SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — For years, parents watched as rising costs in youth sports pushed more and more kids to the sidelines and other endeavors.
However, data from The Aspen Institute suggests that a return to recreational nonprofit sports leagues is underway, and so is a drop in costs.
The nonprofit's Project Play annual report highlights that while the average kid's sport may cost their parent $883, that's lower compared to the pre-pandemic average of $935.
That comes as more children appear to be returning to community-based sports, increasing to 58% in 2022 compared to 38% in 2021.
Andy Pohl runs the Shaker Youth Baseball League, as well as DNA Travel Baseball, which is meant for children beginning at 12 to 13 years old.
He's seen firsthand how nonprofit community leagues where everyone can play, and no one gets cut are harder to find.
"Youth athletics have become an industry," he explained. It's been about the adults and not the kids, and when it's about the adults, the adults see an opportunity to profit, so they're trying to make profit margins."
The Aspen Institute estimates that U.S. families spend between $30-40 billion annually on their children's athletic endeavors, with the most significant factors driving that cost being inflation and travel sports. That's more than the annual revenues of any professional sports league.
"The expenses are out of control," Pohl explained. "It's been hard to navigate this whole youth sports world. Unfortunately, there just isn't that many low-stakes sports athletic programs where kids go out, have fun and play with their friends."
The nonprofit Mentor Baseball League is not the same one Jeff Elly's father founded nearly 40 years ago. Nowadays, Elly said the league must compete against the rise of non-stop leagues that develop the best players and ask kids to specialize in a single sport.
"They're paying to put on what they're doing: a product and the coaches," Elly explained. "We're really trying to maintain cost and offer the best program we can to as many kids as we can. For our travel program, it's roughly $1,200-1,300, while you see the for-profits are $3,000 to 4,000 or more."
However, Elly adds that, similar to national trends, he, too, is seeing an increase in community-based participation. In Mentor Baseball's case, Elly told News 5 that his league had seen a 12% increase in participation this year.
They are slowing down the chase for trophies and scholarships in favor of fun.
"I want them to learn from this experience," Pohl added. "I'm trying to keep things in perspective."
While News 5 focuses its reporting through the lens of the baseball diamond, baseball is not the most expensive sport for kids.
According to an earlier Aspen Institute report that broke down sport by sport, ice hockey, skiing and snowboarding top the list as the most expensive youth sports, costing more than $2,000 per child per year. The least costly sport was track and field at $191/year.
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