Participating in sports is seen as a staple in the American childhood experience and early childhood development. Playing sports at a young age keeps kids active and helps develop their gross motor skills. It also teaches them how to be comfortable socializing and collaborating in a group environment. While plenty of kids grow out of playing sports, many stick with it throughout their entire childhood and even into adulthood. Regardless of how long one may continue playing, the skills and benefits gained can last a lifetime. The concept and practice of youth sports is almost seen as a cultural commodity. The organization of local, grassroots youth sports leagues is viewed as a service to the community. Historically, it gave parents the opportunity to offer their children a third space away from school and home. It allowed for the fostering of relationships with other kids and the platform to express themselves. To top it off, these local leagues were typically funded by the public through taxes, donations, and fundraisers, making it cost-effective and accessible for many low-income families. This was part of the beauty of youth sports. However, in a country plagued by late-stage capitalism, that beauty seems to be fading. Private equity firms around the country seem to have their sights set on youth sports. They view youth sports as an untapped well that needs to be extracted from. 

As the years have gone by, the cost of putting their children in sports has risen quickly. As stated previously, the origins of youth sports allowed parents across all tax brackets to give their children an outlet outside the home and school. The recreational nature of traditional youth sports meant that kids of all skill levels could participate. Recreational sports are a gateway for kids to explore different sports, allowing them to experience the competitive nature of each while also fostering a fun environment. For the kids who had a more competitive nature and wanted to take a certain sport more seriously, there are more exclusive outlets. There are AAU circuits for basketball and travel clubs for baseball and soccer. These options are a leg up from grassroots, recreational sports. It’s not a sign-up and play format. Teams that compete in these mediums have limited spots and require extensive tryouts to even make the team. If a kid is fortunate to make the team, that’s only the beginning. These teams travel around the country, competing in national tournaments. The cost of gear and travel usually falls on the parents. That doesn’t account for the fact that most teams require a handsome fee from the parents just for their kid to be on the team. 

The expenses don’t stop there. Many parents even pay for additional, private coaching to keep their kids competitive at this level. On top of that, a much larger time commitment is required from the parents in order to keep everything in check. Practices are more frequent, and travel to games often requires a plane or a road trip. Long story short, the amount of money and time spent at this level of youth sports is a lot for most people; for many, it’s too much. In the past, this wasn’t a huge issue because parents had options depending on their budget and time commitment. They had the option to place their kids in recreational or travel sports. It also gave kids the opportunity to decide how seriously they wanted to take a certain sport. Now, many families feel as if the recreational options are being stripped away in favor of more expensive, competitive alternatives. For the parents and the kids, it’s either all in or nothing.

The System is Working as Intended

The amount of money parents spend on their kids at the highest level of youth sports has not gone unnoticed by private equity. According to Joe Drape and Ken Belson of the New York Times, “The average sports family spent $1,016 on its child’s primary sport last year, 46% more than in 2019” (Drape, Belson 2025). Private equity has a playbook that they’ve stuck to for decades. The primary objective of private equity firms is to accumulate as many assets as possible, then extract as much capital out of said assets before killing off the assets entirely. They practice this across multiple industries: housing, restaurants, and even healthcare. To please investors, costs are cut wherever possible, nickel and diming patrons at every corner, while also raising the prices of already existing goods and amenities. This is done until the business is no longer sustainable; then the business is closed or shut down before it eats into profit margins.

This playbook is already being put to use in youth sports. An extreme example is already being practiced in the world of hockey regarding parents filming their own kids. Since the inception of the home video camera and especially the smartphone, filming your kids throughout their childhood is almost an essential part of being a parent these days. Now, imagine being told you aren’t allowed to film your own kids. Instead, you must pay for a subscription service owned by the same company that owns the facility. As it turns out, that’s exactly what is happening. 

Luke Goldstein of The Lever did a more extensive dive into the situation involving a specific company, Black Bear Sports Group. “Black Bear Sports Group, an emerging youth hockey empire and the largest owner-operator of hockey rinks in the country, is among the private equity-backed companies that are amassing a chokehold on recording and streaming youth sports. At Black Bear-owned ice rinks, parents cannot record, post, or livestream their kids’ hockey games online “per official company policy,” according to staff at those venues. Some rink attendants said they will confiscate attendees’ recording devices if they find them,” (Goldstein 2025). Hockey is already an inaccessible sport for most kids to play because of the cost. Compounding the high entry cost with charging parents to have memories of their own kids is dystopian.

Private equity has also begun buying local leagues or buying the facilities and fields these local leagues use, charging them more in rent, which in turn forces the increase of the price of registration fees just to stay afloat; inevitably pricing even more families and robbing children of a pivotal part of their childhood. 

In today’s economy, essentials are becoming increasingly expensive, while wages have stagnated, leaving less disposable income for extracurriculars. The barrier to entry is only getting steeper, and the cost of equipment is keeping many from signing their kids up for sports. It’s honestly a real shame to witness because while this outcome has been building up for a while, it feels as if this change in landscape has snuck up on us. The importance of youth sports should not be lost to us, and as someone who grew up playing sports their entire childhood, I felt it appropriate to interview my own mom, Natalee Hartwell, who made it an emphasis to put my brother and me in sports at a young age. 

For context, my parents signed me up for soccer at four years old, and growing up primarily in SoCal suburbs, recreational youth sports leagues were a dime a dozen. I opened by asking why they emphasized sports in the first place. “Whether you were girls or boys, we were going to put you into sports as early as possible, figuring that the sooner you were in sports, the busier you’d be, the less trouble you’d get into, and it’d enable you to socialize with other kids”(Hartwell 2026). Both my parents also grew up playing sports, so their reasoning came with personal experience. My mom also touched on sports being a healthy form of self-expression for kids, and it’s important to introduce them to sports, even if they don’t stick with it. 

However, for the kids who do stick with it, parents need to be careful when it comes to the kind of support they lend to their kids. My younger brother picked basketball as his primary sport pretty quickly. He went as far as playing in travel AAU tournaments and playing in high school. My mom noted that there is a big jump from rec to travel, and as stated before, it starts financially. I wanted to get an idea of what she thought about when making that jump and if she had any advice for parents doing the same. “I would say, be careful. I’m still on the fence about private coaching for young kids. Going all in on your kid’s sport is fine in principle, but the increase in cost and time commitment is a lot. It can be stressful, and it’s normal to want to push your kids, but it’s vital that you don’t make them feel like a burden because of all the money you’ve spent. That’s why I was grateful for the Boys and Girls Club. I’ve seen parents take their kids’ sports way too seriously, and I have yet to meet someone who went all in on their kid’s sport at a young age, and their kid didn’t get burnt out by high school” (Hartwell 2026). This eventual burnout is normal and can come naturally, but it can be greatly accelerated by eliminating the core values of youth sports.

What Private Equity Wants People to Ignore is that They are Capitalizing on a Parent’s Love for Their Child 

While parents are spending all this money believing they are investing in their kids’ athletic future, they are really just lining the pockets of shareholders.

Recreational youth sports are being killed by private equity in the name of profit. Parents have no choice but to go all in, and many can’t afford to do so. Many kids are already priced out of youth sports, and the ones who are fortunate enough to play are losing the choice of playing just for fun. Eliminating freedom of choice is a staple in the private equity playbook. 

The question now is, what can we do? Well, Loren Anderson offers several solutions in his Substack article titled “The Financial Engineering of Childhood: How Private Equity is Weaponizing Youth Sports.” Anderson calls for bringing youth sports back to its roots; being community-oriented. The number-one source for private equity is paying customers. We need to go back to supporting local clubs and organizations. “When you pay that local club, your money stays in your community. The owner lives down the street, not in a Manhattan penthouse. The coaches are invested in your kids because they’ll see them at the grocery store, not because a corporate handbook tells them to smile” (Anderson 2025). Many parents are waking up to this new reality, and lots of them are finding out the hard way. Telling their children that they can’t afford to register for sports is a situation that is becoming increasingly common. It’s important that parents seek out other like-minded individuals or parents in similar situations. Find and organize with these community members. Create free, youth-oriented spaces at local parks and rec centers. Spread the word about locally owned leagues and actively choose those local options over privately owned, corporate alternatives.

Use your voice. Advocate for public investment in youth sports facilities. Your wallet is also part of your voice. Make sure to keep spending locally wherever possible and send a message to these private equity firms: our children’s childhood is not just another asset to be commercialized and extracted from.