Portland Basketball | Portland's Premiere Adult Basketball League
Zero Referee Game

Tired of Traveling all over PDX?

Zero Referee Logo

Now you can play in the same place/same time each week.

PortlandBasketball.com has a program called 'Zero Referee Game' where the concept of same time/same place is possible (this is not possible with regular league play).

Lets also discuss what 'Zero Referee Games' means:

  • Games are 54-minutes running time.
  • There are no referees (but a facilitator will be present to enforce uniform rules & to jump the ball up so the game starts on time + the game looks like a real game); from there it is 'call your own' fouls. We keep score.
  • These games make for a great cardio workout - BECAUSE the games are 54 minutes (regular league play is 50 minutes) & when you take out free throws- that is a lot of non-stop running (these end up being high scoring games).
  • Only peaceful & recreational players are allowed in this program as this type of game requires cooperation.
  • Your team will play at generally the same time and at generally the same place every week.
  • Your team will play against teams of 6 individuals who sign up to play in that time slot (individual players find this option from our PicktoPlay page).
  • Think of this as having your own private open gym, in a way BUT this program is even better- as the event starts and ends in 1 hour (versus traditional open gyms where the event goes on and on for hours for the same workout you will get with us in 1 hour). Plus, with our program- you do not have to recruit 12 people to have your weekly run- you only have to recruit - just your team!

If you are a team considering switching from LEAGUE to this program: be aware that you will lose variety. The reason you lose variety is because you are no longer involved in travel (travel is what gives & creates variety- as teams travel to you AND THEN you in turn- travel to them; you see- with travel you take variety & you give variety to the ecosystem (the 'league'). Restated- a league is an ecosystem with 'travel' being the fuel that yields variety and parity/close games). So- with this program of SAME TIME/SAME PLACE option discussed on this page, you WILL lose variety; so really- this option is for the 10% of teams that do not care about variety any more... you see, some teams value playing at the same time/same place over the parity/variety that you get from league play and travel).


RULES FOR PLAYERS- PLAYING IN THE 'ZERO REF GAMES'

If you are too competitive to the point of anger, you will not be allowed to play in this league (if you know this about yourself, do not sign up for this option).

If you are willing to play clean (not foul a guy from behind- that beats you to the basket) and if you are willing to 'call your own' fouls (meaning you have to accept a bad call, every once in a while), then then this league might be for you!

The main difference then with a ZERO REFEREES league is that you have no referees and captains and players must be cooperative in nature. Cooperation is required from all players; if your team is too physical (dangerous or unsafe), you will not be allowed to play in this type of game.

Uniforms are still required so the game looks the same as any other game; in fact, we tipoff on time- and we still keep score. In this non-refereed league, the overall game time is 4 minutes more (27 minutes per half vs the 25 minutes in the refereed league).

For the time/gym options to choose from- click on REGISTER TEAM and it will list 20 such options.