How private equity made youth sports pay to play

Youth sports used to be rooted in community. Now, it's a $40 billion dollar industry. See, the thing is private equity has realized we'll do anything to see our kids thrive, and that includes paying them thousands of dollars just for a chance to play the rest of the competition.

The average US sports family spent over $1000 on their kid's sport in 2024, a 46% increase since 2019. And it's because if you want to play, you don't have a choice. It's familiar Wall Street names that are buying up the sports facilities, the equipment, hell even the stat tracking and recording platforms so that every single step of the way they'll take as much as they can get.

The effect of all of this is that a tradition that was once essential to building our communities has become commodified. And it impacts low-income families the most, shutting them out of youth sports leagues entirely. And this has broader implications. Sports has been a way for many kids to get recruited to colleges and access educational opportunities they might have not had otherwise. Now? It's pay to play like everything else.