Youth sports are becoming more and more expensive as years go on. With kids ages 5-14 wanting to play the sport they love, parents are not able to afford it. This is a huge problem for kids playing sports as the amount of teams is lowered due to cost, and the amount of fun.
About 60 million children play sports, and the average U.S. sports family spent $1,016 on their child’s primary sport in 2024. This is a 46 percent increase since 2019, according to the Aspen Institute’s latest parent survey in partnership with Utah State University and Louisiana Tech University. As stated, the increase of average payments have skyrocketed. With families spending over $1,000 per year, less and less kids are playing every year.
With that being said, the amount of money a sport costs depends on the sport itself. According to Playground Equipment, ice hockey is the most expensive youth sport in the U.S. The cost of ice hockey is over $2,000 every year. This is because of the increase of price in equipment used. Cheaper sports in today’s day of age, typically include sports with less equipment such as soccer, tennis, and more.
Another reason for this is because of the dramatic increase in youth travel teams. Travel teams are sports teams that are not associated in one specific league. These travel teams travel around town playing in tournaments against other travel teams. Instead of children playing in a league with a typical one time payment, families are spending hundreds of dollars a month for team dues, tournaments, travel fees, and many more.
Lastly, Charlie Kolse, an eighth grade student at Rio Norte Junior High believes “Youth sports are becoming too expensive, and kids with extreme talent aren’t able to play because their parents can’t afford it.” This proves how expensive and time consuming youth sports really are. Parents take their children to practice around one or two times a week. This also comes with multiple hour games and warm-ups. If the price does not decline in the near future, youth sports can decline for financially average families.