I missed Altoona-Midway’s home opener because of the 2:30 start time today. For me it was too late to stay up and too early to wake up. It turns out that was not the only game affected by the shortage of officials. Crest’s 8-man game with Chase County also started at 2:30.
Until the WuFlu hit before the 2021 season, most football games not played on Friday night were because of lack of stadiums. This was a serious problem in Wichita, where the seven public schools shared three stadiums. The larger suburban districts had one stadium for two or three schools. Thursday night football was a thing in Wichita, and to a lesser extent in the Kansas City area.
The official shortage is not as noticeable there, but has become apparent in the rural areas. Turnover was higher than usual because of the WuFlu on top of the low pay and fan abuse. If this a problem during football season, what is basketball season going to be like? There are many more basketball than football teams, so even with smaller crews, there is a greater demand for basketball officials.
Footyfried 