Question 1

How is HOZ free? How do you make money?

Accepted Answer

HOZ takes a small placement fee on each referee we provide, just like Uber deducts a fee for each passenger their drivers receive.
 
The referees always receive the net rate when they are offered a job. They love getting paid directly through their smartphone to their bank account and not having to chase after payments. They make a lot more money with all the different games available in their area.

Question 2

Is there a minimum time requirement or exclusive contract required to use HOZ?

Accepted Answer

No, our service is free for leagues to use and require no contract.
 
After you complete your profile, enter games, and payment information, you will be charged weekly only for the referees you used. You may stop scheduling through HOZ at any time.

Question 3

Does HOZ mark up my referee payment? How do you collect for the referees?

Accepted Answer

We do not increase your current referee payments.
 
We take a small placement fee from the referee before they are paid. If you are currently paying $30/game for referees, you will still pay $30/game using HOZ.
 
Our officials work in one week periods from Monday thru Sunday. On Monday, all of the completed games for your league are compiled into a weekly invoice and settled to your checking account (via ACH debit) or charged to your credit card on file.

Question 4

How do I request a refund?

Accepted Answer

Since we only charge for referee work actually completed in the previous week, there is rarely a need to issue a refund.
 
We do not recommend requesting refunds for poor referee performance on the field. Officials who arrive to the field on time and officiate the game as required should be compensated for their work. Poor performance should be noted in their review and they can be prevented from returning to work for your league in the future.
 
In the event of a mis-reported game or improper conduct on the field, send a request to our Customer Success Team (mailto:win@herdofzebras.com?subject=Referee Request)and we will be happy to address the issue and if necessary, issue a refund.

Question 5

How do you verify a referee is on time and at the right field? How are scores and stats reported?

Accepted Answer

We use Google maps to track referee location and attendance. All officials must check in by game time in order to qualify for payment for each game.
 
At the end of the day, you will receive the score and major penalties via text or email. HOZ referees are required to enter this data in order to get paid. This information will show up in the game's information in your league portal as well.

Question 6

Can I choose my referee(s) / Can I ban a referee?

Accepted Answer

Our app was built with a 5 star rating system for leagues and referees. At the conclusion of a game, you will be asked to rate your referee’s performance.
 
You may also ban a referee and prevent them from being assigned to your organization in the future. There is a notes section to make comments on each officials performance for future reference.

Question 7

Do referees rate the leagues?

Accepted Answer

Yes, referees also provide a five star rating for the league based on field directions, field conditions, appropriate equipment, clear definition of rule changes, and the atmosphere between referees and players, coaches, and parents.

Question 8

Can I enter multiple games into the system?

Accepted Answer

Our current platform is designed to accept single entry games only but if you would like to submit multiple games at once or a whole season.
 
Email the list to your Regional Manager or our Customer Success Team at win@herdofzebras.com (mailto:win@herdofzebras.com?subject=Schedule Entry)and we will input them for you. Keep in mind, we only match referees to games one week prior to the game to avoid any potential calendar confusion.

Question 9

Do I have to use HOZ to manage all my referees?

Accepted Answer

Our system was designed to handle all of your referee management but you may choose to only manage some of your referee needs by selecting those referee positions at specific games in the “Add a Game” section of your league dashboard.

Question 10

If we use HOZ to manage all of our referees, will existing long term referees be penalized by your processing fee and make less money?"

Accepted Answer

The HOZ system works best saving you the most time and money and relieving you of all the administrative burdens or sourcing, managing, and paying your referees, when you use it for all referees.
 
New officials that we bring to your league, who have never refereed for you before will be shown the net rate they receive so there is no issue with their compensation. If you would like to move over long term existing referees to our system, your Regional Manager can help you code these referees with a smaller processing fee which will compensate us for the instant payment service and allow these referees to access the other games available on our platform.

Question 11

Our league requires a unique certification for everyone that works with our youth. Can this be added into the HOZ referee search criteria?

Accepted Answer

Yes!
 
HOZ already screens officials for all of the basic certifications in each sport as well as required High School sports accreditations but if you have something more specific to your organization we can add that criteria into your search.
 
Keep in mind that referees will need to know how to get that certification and that it will limit your recommended officials in the search process.

Question 12

Do you currently have enough referees in your system to fill our games?

Accepted Answer

We are adding more referees and umpires to our system every day and we are running digital marketing and social media campaigns to increase our population of certified HOZ officials.
 
If you give us a couple weeks notice before your next league, we will focus our recruiting efforts on your sport(s) and location to make sure we can meet the demand.

Question 13

I’m hesitant to scrap my current program until I know for sure that HOZ will work.

Accepted Answer

There’s really nothing to risk. Our service is free for leagues.
 
Whatever you are currently paying referees and umpires, you will continue to pay that same amount but you will have access to the 10 services that HOZ offers leagues to alleviate huge amounts of administration time and save money on staff expense. If you would like to run a test with just one sport or league, or allow us to provide officials for part of your program for a few weeks, we can test everything that way.
 
There is no contract and no notice required for cancelation.

Question 14

I’m already using an assignor (or another automated referee management system).

Accepted Answer

No problem. HOZ does not require a contract or any specific length of time commitment. You can test our program while you are using another service.
 
You may want to consider the 10 unique benefits we deliver for free to all of our league clients:
 • Source / Recruit Referees
 • Background Check Referees
 • Verify Referee Certifications
 • Provide a Referee Bio with 5 star rating, passions, sports, kids/adult, geographic service area
 • Dual Calendar Scheduling (Leagues and Referees)
 • On Time / Field Location Verification Notification (Google Maps)
 • Scores and Major Penalty Reporting
 • Consolidated Weekly Billing (Leagues) only pay for referees used
 • Mobile Payment Processing (Referee smart phone to bank account)
 • End of Year Earnings Statements (Leagues and Referees)

Question 15

I’m really busy now with the current season, let’s get in touch for next season."

Accepted Answer

We understand completely, we just want to make sure you have the program in place so that you can unload all of that administrative nightmare of managing your referees onto us and you can focus on running a great sports program.
 
We can run through our demo in 10 minutes and we can create your account in five minutes. We can set this up next week so that you have it in place for next season.

Question 16

Our accounts payable department requires net 30 billing, what can we do?"

Accepted Answer

One of the ways we are able to attract more qualified officials to our leagues is our short, easy payment process.
 
We provide referees for all of our leagues’ games from Monday–Sunday and then we send an invoice and charge the bank account or credit card on file on Monday. On Tuesday we pay the referees directly from their smartphone to their checking account.
 
We can also create manual invoices for your AP team if necessary.

Question 17

Does HOZ provide insurance for the referees assigned to our games?

Accepted Answer

All HOZ officials are contractors and we do not provide insurance for their work at any location.
 
You may want to check with your event insurance policy required by most field permits. They usually have a coverage built in for players, staff, and spectators, which would include referees. This coverage is usually only for damage to the field or facility where the games are played. Most sports programs do not insure contract workers such as referees.

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League FAQs

Still have some lingering questions? Let's see if we can help with that…

Something else on your mind? Let us know here:

Ready to Simplify Your League's Referee Experience?

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Still have some lingering questions?
Let's see if we can help with that…

Something else on your mind?
Let us know here: