THE costs keep adding up — league fees, gear, travel — when it comes to youth sports in North America. It's a longtime issue exacerbated by inflation and hardly confined to the US.
THE costs keep adding up — league fees, gear, travel — when it comes to youth sports in North America.
The institute’s most recent “State of Play” report, an annual study on national trends in youth sports, cited a survey finding 49% of respondents saying they had struggled to afford participation costs. That included 57% of respondents with less than a $40,000 annual income. Parents surveyed a year earlier said they spent more than $880 the previous year on their child’s primary sport in the US; it was $1,645 north of the border.
The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan has charted concerns going back at least a dozen years in its national polling on children’s health. According to the May 2012 report, 12% of responding parents said the cost of school sports had led to decreased participation for at least one of their children in middle or high school, while fewer lower-income families had a teen playing school sports compared to wealthier counterparts.
A basic youth hockey stick — players need at least a few because they can and do break during practices and games — can cost around $70, with higher-end models — super light carbon fiber that somehow remains strong but pliable — going for three times that. New skates for the recreational player can be had for $100, with competitive players more likely in a pair costing some $500 or top-end models that are nearly $1,000.
Tom Cove is president and chief executive officer of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, a trade group with membership that includes the four major North American professional men’s sports leagues as well as companies like Adidas, Nike, Wilson and Dick’s Sporting Goods. It also conducts industry research reports, including on sports participation.
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