About The Summit

The Industry Event Of The Year

The 2018 Sports Officiating Summit will take place July 29-July 31 in New Orleans, La., at the New Orleans Marriott on Canal Street, nestled in the French Quarter just blocks from Bourbon Street.

Now in its 36th year, the NASO Sports Officiating Summit is the only event that provides officials and officiating leaders resources and the opportunity to network and share their perspectives and experiences. The Summit program focuses on critical topics impacting all aspects of the officiating industry. Leading sports officials and leaders present and facilitate workshops, breakouts, panels and discussions centered on a uniting theme.

The 2018 theme is “Say Yes to Officiating,” which will concentrate on all aspects of recruiting, retaining, supporting and celebrating officials and officiating. With the officiating shortages around the nation many are facing, this year’s theme is timely and necessary. Administrators, supervisors and assigners are feeling the crunch of having ever fewer officials to assign to games. Many officials are getting older and bowing out, others are leaving due to poor sportsmanship, and many never even enter the officiating ranks due to a variety of reasons, such as low pay, poor working conditions and a lack of respect for authority. Now more than ever there is a need to understand why this is happening and come up with solutions.

Additionally, the Summit program takes time to address additional hot topics in the officiating world, as well as provide sport-specific education, video training, and legal and liability discussion. Beyond the program, attendees are treated to a variety of social and networking events, including our opening reception, industry luncheon and Summit-capping Celebrate Officiating Gala.

The Summit focuses on topics designed specifically for leaders of state high school officiating programs, local association officers, supervisors and coordinators, assigners, conference administrators and sports officials at all levels – from around the country and the world, providing three days of intense and highly motivational sessions to educate and empower officials. It provides unmatched resources to state and local associations and delivers critical analysis to officiating leaders everywhere.

The Summit is vital not only to the officiating world, but also to the larger sports world. Better officiating leads to a more enjoyable experience for the participants and ultimately to the overall improvement of the game. We invite anyone with an interest in athletics to take part in the annual Sports Officiating Summit.