It's A Well Known Fact That Private Equity Ruins Everything It Touches And Now It's Coming After Youth Sports, A $40 Billion Dollar Industry
NYT- The youth sports industry, according to the Aspen Institute, generates about $40 billion in annual revenue, dwarfing other forms of entertainment. Last year, for example, the domestic movie box office grossed about $8.7 billion.
About 60 million children play sports, and the average U.S. sports family spent $1,016 on its child’s primary sport in 2024, a 46 percent increase since 2019, according to the Aspen Institute’s latest parent survey in partnership with Utah State University and Louisiana Tech University.
That’s a far cry from the days when youth sports were dominated by locally run offshoots of nonprofit organizations like the Catholic Youth Organization, Pop Warner and Little League Baseball.
But over the years, youth sports have become more national in scope. Parents watched the emergence of Tiger Woods, whose father, Earl, pushed him to play golf as a toddler, and saw how specializing in a sport was a ticket to admission to a prestigious college, a scholarship or maybe a paycheck.
The entry of big money into youth sports has raised concerns that the cost of playing youth sports could rise further out of reach for many American families. To increase profits for their investors, these firms could raise fees for tournaments, rink time and other assets they’ve acquired.
First, they came for Boeing, and I did not speak out. Then they came for Sears, and I did not speak out. Then they came for Toys R Us, and I did not speak out. Then they came for Toys R Us, and I did not speak out. Then they came for Red Lobster, and I did not speak out. Then they came for College Football, and I did not speak out.
And now they're coming for youth sports, and there's nobody left to speak for them.
Youth sports used to be a common, civic good that happened to involve scoreboards.
Now it is being treated like a revenue stream that happens to involve children. And when private equity and profit-over-everything investors take over, the incentives don’t gently nudge things in the wrong direction. They put the whole enterprise on a moving walkway that only goes one fuckin way- more fees, more travel, more upsells, less community, less access, less sanity.
If you're anything like me, you're single, childless, and miserable.
But, that means, also like me, you have plenty of friends with kids. You get to see those friends, maybe, once or twice a year. If you're lucky. Not because they're shitty friends. Because they have 6 different sports, spread across 15 different leagues, to shuttle their kids to and fly around the country for.
It's wild.
And somewhere in America right now, a 12-year-old is learning the timeless joys of youth sports: how to hustle, how to lose with dignity, how to high-five a teammate who just struck out. And somewhere else, an adult in a vest is handing that same kid’s parents a lanyard, a QR code, and a cheery reminder that outside food isn’t allowed, filming is restricted, and if you want the highlight package, you can subscribe.
That is not a dystopian exaggeration. It is sadly real life, and the business model knocking on the dugout door.
The New York Times story describes this perfectly through a father named Jon Bash, who has watched his son average roughly 70 games a year over the past decade across school and travel teams.
Like many youth sports fathers, Jon Bash can summon his son’s early baseball career on his phone. There are video clips of Jesse as a boy at summer camps and on a road trip to Cooperstown to play in a tournament in the shadow of the Hall of Fame. They show Jesse’s towering home runs in high school, as well as his many hours in the batting cage.
One of Mr. Bash’s most cherished clips is a video of Aaron Judge’s swing coach extolling Jesse’s work ethic to his own social media followers. His son has averaged 70 games a year over the past decade between school and travel teams. To keep playing, Jesse, 19, took a postgraduate year at a Florida sports academy.The costs of all the training sessions, tournaments and equipment have added up for Mr. Bash, but he has no regrets spending money chasing his son’s baseball dreams.
“He’s my only child, and like most parents, you want to do anything you can for your kid,” said Mr. Bash, who runs a diner on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
It’s no wonder that sports dads like Mr. Bash have caught the attention of Wall Street investors.
The kid is 19 and took a postgraduate year at a Florida sports academy to keep the dream alive.
The private equity titans Josh Harris and David Blitzer are among those who see a big opportunity. Over the past three years, Mr. Harris and Mr. Blitzer used money from their family foundations to start Unrivaled Sports, which has been buying baseball camps, flag football fields and youth leagues to assemble one of the largest collections of youth sports properties in the country. One of their acquisitions is a baseball complex in Cooperstown where 12-year-old ball players flock every summer, as a sort of rite of passage.
Investors see the same thing. Josh Harris and David Blitzer have built Unrivaled Sports by buying up camps, fields, and leagues, including a baseball complex in Cooperstown that functions as a kind of childhood rite of passage. They describe themselves as being “in the early innings,” with the ambition “to build the most trusted, expansive and impactful youth sports platform in the country.”
In the language of private equity, “trusted” often means “dominant,” and “platform” often means “we can raise prices because where else are you going to go?”
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The Times cites the youth sports industry generating about $40 billion in annual revenue and notes that the average U.S. sports family spent $1,016 on its child’s primary sport in 2024, up 46 percent since 2019.
I'm not going to lie. I know I'm out of the loop on this stuff, having not played youth sports in 25 years, and not having a kid who plays, but never in my wildest dreams did I think the costs to do so since my annual $65 little league registration have ballooned into the 4 figure range.
Reading all of this, talking to my friends who cart their kids all over the place for travel tournaments every weekend, and it can't help but feel like we are at the beginning of a toll road.
And once you build a toll road through childhood, you start adding exits. Tournament entry fees. Facility fees. Training sessions. “Elite” camps. Extra uniforms that mysteriously become mandatory. The Times gives a crisp example at the Ripken Experience in Maryland, where teams pay $3,145 to enter four-day tournaments.
Then you stack lodging (rooms at $300-plus a night), meals, gas, tolls, and the little “excursions” that become part of the package.
It is not hard for a family to feel like they’re paying for a Disney vacation, except the characters are umpire crews and the lines are for batting cages.
According to this times piece, and this Vice one that was very similar, here’s the daily-life vignette that’s becoming the new normal. A local coach wants to keep the season affordable, so he tries to enter a nearby tournament and schedule games on public fields. But the “best exposure” is now attached to a privately owned complex with better streaming, better replicas, better branding. The parents start whispering- If we don’t go, are we falling behind? The coach caves. The team goes. The cost becomes the cost. Next year, it goes up, because it can.
I grew up right before the AAU era hit escape velocity.
My sports life was basically a straight line through normal institutions: the all-town league, school leagues, the local stuff that ran on donated time and whatever equipment didn’t fall apart. In middle school, I played CYO basketball, so I’m not pretending it was all sandlot purity. We’d go Saturdays and Sundays, bouncing around the Catholic schools of Worcester county and playing a game or two a weekend. As a kid, that felt like being on tour. Looking back, it was still the amateur version of chaos.
The fields told you everything you needed to know.
We had one really good Little League field out of ten. 9 were full of burnt grass outfields and gravel infields. But that one nice one was so nice.
It was reserved for night games and the championship. Playing on it felt like you’d made it to the show.
Now I watch kids play on collegiate-level turf, with manicured warning tracks, dugouts that look like they were built for a Division I program, and maintenance that would make a grounds crew weep with joy.
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Big-money operators, including Josh Harris and David Blitzer, have been buying up camps, complexes, and leagues through a platform called Unrivaled Sports, with the stated aim to build “the most trusted, expansive and impactful youth sports platform in the country.”
That is corporate language for consolidation. Build the platform, control the calendar, control the fields, control the fees.
The Times quotes sports researcher Tom Farrey with the kind of line that might as well be engraved on a private equity prospectus- “Money chases money,” and parents “will spend money they don’t have.” (How fucking diabolical of a business motto is that?)
And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the parents are to blame at all. I'd be the same way. There is no end I wouldn't go to if I had a kid. So that’s not a moral judgment on parents. It’s a fact about the panic economy of parenting today. If parents believe their kid’s future is even partly on the other side of “one more tournament,” then they are vulnerable to anyone selling that “one more tournament.”
From reading these articles, modern youth sports does not feel expensive because the parents are soft. It feels expensive because it is designed to be expensive.
And I have seen it in my own orbit. My friend and business partner Bobby has two daughters who are very good volleyball players. They play in a few travel leagues in Ohio. I try to hit a few tournaments a year, and every time, it feels like the thing has leveled up again. The Chicago one at McCormick Place every April is the best example. It’s absoluetly enormous, with what looks like an endless grid of courts. There has to be no joke close to 600 or 700 teams.
And its professional an operation as you'll find. The refs are legit. The games are streamed. Families book hotels. The whole weekend turns into a mini economy.
And yeah, parents live it up and party. That’s a different blog. But the underlying reality is dead serious: thousands of dollars just to participate, then more money to compete properly, then more money to chase the next tier of “exposure.” You can love the sport and still recognize the money trap.
NPR recently covered this same suject, and shed light on a wild story that tells you exactly where this goes when the profit motive is allowed to run wild- parents being told they can’t record their own kids’ games because corporate-owned facilities have installed cameras and charge subscription fees for access.
Yah, no joke.
In the segment, Senator Chris Murphy describes being warned that if he livestreamed his child’s hockey game, the team would be penalized in the standings.
The investigative reporter Luke Goldstein, discussing his reporting, says what he found wasn’t isolated to hockey. At numerous facilities, “you’re not allowed…to record your own kids’ games,” and you’re offered a paid package instead.
That is so insanely bonkers I don't even know where to begin.
The good news, is believe it or not, Washington D.C. is actually out, somewhat, in front of this one. They actually had a hearing on Capitol Hill about this very subject last week -
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Education Workforce dot House dot Gov - Kiley Holds Hearing on the Crisis in American Youth Sports
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 16, 2025
Today, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) delivered the following statement, as prepared for delivery, at a hearing titled "Benched: The Crisis in American Youth Sports and Its Cost to Our Future":
"For generations, sports have served an important role in building the character of America’s youth, keeping kids active, and teaching important lessons in perseverance, discipline, and teamwork.
"Today, fewer kids are getting those foundational skills from youth sports. Seventy percent of children now quit organized sports by age 13. This decline will have a negative effect on children’s long-term development and broader economic and societal consequences for the nation.
"Part of the decline stems from the increased commercialization of youth sports. In 2024, the average U.S. sports family spent more than $1,000 on its child’s primary sport, a 46 percent increase since 2019. In total, the youth sports industry generates more than $40 billion in annual revenue, but this revenue comes at a steep cost to families.
"Parents are told that only year-round travel teams, private coaching, and early specialization will keep their child competitive—and maybe even earn them a scholarship. That false promise has created a spending surge that prices out the average family while pushing kids as young as eight into high-cost, high-pressure programs that simply aren’t necessary for long-term development. Private equity firms are now pouring billions into youth sports facilities, tournaments, and leagues, further fueling exorbitant spending.
"As programs get more expensive, fewer kids have access to affordable opportunities in their own communities to learn important life skills and try new things. This leaves millions of kids losing the very benefits sports are supposed to deliver. Inactive youth feel negatively about themselves at nearly double the rate of youth who are active.
"The broader consequences of declining participation are stark. Today, one in three youth ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese. Medical expenses associated with obesity alone cost taxpayers $173 billion a year, with lifetime costs for today’s obese youth projected to exceed a trillion dollars.
"Meanwhile, on average children spend nearly 8 hours a day on screens and for kids who do not participate in extracurricular activities it is roughly 2 additional hours every day. Excessive screen time is linked to obesity, depression, anxiety, and reduced self-esteem.
"What we are witnessing is more than a drop in sports participation—it is the loss of one of the most effective tools we have to combat rising isolation and mental health challenges in our children. When children lose regular, in-person team activities, they lose daily opportunities to build confidence, belonging, and real-world social connection.
"Here is the good news: We already have a national target to turn this around. The Healthy People 2030 goal, administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, calls for 63 percent youth sports participation by 2030. It’s the first-ever national benchmark to promote physical activity and child development for America’s youth. Achieving it would require about 3 million more kids to participate in sports and would result in $80 billion in savings from reduced medical costs and lost productivity, plus millions of additional quality years of life for America’s youth.
"That is why we are here today: to shine a national spotlight on youth sports, the critical role they play in America’s future, and how increasing participation can save billions in health care costs and improve millions of lives."
Private equity proponents (yah, they actually exist), and losers love to argue that “nobody is forcing you.”
That’s technically true in the same way nobody is forcing you to own a smartphone. It’s just that the world gets built around it and suddenly you’re the weird outcast for not playing along.
Youth sports used to be one of the few places where kids from different backgrounds mixed in a normal, everyday way. A public field or a school gym. A coach who was somebody’s uncle. You didn’t have to be wealthy to have a uniform and a role. But those days seem like they're long gone now.
That “one good field” from my childhood wasn’t great just because the grass was taken care of better.
It was great because it meant something. It was the prize we earned together.
Now, when everything is premium all the time, the meaning evaporates and the pressure replaces it. If the facilities are pro-level, then the expectations becomes pro-level too. The costs becomes pro-level. Same with the intensity levels.
And as we all know, private equity does not do moderation. It does growth and only growth.
That equals year round schedules, tournaments every weekend.
PE has essentially found a way to turn kids childhoods into a subscription model now. And we can't really be that surprised when you see studies like the following-
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