Parental Spending on Youth Sports

In my last post I discussed the treatment of game officials and cited that one of the reasons that this occurs could be due to the outrageous amounts of money that’s involved in youth sports today. Why are parents spending all this money on their children’s youth sports endeavors and do the ends really justify the means? Are parents spending more than they can afford in order to try to get that elusive college scholarship for their child? In my time involved in youth sports I noticed the explosion of travel and elite teams along with the ancillary costs of specialized training and equipment along with travel to different locations, usually out of state, that can break a family’s budget. I have had conservations with parents who stated that their child “was going to get a scholarship to pay for college” yet when I gave them some of the statistics regarding how many college sports scholarships are really available, they were shocked to learn that the numbers were that low.

As I stated I my last post, in Mark Hyman’s book “The Most Expensive Game in Town” he stated that the idea that youth sports will pay for college is a myth for all but a few athletes. Further, he stated that there are far more kids hoping to play college sports than are roster spots for them and fewer that 7 in 100 athletes move from prep to college teams. I noted that this book was published in 2012 and the numbers may be dated; however, in doing further research, I found articles are still being written about parents spending on their children’s youth sports activities. In July 1999 Andrew Ferguson, writing for Time Magazine wrote an article entitled “Inside the Crazy Culture of Kids Sports” and in this article, Mr. Ferguson quotes Robert Molina, the Director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University stating that the odds of children getting a college scholarship “are long” and he further stated that “most parents would be better off putting the money that they spend on travel teams in to a savings account”. Further, the National Center for Educational Statistics stated that “fewer that 1% of the children participating in organized sports today (in 1999) will qualify for any sort of college scholarship”.

Jumping ahead almost 18 years, Adam Shell, writing for the Money section of USA Today wrote an article discussing parental spending of for their children’s youth sports activities. Mr. Shell stated, much like Mr. Molina stated almost 20 years earlier, that the odds of playing Division I sports in college are long. He noted that in 2015/2016 nearly 546,000 boys were playing high school basketball and that of that number only 18,684 played NCAA College basketball and of that number only 1%, or about 187 children went on to play Division I basketball and the statistics are similar for women. Further, Mr., Shell noted that only 2.6% of football players, 2% of golfers and 4.6% of hockey players made the jump from high school to Division I sports. Finally, he stated that the odds of making it as a professional are even a longer shot with the probability of a college player going pro in basketball is 1.1%, in football its 1.5% and 5.6% in hockey. Again, this according to NCAA data.

Mr. Shell’s article further stated that a TD Ameritrade survey found that most American families spend the following on youth sports:

· 63% spend between $100 and $499 monthly;

· 18% spend between $500 and $999 monthly;

· 11% spend between $1,000 and $1,999 monthly; and,

· 8% spend $2,000 per month and more.

Further, the same survey showed that families do the following to fund their children’s youth sports activities:

· 55% cut back on entertainment;

· 40% take fewer vacations; and,

· 23% cut back on the money that they set aside for retirement.

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So basically, according this survey families will cut down on entertainment, vacations and funding their retirement, all important issues for families, in order to shoot for a long shot college scholarship, that may not pay the full cost of college. Mike Trombley, a former Duke University baseball player, who played professional baseball for 11 years and now runs Trombley Associates, an investment and retirement firm, states that “while we all love our children, you have to put yourself and your retirement first”.

So, what does all this mean? Should we stop funding our children’s youth sports participation? As a former youth sports athlete (albeit many years ago) and a parent of two children who participated in youth sports I don’t think that is the answer and I would argue against the notion that children should not participate in youth sports at any level, especially since studies show that youth sports participation is good for children as it teaches many valuable skills that can be used later in life. Another question is what has changed between 1999 and 2022? Well college costs, along with everything else, continue to rise and parents are more concerned with looking for alternatives ways to pay for college; however, they have to question if budgeting more money than they can afford for their children’s youth sports activities makes sense if will it possibly lead to financial ruin.

In the coming weeks I will be looking further into issue of the money that is spent on youth sports in the country and what, if anything can be done to lessen the financial burdens on parents and make the youth sporting experience a fun learning experience for our youth.