ArbiterSports

Last updated
Arbiter
Founded Salt Lake City, Utah April 8, 1984 (Advanced Business Technology)
1984 (The Arbiter) 2009 (ArbiterSports)
TypePrivate
Legal statusLLC
Headquarters Sandy, Utah
Region served
Global
CEO
Kyle Ford
Website http://arbiter.io

Arbiter (formerly ArbiterSports) is a sports and school activity management software company that provides scheduling, registration, payment, and eligibility solutions for athletic departments, school districts, and officiating organizations. The company is based in Sandy, Utah.

Contents

In 2025, the company rebranded from ArbiterSports to Arbiter to reflect its expanded role beyond officiating technology.

History

The Arbiter assigning system was created in 1984 by Advanced Business Technology, at the request of the Utah High School Activities Association, who hired ABT to build a computerized method of assigning sports officials to matches and managing their assignments. Known as TheArbiter, the software was originally released on the MS-DOS platform, then for Microsoft Windows in 1997. Arbiter was released as a web application in 2003, known as TheArbiter.NET. [1] Dave Yeast, former National Coordinator of Baseball Umpires for the NCAA, has served as the firm's vice president of officiating education. [2]

Acquisition by the NCAA

Arbiter was acquired by the NCAA in September 2008. [3] [4] [5] The NCAA said their purpose in the acquisition, along with their acquisition of eOfficials LLC the same month, was to improve the quality and consistency of officiating at all levels of play. [6]

Data breach 2020

Arbiter experienced a data breach in 2020 and was charged with a class action lawsuit. The court did not favor any decisions and a settlement was reached upon by all the parties involved for $26 million USD in 2021. [7]

Notes

  1. Referee Magazine, February 2004
  2. "Western Athletic Conference".
  3. NCAA.org - NCAA Invests in Largest Officiating Management Organizations in Amateur Sports
  4. Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Daily, September 26, 2008
  5. Deseret News, page B2, January 24, 2009
  6. NCAA invests in officiating companies [ permanent dead link ]
  7. "ArbiterSports Data Breach Settlement 2021". 8 September 2021.