WASHINGTON OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION

What WASHINGTON OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION does

The Washington Officials Association (WOA) is a private, non-profit membership association headquartered in Renton, Washington that recruits, trains, certifies, and assigns sports officials for interscholastic athletic events in Washington State. WOA operates under a statewide agreement with the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) covering 8/1/2024 through 7/31/2028, positioning it as the primary provider of qualified officials for WIAA-sanctioned regular season and postseason contests across ten or more sports, including baseball, basketball, flag football, football, gymnastics/spirit, softball, soccer, volleyball, and wrestling. The organization serves WIAA member high schools and junior high/middle schools, as well as the individual officials (referees and umpires) who register as members through local associations and boards.

WOA's product surface is built on the third-party ArbiterSports platform, with sport-specific sub-sites for each supported sport, an Eligibility Center for certification status, a Test Control Panel for online rules testing and certification, an Ejection and Concussion Reporting system, and integrated add-ons including RefPay for payment processing, ArbiterWorks for assignment marketplace, Arbiter360 for evaluations, ArbiterConnected for communications, and ArbiterGame for game tracking. WOA also operates WOA Academy, a training and development program launched in 2022, and a WOA Uniform Store for member apparel and equipment. Background checks are run through PeopleTrail for national-level screening.

WOA generates revenue through annual membership registration fees paid by officials and through testing and certification fees, both on a recurring basis. The organization is led by an Executive Director (Todd Stordahl), Director of Operations (Kerri Stordahl), and Director of Officiating Development & Experience (Tim Lewis). WOA is affiliated with NASO (National Association of Sports Officials), giving members access to the NASO Member Benefit Center, the Strong Safety insurance program, and professional development resources. The organization maintains a Code of Ethics and Integrity Program, awards programs including a Hall of Fame and the Tom Cross Service Award, and an annual scholarship program.

Name

WASHINGTON OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION

Legal name

Washington Officials Association

Website

https://woa.arbitersports.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Washington Officials Association is a Washington State membership association that recruits, certifies, and assigns sports officials for WIAA-sanctioned interscholastic athletic events across 10+ sports, operating on the ArbiterSports platform and serving WIAA member schools and individual referees/umpires.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports Officiating Association Services

NAICS

Other Spectator Sports (711219)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Rules, Officiating & Referee Associations (Officials/umpires bodies) (MPAKAFAK)

Keywords

• Sports officiating services
• Officials membership association
• Athletic certification programs
• Game assignment management
• High school athletics

Headquarters

HQ city

Renton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Membership Registration Fees: Annual registration fees for officials through WOA member associations and boards
2. Testing and Certification Fees: Fees associated with sport-specific rules tests and certification processes

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Washington Officials Association (WOA) is a membership-based professional association that recruits, trains, certifies, and assigns sports officials for WIAA-sanctioned high school athletic events in Washington State. The organization covers 10+ sports including baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball, volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics/spirit, and flag football, operating on the ArbiterSports platform for registration, rules testing, eligibility verification, background checks, and assignment management.

Product overview

Washington Officials Association (WOA) is a member organization for sports officials operating on the ArbiterSports platform. The ArbiterSports platform is a comprehensive, web-based officiating management system with a modular architecture including core components (ArbiterOne for assignment management) plus add-on modules: RefPay for payments, ArbiterWorks for job marketplace, Arbiter360 for evaluations, ArbiterConnected for communications, ArbiterGame for game tracking, plus WOA-specific services including sport-specific sub-sites for 9 sports, an online Testing Control Panel for certification exams, WOA Academy for training, Eligibility Center with PeopleTrail background checks, uniform store, and concussion/ejection reporting systems. The platform supports secure access from anywhere for clients ranging from 8 to 114,000 users.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ArbiterSports Platform A web-based officiating management platform that handles registration, scheduling, game assignments, communications, and member management for sports officials associations. WOA operates as a member organization on this platform, providing a centralized portal for officials across Washington State.
• Sport-Specific Sub-sites (Baseball, Basketball, Football, Volleyball, Soccer, Softball, Wrestling, Gymnastics/Spirit, Flag Football) Individual sport-specific portals under the WOA umbrella providing sport-specific news, contacts, rules tests, and resources for officials in each of the 9 sport categories.
• Eligibility Center Centralized eligibility management system for officials including background checks, certification tracking, and compliance verification.
• Test Control Panel Online testing platform for sports officials to complete sport-specific rules tests, certification quizzes, and continuing education assessments with automated scoring and tracking.
• WOA Academy Training and development program for officials and assigners providing educational resources, clinics, and professional development courses.
• WOA Uniform Store E-commerce platform for officials to purchase WOA uniforms, apparel, and officiating equipment.

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NASOcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 July 2018Partnership page listing NASO as a WOA partner with links to member benefit resources
• Cliff KeenminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 21 July 2018Equipment partner listed on WOA partnerships page
• Fox40minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 5 June 2013Equipment partner listed on WOA partnerships page
• NASO (National Association of Sports Officials)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWOA is affiliated with NASO, the world's largest organization for sports officials with more than 18,400 members. NASO provides WOA members access to the Member Benefit Center, Strong Safety insurance program, and professional development resources.
• WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWOA provides qualified officials for WIAA-sanctioned regular season and postseason events. The organizations have a statewide agreement (8/1/2024 - 7/31/2028) governing their relationship.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Illinois Officials Association: State-level officials association serving Illinois high school athletics, with comparable registration, training, and assignment functions for member officials.
• New York State Sports Officials Association: State-level membership association for sports officials supporting New York interscholastic athletics. Same mission, structure, and customer base as WOA in a different state.
• Michigan Sports Officials Association (MSOA): State-based membership organization registering and training officials for Michigan high school athletics. Directly comparable mission and structure to WOA.
• Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO): Statewide, membership-based officials association that trains, certifies, and assigns sports officials for Texas UIL high school athletics. Closest functional analog to WOA at a much larger scale.

Regional players

• Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) Officials: Neighbor-state interscholastic body handling official registration and assignments for Oregon high schools. Geographic and functional peer but operates in a different state.
• PIAA (Pennsylvania) Officials Arm: Pennsylvania's interscholastic athletic association with embedded official registration and assignment functions. Comparable in role but administered by the state athletic association rather than an independent officials body.
• California Officials Association: Officials body serving California high school athletics through CIF sections. Provides comparable training, certification, and assignment services in a different geographic market.

Others

• Officials Choice / Referee Magazine: Media and equipment ecosystem serving sports officials nationwide. Referenced by WOA as a partner; adjacent supplier rather than a competing association.
• ArbiterSports: Vendor of the officiating management platform WOA runs on. Adjacent infrastructure provider; not a competitor but a deep operational dependency and ecosystem participant.

Broad incumbents

• National Association of Sports Officials (NASO): National umbrella body for sports officials (18,400+ members) that WOA is affiliated with. Provides training, insurance, and professional development at a national level rather than a single state.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/washington-officials-association

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WASHINGTON OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION