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The increasing cost of youth sports programs is now getting scrutiny at the legislative level as two elected representatives have begun calling out what they see as unnecessarily high fees.
According to Youth Sports Business Report, Congressman Christian Menefee (D-Texas) and Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) have cited the fact that across five years, family on sports spending has gone up astronomically.
The average U.S. sports family spent $1,016 on a child’s primary sport in 2024, a 46 percent increase from 2019, according to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play survey.
Menefee describes today’s youth sports model as a “professionalization of the industry” that prices out many families who do not have excess amounts of disposable income.
Menefee isn’t alone in his concerns. In a March Instagram post, Senator Cory Booker connected rising costs to industry consolidation.
“It’s now a $40 billion industry and private equity is swooping in,” Booker said. “Parents are getting squeezed, equipment, uniform, travel, tournament fees, hotels, and more… Congress needs to be more aggressive and fund youth sports in our country.”
While there is no act, bill or other legislation on the books at the moment, the remarks have gotten attention.
"I think it's important that Congress, the role that we got to play is to make sure that we're putting money into afterschool programs," Menefee said. "To make sure that we're putting money into community organizations that can be able to put that money where families can use it so that their kids can learn not just the game that they're playing, but the camaraderie, the discipline, the approach to teamwork that comes with playing the sports."
Legislators aren’t the ones complaining about costs. In Chron, sports editor Eddie Maisonet notes, “Taking into account additional sports, the average family paid nearly $1,500 annually for one child's sports experiences in 2024. I can personally attest that between soccer, martial arts, swimming and tee-ball, our four-year-old's tab is already north of $2,000.”
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has long promoted the importance of students becoming involved in high school sports, which according to executive director Karissa Niehoff, brings plenty of their own rewards, in addition to costing less.
“Kids who are involved do better academically and when they show up in class and they are wearing their jersey, they know they matter in that school. Those kids tend to become connected to other opportunities. People stop them in the hall and say, “Hey, great game!” or they get an award from the local Rotary Club – or anything else, really – and they feel like they can do great things in life. When they get out into the corporate world, they become meaningful coaches and leaders, and it’s all things that were contingent upon the leadership and culture of their high school experience.”
Booker and Menefee are talking about encouraging investment in after-school programs and rec leagues; however, the outrage they direct at the cost of travel sports shows they are trying to conflate two different things — which have nothing to do with one another.
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to legislate the costs of elite programs such as travel sports which are independent enterprises.
Change could be driven more effectively at the local level if elected officials take a page from Menefee’s playbook.
Youth Sports Business Report notes, “He helped revive a defunct Little League in Houston’s Third Ward, where his wife Kaitlyn, a commercial lawyer, helps lead the board. The league launched its first season in 2026 at full capacity with 125 registered children, chartered under Little League International. Registration cost $200 for the spring season, well below typical competitive-league pricing.”
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