Can Only Rich Kids Play Sports Now? Wall Street Is Betting On It.

Added: 2026-05-08

[00:00:02][Fatima Ashraf] Youth sports is my whole life right now.

[00:00:04]Ready? Go!

[00:00:06]For all three kids, I'm spending probably around $25K a year.

[00:00:13]The schedule is crazy, the expenses are crazy.

[00:00:17]I am constantly exhausted, but they love playing sports.

[00:00:21]Boys. We’re here. Up.

[00:00:24]Up, up, up. Baseball, let’s go.

[00:00:28]When I was growing up, things were different.

[00:00:31]Sure, the fields weren't perfectly manicured, but everyone could afford to play.

[00:00:36]But the average cost of putting a kid in sports has jumped 46% since 2019.

[00:00:43]Youth sports is now a $40 billion industry, double the NFL's annual revenue.

[00:00:50]And private equity giants like Varsity Brands and Unrivaled are cashing in.

[00:00:56]Nowadays, families making under $100,000 a year are half as likely to have kids in sports at all.

[00:01:06][Chris Deluzio] As costs go up, parents are getting squeezed and kids are getting priced out of the games they love.

[00:01:11][Fatima] Youth sports, I think, is destroying parents.

[00:01:14]Can you move quick?

[00:01:15]We’ve got to get your brothers to baseball.

[00:01:16]It's destroying a sense of community.

[00:01:19][Chris Emdin] The level of pressures, the level of like supposed opportunity, this has all been, like, shock for me.

[00:01:24]It's become a money grab.

[00:01:26]I know a lot of families that have taken out loans and have credit card debt.

[00:01:31]Youth sports were supposed to be for everyone.

[00:01:34]So what the hell happened?

[00:01:37]Woo!

[00:01:40]Oh my God.

[00:01:41]Brick?

[00:01:42]Brick? What’d you say?

[00:01:43]I said brick for the first one.

[00:01:45]Oh my God.

[00:01:46]Three!

[00:01:47]Bro, three!

[00:01:47]Rock, paper, scissors, set, shoot.

[00:01:50]All right.

[00:01:51]You want to go first?

[00:01:51]Yeah.

[00:01:54][Fatima] When my husband was small, he started playing football and worked his way up and did it all on his own and got himself a full ride.

[00:02:03]Everything covered — superstar, NCAA Scholar-Athlete, all of the things.

[00:02:08]In 2023, my husband very suddenly passed away.

[00:02:12]So I didn't actually really start thinking about, oh my God, scholarships for college until he passed away.

[00:02:20]I was in this quagmire of, what do I do? Do I stop all of this?

[00:02:26]Do I give the kids time to breathe?

[00:02:30][Mustafa] Wait, I need a break.

[00:02:32]I need a break.

[00:02:33][Fatima] I had maintained their schedule the first year after he died.

[00:02:38]I thought, okay, I'm just going to keep doing this and we're going to push and push and push and see if we can secure these scholarships.

[00:02:46]So when did scholarships become such a focal point of youth sports?

[00:02:50]In the early 1990s, about $250 million a year was distributed by Division I and Division II schools for athletic aid.

[00:02:59]Well, today that number is north of $4 billion.

[00:03:03]So that's a lot of money.

[00:03:05]It's in part because the cost of college has gone through the roof.

[00:03:09][Katie Van Dyck] Parents are desperate for a way to pay for college, and for a lot of them, they see a college scholarship and NIL money as the best route to do that.

[00:03:20]When you look at college sports across the board, only about 2% of high school athletes end up playing in college.

[00:03:28][Fatima] We're chasing scholarships, because I'm really worried about how to pay for college.

[00:03:32]Having said that, I know that the probability is low.

[00:03:36]The pitch is simple.

[00:03:37]Invest in your kid now and it might pay off later.

[00:03:41]So travel leagues and scouting showcases started to emerge as a way to get exposure for kids.

[00:03:48]Come on, do it in the car.

[00:03:49]Come on, do it in the car.

[00:03:51]Your hats and stuff are in the car, right?

[00:03:53]Yeah.

[00:03:54]I’m a full-time sports momager with three boys living in New York.

[00:03:59]After I drop them off at school, I spend most of the day figuring out my logistics.

[00:04:04]I'm just driving from place to place to place.

[00:04:06]My friends think I'm crazy.

[00:04:07]Ismael, while we’re waiting put the balls in the bucket.

[00:04:09][Ismael] Why?

[00:04:10]Because I said so.

[00:04:11]But not every parent wants to turn their ten year old into a full-time scholarship chasing machine.

[00:04:17]Some families want their kids to just play.

[00:04:21]So where do these casual, low cost opportunities go?

[00:04:26]A few things happened that got us to this point today: First of all, we had the 2008 financial crisis.

[00:04:32]In the wake of that, Parks and Rec departments saw their budget slashed and that included budgets for rec leagues.

[00:04:39]Next, we had Covid-19 that just resulted in immediate closures of all kinds of sports programs across the country.

[00:04:47]That left a significant vacuum.

[00:04:50]When Covid hit, about 56% of children in this country ages 6 to 17 played organized sports in some form or another.

[00:05:02]Covid comes in and drops that number down to 49%.

[00:05:06]So there are a lot of kids who immediately lost access to a sport experience.

[00:05:10]Those are most often the kids who are attached to municipal programs, local low cost programs provided by cities and park and recs, which were just overwhelmed.

[00:05:23]Three, two, one, go!

[00:05:29][Jake] And the public programs that did survive, they're constantly fundraising and battling to keep costs low for kids.

[00:05:37][Terrance Taylor] These services we offer here, they’re life changing for some of our boys.

[00:05:41]Boys who've never seen a pool or been in a pool before.

[00:05:44]It's much more difficult because the resources just aren't there as much.

[00:05:47]Whether that means on a city level, state level, federal level.

[00:05:50]The funding is just not aimed that way.

[00:05:52]So we have to work harder now to get that.

[00:05:55]Every year we got we have to dig deeper.

[00:05:57][Fatima] All right. Ismael, last lap.

[00:05:58]We got to get out.

[00:06:00]Yeah, we got to go to basketball on the West Side.

[00:06:07]As the landscape of sports changes to become very cutthroat, we don't always have consistent gym access.

[00:06:15]So sometimes it'll be in the Bronx, sometimes we'll be in Brooklyn, sometimes we'll be in Manhattan. It's like we're ever Coach J has a friend that let us use that space for that day and that time.

[00:06:23][Coach Jermaine] We have to keep it low because it's just, families is getting priced out.

[00:06:26]It's become a money grab.

[00:06:28]Families have to tell their child no because something is too expensive.

[00:06:33]And that’s something that we’re battling, that’s something that we're looking to combat all the time.

[00:06:37]The people who do the recruiting don't even look at the parks and rec programs or the nonprofit organizations that are running programs, right?

[00:06:45]They're only going to these expensive travel teams.

[00:06:48][Jake] So with public programs on life support and desperate parents searching for answers, the private sector saw dollar signs.

[00:06:56][Tom] Private equity has now woken up to the idea that there's so much money rolling through the system, that this is a great environment for us to get into and do what private equity typically does.

[00:07:09]In sports that can mean buying up a bunch of different parts of an industry — facilities, tournaments, leagues, software, travel agents, and using that to build a walled garden around the entire market so that competitors can't get in and consumers can't get out.

[00:07:28]These are some of the largest investment firms in the world we're talking about.

[00:07:33]Josh Harris and David Blitzer are owners of the 76ers, New Jersey Devils, and now an expanding youth sports empire.

[00:07:42]Talk to us about the opportunity in youth sports.

[00:07:44]What’s the throughline for youth sports. from an investment perspective?

[00:07:49]It’s massively fragmented. Right? So, the demand is there.

[00:07:52]I think, again, people calculate it differently.

[00:07:54]I calculate the youth sports business at about $40B,growing at, you know, high single-digits a year.

[00:08:00]So, as an example, Cal Ripken, was somebody who was like my idol as a player, but, more relevantly, post his playing career, Cal basically wanted to help kids.

[00:08:11]He wanted to teach them to play baseball the right way in a safe environment and he and his brother, Bill, started Ripken Baseball.

[00:08:17]And they have the best youth baseball business in the country, in my opinion.

[00:08:21]And once we got into youth sports, I had been talking to Cal for years about trying to partner with him in some way, shape or form.

[00:08:26]And let's be honest.

[00:08:27]What kid wouldn't want to play here?

[00:08:30]Turf fields, 17 batting cages, custom walk up music.

[00:08:34]This is the full big league experience, but that comes at a big cost.

[00:08:39]Families aren't just paying $600 for an entry fee.

[00:08:43]These operations run lodging, concessions, merchandise.

[00:08:48][Katie] The thing I hear parents complain about more than anything is a practice called “stay to play.”

[00:08:54]A policy that requires anybody participating in an out of town tournament to stay at their preferred hotel, and if they don't, they're disqualified.

[00:09:04][Jake] So when you add it all up — entry fees, travel, approved hotels, meals.

[00:09:10]This can run a family $2,500 or more Per kid.

[00:09:15]And if you want your kid competing at the highest level, you've got to do that multiple times a year.

[00:09:24]And the earlier you can get these kids playing at a high level, the more money can be extracted.

[00:09:30][Tom] The earlier you form a travel team, the more likely that kid is going to bring their whole family.

[00:09:35]And so there's a lot of economic activity and therefore incentive, if we can create these expensive environments in faraway places.

[00:09:44][Jake] But travel baseball is just one example of private equity rolling up youth sports.

[00:09:49]This is happening in every sport, in every corner of the country.

[00:09:54]Varsity Brands owns almost all of competitive cheerleading — the competitions, the apparel company, a professional league, and they have exclusive contracts with a lot of venues.

[00:10:06]Varsity also used to control the governing body and set the rules to advantage themselves.

[00:10:11]Another example is Black Bear Sports Group.

[00:10:15]They own over 40 ice hockey rinks across the Midwest and the East Coast.

[00:10:20]And yes, hockey is an incredibly expensive sport to begin with.

[00:10:23]Just ask my parents.

[00:10:24]But one new expense even caught the attention of a U.S. senator.

[00:10:29]So I was just told this last weekend, that if I live stream my child's hockey game, my kid’s team will be penalized and lose a place in the standings.

[00:10:41]Why is that?

[00:10:42]Because a private equity company has bought up all the rinks in the Northeast, has installed their own closed circuit camera system into all of the rinks, has provided a paid for subscription service to all of the families.

[00:10:59][Jake] So one company owns the rink, manages the league, and facilitates an exclusive streaming service for parents.

[00:11:07]And we haven’t even talked about equipment yet.

[00:11:09][Fatima] These companies, like, come on, they're taking advantage of the fact that we want to do what's best for our kids. Telling us that if you have this bat, your kids going to score four home runs and three scouts are going to call you.

[00:11:20]It’s like, why am I up at 1 a.m.

[00:11:22]looking at Easton Dub bats, knowing I'm not going to get it for them, but feeling pressured like maybe I should.

[00:11:29]You could look at a kid's baseball bag and you can probably see $1,000 worth of gear just in that baseball bag alone.

[00:11:35][Fatima] This is creating such an unnecessary class division between the kids.

[00:11:41][Jake] Fatima spends roughly $17,000 on team fees, $6,000 on travel and lodging, and another two grand on equipment.

[00:11:52]That's $25,000 a year to have her kids competing in youth sports.

[00:11:58]This is where we've ended up.

[00:11:59]So has anyone figured out a better way?

[00:12:07][Tom] Norway is a nation the size of Minnesota, just over 5 million people, and yet they win all these medals?

[00:12:13]How did that happen?

[00:12:14]They’ve created a bill of rights for children in sports.

[00:12:18][Jake] Introduced in 1987, this declaration serves as the foundation for youth sports in Norway.

[00:12:25]There are seven major principles, such as: Children have the right to participate in a safe and secure training environment without any inappropriate pressure from adults.

[00:12:36]Children have the right to choose which sport and how many sports they participate in.

[00:12:41]Above all, Norwegians prioritize participation, not outcomes.

[00:12:46]It's not about collecting trophies.

[00:12:48]And that became the foundation for one of the healthiest and happiest nations the world.

[00:12:54]But would these policies work in a country as large as the United States?

[00:12:59][Tom] We're not as different as we think we are.

[00:13:01]I mean, Norwegian kids aren't made any different than American kids.

[00:13:05]They just understand what the child development literature and the athletic development literature say and they build policies, practices, partnerships, structures, and a philosophy that really centers the needs of youth, as opposed to adults trying to make money off youth.

[00:13:23]We finally have this moment now where people want to have the policy conversations, they want solutions.

[00:13:29][Jake] Now American lawmakers are trying to shift the incentives in youth sports in the same way.

[00:13:35]In Pennsylvania, Congressman Chris Deluzio has taken an interest in solving the problem here.

[00:13:40]So we went to an event he was hosting with families in his district.

[00:13:45]In our country, sports are supposed to be an equalizer.

[00:13:48]Any kid, no matter where they're coming from, should be able to compete.

[00:13:51]It’s a place where you can show up and work hard, and you can achieve something bigger than yourself.

[00:13:55]But our country's drifting away from that to where your family's bank account will decide whether you might even get to step foot on the field.

[00:14:02]That must end. That's why we are here today.

[00:14:05]For families enrolled in travel or club programs, costs can exceed $10,000 a year.

[00:14:12]Basically, you’re paying all of this just so your kid can make a high school team.

[00:14:16]We’re kind of at a loss in terms of moving forward with our kids and what we should prioritize.

[00:14:20][Tom] In this time, where this country is going through so much division and it doesn't seem like there are many institutions that can bring people together, youth sports can bring people together.

[00:14:33]So what will Congressman Deluzio's bill actually do?

[00:14:37]In mid-May, Deluzio and Senators Chris Murphy and Cory Booker are introducing the Let Kids Play Act.

[00:14:44]The bill would include banning private equity from youth sports, ending vulture practices like stay to play policies that force families to stay in a tournament’s preferred hotel, all while redirecting financial resources back into the community.

[00:15:00][Fatima] I love sports because the kids get a chance to be outside.

[00:15:03]They get a chance to move their bodies.

[00:15:04]They make friends through this.

[00:15:06]They, you know, have all these amazing memories with these people.

[00:15:10]Hitting home runs, you know, in the park, out the park, making that three pointer at the buzzer.

[00:15:15]I mean, these are things that they are going to take with them as beautiful parts of their childhood.

[00:15:20][Team] Clippers on three, family on six.

[00:15:22]One, two, three, Clippers!

[00:15:24]Four, five, six, family!