A small number of private equity firms control most of the facilities, leagues, tournaments, recruitment events, and competitive youth sports infrastructure that parents invest in because they think the programs will help their children earn an athletic scholarship, federal lawmakers were told this week.
She said Black Bear Sports Group, 3STEP Sports, and Varsity Brands engage in predatory business practices in which customers are led to believe that their child will be among the 2 percent of students in the country who earn athletic scholarships.
“Families are going into debt, and it’s based on a lie,” Van Dyck said. “They have to make those promises to justify the high costs that they are charging these families.”
She asked legislators to bolster federal antitrust laws and prosecutions to break up the competitive youth sports monopoly.
She cited examples in which a firm that owns ice rinks gives its youth hockey programs preferred practice and game times while also running the ranking system and tournaments that generate the most exposure.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), who initiated the hearing, said 70 percent of children quit organized sports by age 13, while the parents of those who do stick with it are increasingly lured into competitive travel clubs and spend more than $1,000 on program fees alone.
Kiley endorses an initiative to increase the number of children participating in youth sports, regardless of whether it’s at the recreational or competitive level, by 63 percent, or 3 million kids, by 2030.
This will also save the nation about $80 billion in medical costs linked to childhood obesity, he said.
Other witnesses and lawmakers provided examples in which companies recruited children but then lost interest when parents said their child plays multiple sports.
They talked about exorbitant uniform and travel costs beyond the $1,500 annual “tuitions,” plus add-ons such as individual coaching sessions, streaming services to access game footage, and software for marketing players to college coaches.
Community-based sports programs, run by local volunteer groups or local governments, were decimated during the Great Recession of 2008; recreation is one of the first things for both families and municipalities when money is tight.
Over time, for-profit pay-to-play entities consolidated and filled the void, and now it’s difficult for nonprofit recreational sports programs to compete without the facilities, coaches, and players needed to sustain affordable local leagues, according to Van Dyck.
“Trapped families have no choice but to pay,” she said.
“Our children deserve better than a childhood for sale to the highest bidder. They deserve a place where they can learn the importance of teamwork, fair play, and perseverance.
“They deserve an environment where sports are about joy, not profit extraction. And they deserve opportunities that are affordable.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to Black Bear Sports Group, 3STEP Sports, and Varsity Brands for comment.
