There was a time when signing your kid up for soccer or softball didn’t take a big investment. But in recent years, the financial commitment required for some youth sports has grown dramatically.
Parents now regularly spend thousands of dollars each season on registration, travel, equipment and other costs. And the entrance of private equity firms into the industry has helped accelerate the growth in expense.
Todd Frankel, a reporter for the Washington Post, recently wrote about the growing costs of kids’ sports. He spoke to Texas Standard about some of the factors that are driving the trend. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Give us a sense of how much money some parents are actually paying for their kids to participate in sports. I mean, it’s easy to sort of talk in these broad terms and it might sound like hyperbole, but I was kind of shocked by what you reported here.
Todd Frankel: Yeah, they are eye-popping numbers, but I think any parent who has a kid playing sports these days, they’re sort of the rules of the road. And they are shocking. I mean, folks are being charged just to try out for these teams.
And these, again, as you pointed out, the Pop Warner/Little League stuff that most folks grew up with a generation ago, that’s still around, but it’s been sort of supplanted and also competing against these like travel clubs and these club sport teams that are year-round. You know, they cost $3,000, $4,000 a year easy – $50 to try out, and then there’s fees all along the way.
And, you know, it’s really turning youth sports into a luxury good.
Is this across the board? I mean, are there certain sports or certain leagues that are more affordable? You mentioned the Pop Warner thing’s still out there, but where’s all this money going?
It’s sort of tricky. So those other cheaper options are still out there, but what happens is – and I was speaking to some academics and folks who study this – is starting around second grade, which is pretty young, folks start getting sort of lured into this club sports world, and by fifth grade, there’s fewer and fewer players around to play the lower-end sports. And so everyone sort of feels compelled, “oh well, maybe Johnny down the street’s doing it, my kid should follow him.”
And some sports definitely cost more, like ice skating is a famous example of just incredible investment – ice hockey as well. Soccer’s cheaper, baseball’s a little bit cheaper.
But again, the costs are so much higher than they were a generation ago. And you’re getting more. You’re around practices, three practices a week.
Another big thing that I was sort of even surprised by was this sort of growth in what’s called youth sports tourism, right?
So on the weekend, mom and dad and the family are loading up and driving three, four hours or even hopping on a plane to go play in a weekend youth sports tournament at these new facilities that are just for youths, right? They’re not for adults.
So it’s an entirely different world than what most folks are aware of.
It seems like much bigger business, and I say that with intent because you report that private equity firms have taken notice of what’s happening here. What role have they actually played in driving this trend?
Yeah, so, you know, I think they took notice that folks are willing to spend a lot of money.
As someone told me, families will cut back on a lot things before they cut back on spending for their kids. And these private equity and venture capital investors have started getting into this – buying up some of these facilities, wrapping up a bunch of these leagues… Like one group bought up/owns almost 100 different flag football leagues across the country. And they see the profit opportunity there.
And the concern is, what’s driving which? I think this was sort of happening and private equity got into it. But as they are going to do, they’re probably going to push this a little bit further.
But I wonder if they can only push so far, because surely there’s gotta be some sort of backlash. Is there any, as far as you can tell? Are parents looking for alternatives?
Well, yes, there’s definitely backlash. And it’s mostly like that, you know, any parent I talk to about this were just sort of a knowing laugh when I brought this up. Because everyone goes through this at different levels, you know?
Some folks have much worse times. Some of it’s just a little bit of a financial strain. But there was surveys showing that parents are getting second jobs to afford their kids sports. And I was kind of like, that can’t be true. But then, secondhand, I heard from friends that I know of who they’ve done that same thing for their kids.
And so we are probably reaching a tipping point where how much more can you possibly get folks to pay? But even if it just sort of stays where it is, it’s still a really big strain for a lot of families. But no one wants to be the first one to pull out.
And as I said earlier, the problem is, these earlier, cheaper options, they don’t seem as attractive. And they’re, quite frankly, not – especially if you can somehow squeeze out and do the fancy stuff, it’s kind of hard to say no.
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