Serving South Louisiana Football Through Professional Officiating

You do not need to be an ex-player or coach to become a great football official. Prior officiating experience in football or other sports helps but is not required. We provide a comprehensive training program that gets you from ZERO to ONFIELD in 6 weeks!

We conduct weekly meetings prior to the main high school football season to ensure you know the rules and proper mechanics. Training includes both classroom and on-field instruction taught by our veteran officials. Classes start in mid-July and are held on Wednesday nights from 7:00pm to 9:00pm with several Saturday scrimmage opportunities to practice your skills on the field.

As a first-year official in the PNFOA, you’ll be expected to attend Wednesday night training meetings during the summer, study, and be prepared to discuss rules during classroom sessions.  We also ask that you attend one of our scrimmages for new and transfer officials.

During the season you will have the opportunity to work most days of the week if desired.  During the week, junior high and sub-varsity games occur on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons with games starting between 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm.  Saturdays are filled with youth games and additional junior high and sub-varsity games throughout the day from 9:00 am all the way through to 7:00 pm. Each game will last approximately 2 hours in length. Your schedule is limited only by your availability and the number of game assignments that are available. During the season you will be asked to work games in a variety of stadiums and at schools throughout King county. This distribution of games will help you become familiar with, and receive training from, many of our veteran officials.

In 2022, the WIAA and WOA approved game fee increases phased in over 3 years for all sub-varsity and varsity games.

In 2022, our officials are due to be paid $43.00 (youth), $45.00 (junior), $67.75 (sub-varsity), and $84.00 (varsity) per game. Our officials also receive a $18.00 per site mileage reimbursement for school games.

New officials also have the opportunity to work on the chain crew at select stadiums. Our officials earn $20 per game for working on the chain crew. In all, some new officials can make over $3,000 their first year if they are available most weeknights and weekends during the season.

The PNFOA uses ArbiterPay to manage the collection and distribution of game fees to our officials.  This allows our officials to be paid within 48 hours after a working a WIAA sponsored football game!  All officials will need to connect a bank account to ArbiterPay to facilitate the electronic transfer of funds.  You will receive payment for each game assignment and we recommend you keep accurate records because earnings are taxable income.

Dues for the PNFOA are $35/year. PNFOA officials are also members of the Washington Officials Association (WOA) which charges $120/year.  The WOA collects the their dues out of game fees to limit the up-front costs to our new officials.  PNFOA dues can also be paid using earning from games via Arbiter.

A basic start-up uniform will cost approximately $200. We run an online store that allows officials to purchase gear at discounted rates directly from the PNFOA to help officials save even more money.  Several online vendors also sell officiating equipment and supplies. A complete list of required uniforms and accessories will be provided at your first meeting. During the first few training meetings, you also will have an opportunity to obtain previously worn uniforms donated by members.

PNFOA members advance through the ranks based upon on-field experience, attending the required number of meetings and trainings, and successful completion of written tests.  On-field observations and evaluations also affect rankings. During your first couple of seasons, you should attempt to get as much experience as possible by officiating games and scrimmages, working on chain crews, and attending varsity level games to shadow the crew.

This is the place to start if you live in the Seattle area and want to officiate college or pro football. All of the officials you see working Saturdays and Sundays began in a local association like the PNFOA working youth and high school football games.

Several current members of the PNFOA are NCAA Division II and Division III college officials.  Some of our recent alumni are currently working for NCAA Division I conferences including the Big Sky and Pac-12.  We even have one alumni working as a current referee and one as a replay official in the NFL!