
Yeah Aus Open pays pretty well. But very little travel assistance for foreigners. Only about $200 USD. Expensive to get there
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
All the time. No union though.
Last year a lot of gold badge chair umpires didn't even apply for the US Open because it is the lowest paying grand slam. I think the US Open slightly got better this year.
As said above the supervisors make more money and are generally salary officials, but there are a lot of supervisors/referees that are not salary and while they make more at the tournament there are a lot less spots available.
PetSounds
Rookie
Yes, you have to attend the Naboo Institute of Higher Time Wasting.
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
There are certification schools, but if you are talking about like college, then no.
What would be an example of such a school?
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
I'm surprised anybody wants to do this job. You get yelled at, disrespected by **** like Roddick,and abused. Plus, you live in relative poverty while looking at multimillionaires. Discouraging.
bluetrain4
G.O.A.T.
I too would have thought at least a core group of umpires would make a lot more money.
$70,000 with ALL expenses paid isn't terrible (not that it's fantastic either), but that's the upper end of the range, and few umpires make it.
$70,000 with ALL expenses paid isn't terrible (not that it's fantastic either), but that's the upper end of the range, and few umpires make it.
AceKing
New User
Interesting point. You have a guy making 70k/year officiating a match in which the winner gets almost 2 million.
Mike Bulgakov
G.O.A.T.
Woodrow (the man with multiple Swiss accounts) receiving late night calls from Russian "entrepreneurs"...
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woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
But out of that $70,000.00, you get no health insurance, no taxes taken out (so for Americans it's a pretty expensive self-employment tax unless you have a very good accountant). And actually at the Grand Slams, not all expenses are covered. Meals off site and travel are not totally covered. And there are only about 5-8 chair umpires making that much.
I personally know several umpires who are on tour and I can tell you for a fact that Lahyani makes 6 figures + benefits. The lower end guys (ex. linesmen) make just over $100 per day.
woodrow could not take it anymore
sillymonkey
Hall of Fame
They aren't allowed to eat on site, say in the players area? Do they get nice hotel rooms? You know for sure they are no benefits like health insurance?
Personally, I think seventy g's isn't bad if all expenses are paid.
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
I never said 70k is bad. I said there are VERY few making that much or more.
The designated chair umpires usually eat in the players area. Not at the grand slams though. We get a certain amount for food on site, or a voucher.
1
1970CRBase
Guest
I bet their pay doesn't cover being blamed for everything.
1
1970CRBase
Guest
Trouble with this kind of job is that it is thankless. If you do it well, nobody notices or cares, even if you had done it well, you are the convenient source for people, players and fans, to take out their frustration with a match on. Why would anybody choose this line of work?
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
It's addictive. Lol. Really the travel and the friendships help a lot. It's great when you're single, or wen you marry another official like I did who was able to travel and be a line umpire at a lot of the tournaments I was a chair umpire at
Most countries have universal health care. America is sadly a bit behind the rest of the developed world in this area.
I'm only saying that the chairs that are making 70k a year are doing fine. They're traveling around the world, most expenses paid for, watching tennis.
***
Also, I suspect that the numbers we have in this thread, are not correct. It seems the top chairs make more than some posters have suggested.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/get_involved/4541821.stm
Salary
A top umpire can expect to earn £50-£60,000 per annum, but it takes a long time to get there! Most earn around £30,000. On average a line judge can expect to earn £20,000.
This sounds right to me. I seem to recall hearing in the Monte Carlo tournament that one of the chairs had a home there...can't be doing too badly.
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woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
The line umpire number is WAY off! Almost no travel assistance, and only meals onsite are covered.
30,000 pounds is around what I quoted for the average umpires, but it's towards the upper end of the average.
Gerry Armstrong, Mohamed Lahyani and Carlos Bernardes would be about the only 3 making 50,000-60,000 pounds per year.
How do you know this? Just asking. Do you know these guys personally?
Because he knows how much people in his (former) profession are paid?
t135
Professional
There is this one line umpire I have seen on TV and at tournaments for like20 years. Mainly USA tournaments. Blonde longish hair with glasses. Going back to all the Andre Pete and Jim era matches. Always wondered what that dude got paid and own he managed a career as a line umpire.
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
Considering I was a silver badge chair umpire for several years and travelled full time from 2000-2008 doing this, yes.
woodrow1029
Hall of Fame
The ITF has certification schools to obtain white and bronze badge levels.
Most national federations have schools that are 1-2 days.
The ITF white badge school is a 3 day school which goes over the rules, the code and situations. Taught by 2 gold badges usually. There is an exam of multiple choice questions. The white badge school is held usually during an ITF men's futures. The candidates chair a match during the qualies of the futures. To pass the candidate needs an 85% or better on the written exam and a good evaluation on court.
The bronze badge school is taught by a rep from ITF, WTA and ATP. It's also 3 days and concentrates more on communication with players and advanced chair umpire techniques. At that school you are graded on everything, quizzes, verbal answers, and the exam. The exam is 70 multiple choice questions, 10 short answer/essay questions and a one on one verbal exam with one of the instructors which are ITF/WTA/ATP gold badge chair umpires or referees. To pass your cumulative total percentage needs to be 85%. It's a very intense tough 3 days.
Silver and gold badges are given on a promotion basis based on experience, international work and evaluation grades. Of course there are some politics as well, but that is more from silver to gold.
Gold badges are qualified to do any match at any tournament. Silver can do any match except grand slam singles finals and Davis cup finals.
Bronze do early round grand slam matches and your event matches and get most of their experience at challengers.
Whites do almost all of their matches at challengers, futures, ITF juniors and qualies of tour events and grand slams (if they are lucky).
I chaired a juniors final at the US Open as a white badge. (Roddick vs Ginepri)
Also I chaired a mixed doubles final as a bronze and a women's doubles final as a silver.
P.s. this was a reply to suresh's question about schools but I forgot to quote his question.
Most national federations have schools that are 1-2 days.
The ITF white badge school is a 3 day school which goes over the rules, the code and situations. Taught by 2 gold badges usually. There is an exam of multiple choice questions. The white badge school is held usually during an ITF men's futures. The candidates chair a match during the qualies of the futures. To pass the candidate needs an 85% or better on the written exam and a good evaluation on court.
The bronze badge school is taught by a rep from ITF, WTA and ATP. It's also 3 days and concentrates more on communication with players and advanced chair umpire techniques. At that school you are graded on everything, quizzes, verbal answers, and the exam. The exam is 70 multiple choice questions, 10 short answer/essay questions and a one on one verbal exam with one of the instructors which are ITF/WTA/ATP gold badge chair umpires or referees. To pass your cumulative total percentage needs to be 85%. It's a very intense tough 3 days.
Silver and gold badges are given on a promotion basis based on experience, international work and evaluation grades. Of course there are some politics as well, but that is more from silver to gold.
Gold badges are qualified to do any match at any tournament. Silver can do any match except grand slam singles finals and Davis cup finals.
Bronze do early round grand slam matches and your event matches and get most of their experience at challengers.
Whites do almost all of their matches at challengers, futures, ITF juniors and qualies of tour events and grand slams (if they are lucky).
I chaired a juniors final at the US Open as a white badge. (Roddick vs Ginepri)
Also I chaired a mixed doubles final as a bronze and a women's doubles final as a silver.
P.s. this was a reply to suresh's question about schools but I forgot to quote his question.
Rattler
Hall of Fame
Past the certification class and test, no...but you'd be surprised at the education level of more than a few us, doctors, lawyers, ph.d's lots of graduate degrees, diverse professionals, and a including myself a handful of University Professors.
Rattler
Hall of Fame
Lol, there a a lot more players who aren't any where near millions.
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