Two on the court
One lead official on the baseline, one trail at the arc. Fouls, clears, out of bounds and the two-point line are theirs, and they call them out loud.
Pro tour · Officials
Pro tour officials
The crew who work a Clutch21 Pro tour night: two referees on the court, two scorekeepers at the table, and a medical officer courtside.
The Pro tour crew
Nobody runs the Pro tour
but the league
There are no territories here and no commissioners. The Pro tour is a signed field on a fixed calendar, six stops and a Finals, and the league puts every one of them on itself. What it needs in each city is a crew: the people who work the game on the night.
Five of them, at every stop. Two referees on the court, two scorekeepers at the table — one on the scoreboard in the gym, one on the broadcast feed — and a medical officer courtside. Each of the five does one job and no other, which is the difference from an Am bracket, where one official referees and keeps the score at once. None of them is a volunteer role: they are trained on the published rulebook, introduced the way the players are, and paid.
What the role involves → The official at the table →
Looking to run a territory? That is the Am World Series, where a commissioner is appointed
to a city, a state or region, or a country and runs the brackets in it.
Commissioners →
On the floor
Referees
Fouls are called by the officials, never by the players — the pick-up convention does not apply here. A Pro tour game is worked by two referees, and between them they own every judgment call on the court.
A referee works to the published rulebook, the same one at a city bracket and on Finals night, and is trained on it before working an event. They are introduced the way the players are, because an official nobody can name is an official nobody can hold to anything.
Review, then final
Each player may request one video review per game, and the two-point line, game-winning baskets and flagrant contact are reviewed automatically. After a review the crew chief’s decision is final and not subject to protest.
The conduct standard
Abuse of an official, an opponent or a spectator is an unsportsmanlike foul on first offence and a disqualification on second. Referees are the ones who apply that, and they are backed when they do.
At the table
Scorekeepers
Behind the two referees sits the table, and it is two people. One works the scoreboard in the gym — both clocks, the score and the foul count, the numbers the room in front of them is reading. The other works the broadcast scoreboard: the same game, as it reaches the Arena feed and everybody watching from somewhere else.
Neither of them referees. On the Pro tour the calls belong to the two officials on the court and the table keeps the game — which is the opposite of an Am bracket, where one person does both.
It is not a spectator’s job. A ranking only moves on a confirmed result, and the sheet from the table is what there is to confirm.
- Game clock
- 10:00Stops for a time-out, and for nothing else
- Shot clock
- 0:12From the check; the ball has to hit the rim
- In the gym
- 1The scoreboard the room reads: clocks, score, fouls
- On the feed
- 1The broadcast scoreboard the Arena carries
Player protection
Medical officers
A licence, an ID and a medical certificate are what get an athlete into any bracket. On the Pro tour there is a medical officer courtside on top of that, for every game on the card.
One-on-one leaves a player nowhere to hide and nobody to share the contact with. The part of a sport that never shows up on a highlight is the part players ask about first, and this is it.
- Pro tour
- CourtsideA licensed trainer or medical professional at every event on the tour
- Am World Series
- Not staffedA city or regional bracket does not carry a medical officer of its own
- Before entry
- CertificateThe medical certificate is part of the licence, at either competition
- Who qualifies
- LicensedAthletic trainers, paramedics, physiotherapists and doctors with a current registration
