An article regarding the excessive fees parents are paying for their kids sports.
All whilst experts are wanting people to exercise more in the face of the growing obesity problems.
I made some inquiries some time ago about the increasing costs of participating in sport. The answer was overwhelmingly two things.
- Insurance. Clubs have to insure participants nowdays and the cost of that is skyrocketing. Then,
- Membership of the umbrella organisation. The ‘peak’ controlling bodies are also asking for more and more from the clubs.
In the end, many of the clubs don’t get to keep much of that revenue…
The general club marketing used to be that the senior and professional side of each sport was subsidising the junior sport as part of brand building and player pool development. IE “giving back” to the young players and their supporters to help build a healthy sport.
The current circumstance, I noted this recent list of one clubs fees excluding extras
https://www.loganlightningfc.com/wspJuniorFees.aspx
confirms the ABC view.
How wrong is it that professional players live on contracts worth many times average earnings? The boards and administrators of the (not for profit) sports organisations are rewarded through renumeration as though they are running a profit driven business a ove all else. They arguably are!
Should all these professional sporting bodies be stripped of “ not for profit status” if they are not reinvesting the greater majority of funds and profits in the players who pay to play? If they don’t exist primarily for the benefit of the majority of the sports active participants, where is the justification for any special community consideration?
Tip of the iceberg.
