In the United States, youth sports are becoming a lucrative market for investors, to the detriment of families

In the United States, youth sports have become a very attractive market for investors. The problem is that the cost of this practice for families sometimes becomes difficult to bear, at the start of the 2026 school year. According to the Aspen Institute, youth sport represents a market of 40 billion dollars per year. It's gigantic. On average, a family spends more than $1,000 per child on sports, a cost that increased by 46% between 2019 and 2024.

Obviously not all sports cost the same, with ice hockey, for example, being particularly expensive. But, in all cases, you have to pay for registration fees, equipment, travel to tournaments or, occasionally, private coaches. One explanation for this increase in costs is the reduction in subsidies after the 2008 financial crisis, when cities and states had to cut corners. Same thing after Covid: the local equivalent of the MJC could no longer accommodate as many children as before. An opportunity therefore presented itself for the private sector.

Private equity firms understood that parents wanted their children to continue playing sports. They therefore bought structures, created clubs and set up an entire ecosystem. Clubs often offer children aged 10 or 11 spectacular training conditions, bordering on professional. But these conditions come at a cost, since the companies that finance the installations are there to make a profit.

In The New Yorker magazine, a former lacrosse coach sums up how it works: everything belongs to the investors, from the clubs to the equipment to be purchased, including the stadiums, but also the hotels located next to the stadiums. Hotels in which the child's family is required to stay during a tournament, by booking on a platform which also belongs to the investor. We call this “Stay to Play”.

Chris Murphy, a senator from Connecticut, recounted his own experience. He was filming his son's hockey game live on his phone so his family could watch. He was told he had to stop or the team would be punished. To watch the match, his family had to subscribe to a streaming site for $15 a month. A site which belongs to the firm which also owns the ice rink.

So why do parents accept this system? Two main reasons. First, they do not want to deprive their children of organized sports, rather than just letting them play ball in a park. Then it's still a question of money. College is very expensive in the United States and many parents rely on a scholarship.