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If you have young children or grandchildren, you may know the answer to this question.
How much do families spend on their children’s sports activities? 🏈🏒🥍⚾️⚽️
The answer is a lot, often thousands of dollars a year. I know that from experience in our family. My children each spend four thousand more or less for their children’s equipment, team fees, travel costs and in some cases lessons.
And then there are the fund raisers each team conducts. Ma and Pa are a go to source which is fine with us, but maybe not for those retired on a tight budget.
There is social pressure to participate in a different sport each season of the year. Baseball used to be spring and summer. No more, now there is “Fall ball” too. A good little league bat costs $200 or more.
When I was a kid the equipment was a broom stick and a pink rubber ball. We never heard of soccer (or proper football). Never mind soccer, what about lacrosse? A mid-range lacrosse kit of equipment runs around $300. And then there is field hockey. A mid-range stick can be $250.
The only travel we did was climb the fence in our apartment’s back yard to get to the local park or walk a half mile with a wood bat, ball and glove to a (dirt, not artificial turf) ball field. Where we live now I can easily walk to four artificial turf football, baseball, soccer/ lacrosse fields all equipped with night lighting, electronic scoreboards and grandstands. One has a snack bar. And you wonder where your property taxes go.
Today travel teams actually travel. Two of our grandchildren have traveled from NJ to Florida, Georgia, Virginia, and Maryland with their teams.
According to New York Life’s Wealth Watch Survey, on average, parents report spending about $3,000 per year on children’s sports. The Aspen Institute says the average is $1,500 per child – that’s for average income households. The number climbs with family income.
In addition to the cost, there is a tremendous time commitment for the child and the family, not to mention the pressure – sometimes extreme – to win. I’m not opposed to sports, but I think it has gotten a bit too high on the priority list for children.
The ever pragmatic me secretly wonders, does this spending on sports mean less saving for retirement-or more credit card debt for many families trying not to disappoint their children? 🤑
My wife Suzie and I cover all the costs for our grandson’s sports equipment and club memberships, which runs about $2,000 per year. But what really frustrates me is the replica jerseys for the professional soccer teams he follows. He supports two teams—Liverpool FC and Real Madrid FC—and each team has three different jerseys: home, away, and third kit. This costs around $2,000 total, and to make matters worse, the professional teams release new designs every single year. The only saving grace is that it makes birthday and Xmas present selection easy.
The same with professional sports teams here in the US.It’s a money grab by the teams.
A perfect example from last week. My baseball team the Red Sox won a game to qualify for the playoffs. The local broadcast network was not able to cover it as Apple+ had the game as part of their contract.
What is even worse video forever will show that the team was wearing GREEN uniforms not their traditional classic whites with red and blue.
When texting this rant to my adult son I typed I guess I am officially an old “cudger” now.
Join the club lol
Kids sports are over the top today! The money and time commitments for the traveling activities/sports can consume a family. I coached youth soccer for kindergarten age, and even there I had parents upset over not practicing enough, or not having practice in the rain (for 5 and 6 year olds)! Coaching youth track and field I saw ridiculous levels of poor sportsmanship over not ‘winning’ by some kids and parents also. The kids that showed promise at those young ages very rarely progressed into the top athletes either. So much changes as kids grow and develop. At the time I wanted my kids to do well of course, and although they weren’t the best athletes once they decided what sport they wanted to commit to and work at, and then physically grow into, they did quite well. It is easy to get caught up in the competitive frenzy but in hindsight it is most important to have fun and make friends and not worry about how ‘good’ you are – at younger ages for sure.
Good points. When we attend the grandchildren’s games I am shocked by the behavior of some parents. Many fields even have signs reminding parents it’s a game and to respect the coaches and umpires, etc.
Strikes me it’s a choice. Commercial reality means that there will be no end of businesses willing to run camps, extracurricular coaching, tournaments, travel competition.
It’s also within the power of parents to say no. Idea of travel teams seems ludicrous for U12s and barely makes much sense unless we’re really talking elite performance for U18s. Acknowledged that some minority sports may by geographic necessity have greater needs e.g. skiing. But for mass participation like baseball/softball/basketball/football/soccer/swimming/track n field? Seems unnecessary.
The whole point of soccer is that it is a relatively simple game that can be played anywhere where there is a bit of passably flat land. Hence global popularity.
Sure sports teach plenty of lifeskills but IME those lessons can be learnt being ground into an icy December puddle within 10 miles of home just as easily as on the back of a 14 hour return coach trip via a cheap Holiday Inn stay.
What’s wrong with giving kids opportunities to participate in activities outside of going to school? Be it sports, theater, dance or other academic extracurricular clubs or activities these are useful and constructive learning experiences for youth. I have 2 granddaughters who participate in Dance involving, recitals, performances and national competitions away from the NY area where they live. These are significant expenses for their parents but ones they would not deny them. They fit the expenses related to dance class, costumes and competitions into their budgets. Although we don’t pay for these, we pay for other things that help them bridge the budget strain dance creates, like summer camp.
Our 6 year old grandson is a very good athlete and has settled on Ice Hockey as his primary sport pursuit. Yes, it’s expensive and time consuming and requires significant commitments of time and money by the parents. I was at his hockey game at an arena an hour from home at 7 am this morning to watch him and his team play. These are great experiences for the kids and helps develop many skills of playing. Team sport with coaches and new teammates as friends, other than classmates.
Yes,each family has to weigh the financial and time burdens vs. other priorities but if they they couldn’t afford it, they,would find other activities for their kids to participate in.
Who said there was anything wrong with opportunity? The point is, it can get out of control and sometimes it turns into more of a parent or grandparent thing than what the child wants.
The pressure can be too much between school, practices and games and the priorities can be turned around.
How exactly does a six year old settle on his preferred sport and related commitment? He’s a first grader— can’t imagine a lot of understanding of all the alternatives before him.
When I was a kid, I lived one block from the local baseball park. We had a minor league team. I was often the batboy and they would give me broken bats. I would put tacks in them and tape them. I would also get really scuffed up baseballs. That was our equipment for pickup games. I also remember taping balls that had lost their cover.
Everything for modern kids is organized. Most of our games were organized by us. We would sometimes play games against other neighborhoods. I think it was better the way we had it. We were not dependent on adults to have our games.
My kids were music/theater kids, not team sports kids, but it was kind of the same idea. We spent money on music lessons, on drama programs, on costumes, and on travel, especially when they were in high school. My older daughter’s choir did a big trip to England and Wales. My younger daughter went to France with one choir, to New York and New Orleans with another, and to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a school play.
These were cool opportunities for the kids, but they were definitely a burden on parents, financially and time-wise—we had to show up and work on fundraisers all year long. My older daughter was in the Madrigal choir, and her renaissance costume, which had to be made by a seamstress (not in my skill set!) cost $1500–and that was back in 2004! I almost wept with gratitude when the younger one decided she preferred the jazz choir (costumes only $200 in 2010). I taught a lot of summer school to earn extra money for that stuff.
I always felt like it was too much for how young they were. But my college town is big on investing heavily in kids’ activities, and it would have been hard to go against the trend. And they both had musical talent like their father, so it seemed right to invest in helping them develop it. Maybe the key point was that it gave them a place to stand out and feel special. My older daughter was a great student, but the younger one was not, and performing gave her opportunities to shine.
Dana, my daughters were also involved in theater, and I can attest to the costs involved. They had to be in the right place at the right time, wearing the right costume. They learned how to communicate intelligently with adults, which I feel helped them tremendously later in life.
One of our larger investments included two trips to New York for auditions. My younger daughter had a doppleganger in young Cossette in Les Miz. The investment paid off, she got the job, and performed the role for a year in 1989. Her salary helped pay college tuition.
Two of our granddaughters very much enjoy theater, singing and acting as well. All our children played instruments and got to go to Europe with groups.
Today many children are so involved in activities, including all the practices, it seems a strain on them and their families. Not even free Sundays sometimes.
I think all the costs must put pressure on families who just can’t afford it.
Extra-curricular activities have become the norm and it is important to provide guidance and set boundaries and keep things in balance.
For grandchildren and nieces and nephews we travel to their location and give them small gifts, some of an educational nature. The parents seem stuck. We’ll rent motel rooms at a swimming facility and with management’s prior approval have them visit, with their parents.
This is easier to do financially than I experienced with my children. I have no complaints.
We know these children would really enjoy our place in Michigan, but we haven’t been able to get the parents to leave the East Coast. It is their loss. They’ll wake-up when it is too late.
My children were typical. There were sports, band, outdoors/camping, school trips, etc. These were dollar intensive and time consuming. We lived near Chicago but because one of my sons was in a variety of high school sports including track, I found myself driving him on weekends to a specialized sports education center for pole vault training. There was a trip by one of the bands to march on a parade at Disney World in Florida. Cha-Ching.
Coordinating all of these activities was a challenge because I did the driving. At one point I concluded that I should take on a role with a youth organization as I was driving boys to all kinds of activities, some hundreds of miles distant. With more time I would have been enrolled in transporting the band.
Of course, all of this was a prequel to college, with one attending in Massachusetts. I did a lot of trips, sleeping in the car to save on motel rooms. The returns at the end of the school year were easier as the children had driver’s licenses and could share in the driving chores.
Norm,
Per your first sentence. My son was picked for the A travel hockey team when he was FIVE years old. This would have entailed about 40 games. We said no. Instead he played on the B team of about 30 games, where half their games were in the house league, and half travel (15 games combined both home and away). The next year he played on the A travel team. When we told him he had made the A team the year before but we thought it was too much he was NOT happy.
I should add that the “specialized sports training camp” for pole vaulting lessons was in Iowa, some distance away. The alumni association had decided to invest in a new pole purchased specifically for my son. Besides, I didn’t want him to kill himself in this endeavor. Vaulting is not without risks.
This is a problem of privilege. I wonder how many of the bottom 50% are spending this kind of money on sports.
More than you might think. It doesn’t always take a lot of money. Watch the documentary “Hoop Dreams”.
Norm, as a fellow Chicagoan I loved “Hoop Dreams” too, but that was 30 years ago. The protagonists came through the public schools, not pay-to-play sports clubs, and one of the key pivot points in the film was when one player’s parents couldn’t afford the tuition at his dream school and he had to transfer. Today, for young athletes who aren’t superstars, it’s a different world.
Right, or what they can’t spend on that is more important than spending on sports.
I couldn’t agree more! My kids all played sports, but our spending on the activities was minimal. If kids are athletically gifted, I doubt they need to be on a travel team to excel. But we know one FIVE YEAR old who has a batting coach! I think he’d be better served by throwing some balls in the backyard with a parent.
Children’s sports is big business. Look up Diamond Nation in NJ to see how big it can be. And if you want to watch you child play there is an admission fee too.
There also was no fee to cheer on our kids at the local parks where our kids played.
i wonder, however, if the money universities are paying their athletes will encourage parents to spend more to make their kids “competitive.” It seems to be a rat race with no end in sight.
Good point. Just being a kid play in the park has become big business.
Sports are expensive. A young family has to do some serious number crunching to decide on spending priorities.
Sports are beneficial, see Dave Lancaster’s post.
Sports are time consuming. Many of my best memories/experiences are from the years I spent with family at my daughters, nieces, and nephews games.
A broom stick and a pink rubber ball? That’s so far back that V8 juice was only V2 juice.
I hope those up arrows are not for the last sentence 😎.
Hey, I remember the milk man delivering milk and eggs in a horse drawn wagon filled with blocks of ice.
Dick, I barely old enough to remember milk deliveries. There also was a local potato chip company, Charlies Chips, that made home deliveries, though they had trucks.
This is very familiar. When both my kids started playing hockey as 3-5 year-olds, I had no idea what I was facing. Today, my 22 year-old still plays at the collegiate level, and my other son (24), quit at 16. The travel teams, hockey academies, Canadian apartments rented, hotels, food, flights, and equipment costs have been insane. I lost count for sure, but it’s likely in the 250K-300K range at this point.
At this point, house league and depositing the max gift from each parent to each child in an S&P fund (VOO, SPY), and reinvesting the dividends probably would have been the better play financially.
However, the life my son has lived, the people he’s met, the lessons he’s learned, and his abilitiy to cope with real challenges is likely more than worth every penny.
To answer your (probably rhetorical) question, you bet your sweet cheeks it does.
But, as I’ve become fond of noting on this site, I don’t think it’s the particular thing that people spend on that really matters (e.g. Coldplay concerts or travel youth sports). As you noted, those things didn’t exist until recently and yet most people have always had a spending problem and savings allergy. If it’s not one thing, it would be another. People don’t seem to have trouble finding things to spend money on.
If it gets the kids into the habit of life-long physical exertion or exercise it is worth every penny. Or more.
Our daughter got into Tae Kwon Do, wrestling, and cross country running. We were lucky to get away with a TKD uniform once a year, whatever she got for wrestling (I forget) and a few pairs of running shoes.
I was grateful for that when I’d see the neighbor’s kids decked out for ice hockey, football (both American and Soccer), and golf.
I would never have forced my daughter into sports, but when she found sports she liked, we encouraged her to work at them.
As Mr. Lancaster said, it helped develop a lot of like skills. She was in wrestling for her last two years of high school, was made Team Manager, and ended up being the team mentor and taxi driver for the younger kids.
Now she’s into power lifting and MMA while in college. Don’t mess with her!
One granddaughter age 13 was doing that. Now she is scheduled for surgery for a torn ACL.
Injuries can happen in most sports and activities. All you can do is have proper form and hope for the best.
Some of my grandkids are into sports, a couple others are into music. Their parents wisely supervise how much of their time is consumed by these activities. They must learn to, dare I say the word Dick, budget their time.
“I’m not opposed to sports, but I think it has gotten a bit too high on the priority list for children.”
As a life long sports participant/fan I have to argue the opposite. I played youth hockey in the sixties and 70s and in high school. Back in those days there were not nearly the number of teams there are now so our closest competitors were an hour or more away. My love of sports, travel, and the sciences (and eventually medicine) led me to my life long profession as a Certified Athletic Trainer, and orthopedic Physical Therapist.
Here are just some of the benefits I can think of due to sports:
1) Teamwork- a group of people working together towards a goal
“I’m not opposed to sports, but I think it has gotten a bit too high on the priority list for children.”
2) Getting along with others who are different from you
3) Discipline/Commitment- having to work out to become a better player, show up for practice/games even if you don’t want to or are not feeling well
4) Time Management- especially as you get older and have to practice, workout, do your homework. It is well known that athletes tend to perform well in school because they have to have their time structured to meet all their commitments
5) Better Grades/Staying in School- playing sports in high school usually requires a minimum grade point average to continue participating thus giving some marginal students more motivation to get better grades and graduate.
6) Staying out of trouble- the demands of sports, keeping up and good conduct, and maintaining grades to allow continued participation does not allow as much time for teenagers to stray
There are many more benefits but these are that immediately come to mind
No argument there are benefits of different kinds, but still there needs to be priorities.
Some families spend all their free time on sports activities- after school, before school and every weekend. There is no time for anything else.