Officiating

Boys Lacrosse Officiating FAQs

This page has answers to common questions about becoming a boys lacrosse official. If you have questions that aren’t answered here, please email the Northland LOA president.

Can I become a boys lacrosse official even if I have no prior officiating experience and know nothing about lacrosse?

Absolutely! Of course, it’s easier if you have prior lacrosse or officiating experience, but we will teach you everything you need to know. It will be challenging and rewarding. 

What are the game fees?

Game fees vary from year to year, but for new officials, you will typically start at $40 per hour game and get a $3 per game raise after you work 20 games. High school off-season leagues and tournaments generally pay $53 per hour, and a high school JV varsity double-header pays roughly $140. Some games pay travel fees as well.

What are the age requirements?

You can start Level 1 training when you are 13 or older, but you can’t do your on-field training or work games until you turn 14. Officials who are 15–17 exclusively work 14U, 12U, 10U, and 8U games, while 14-year-old officials work 12U, 10U, and 8U.

If you turn 18 prior to June 30, you can take Level 1 and Level 2 Training and work youth and high school games. You can’t complete the Level 2 on-field training or work high school games until you turn 18, but you can start working youth games as soon as you complete the Level 1 portion of the training.

What is the boys lacrosse season?

Boys lacrosse is practically a year-round sport in Minnesota thanks to domes. The heaviest season is mid-April to mid-June (with high school freshman, JV, and varsity games going on as well as youth leagues), but there are summer, fall, and winter leagues and summer and fall tournaments. The only times with few or no games are basically mid-August through Labor Day and November/December.

What time of day are the games?

In the spring, most weekday high school games have start times between 4:00 and 8:00 PM, with high school games all day on Saturdays and youth games all day on Saturdays and Sundays. There are typically no youth games on weeknights in the spring.

In summer, there are weekday youth and high school leagues (with games generally starting around 6:00 PM) and weekend tournaments (all day Saturday and Sunday).

In fall and winter, leagues and tournaments are almost exclusively on weekends.

What is the scheduling like?

Many new officials are concerned they will get assigned games when they are unavailable. We use an online sports official assigning system called ArbiterSports.com that allows you to block dates and times when you are unavailable to work. Of course, the more available you are, the more games you will get, but setting blocks allows you to control your schedule.

Your Arbiter account will be created when you are ready for your on-field training. See the Using ArbiterSports.com page for more information about how the system works.

Where are the games?

Most games are in the Twin Cities metro area, but there are games in St. Cloud, Northfield, Rochester, Owatonna, Mankato, Grand Rapids, Duluth, and Moorhead. 

ArbiterSports.com allows you to set travel limits, so if you don’t want to do longer drives you won’t have to. In some cases, we can assign you to games with a partner who lives near you so you can carpool to games (which seems to work especially well for college students who don’t have a car).

How many games do first-year officials work?

The number of games a first-year official will work depends largely on availability: the more available you are, and the farther you are willing to go, the more games you are likely to work. Fourteen-year-olds tend to get slightly fewer games until they turn 15 because they can’t work 14U games, but the older you get and the more experienced you get, the more games you are going to get. 

Youth officials often make $200–$400 per weekend in the spring, and high school officials working every day can make $1,000 per week.