An Alabama state legislator and some other heavy hitters are pushing to establish a youth sports study group in the Yellowhammer State.
The Alabama Commission on Youth Sports would be different from Massachusetts’ proposed youth sports governing body and California’s Youth Sports For All Act, which established a state-funded study commission.
The commission would need to be established via legislation or an executive order from the governor. But once stood up it would have “no staff, no standing budget, no regulatory enforcement power,” according to State Rep. David Faulkner (R-Mountain Brook), with unpaid members acting in advisory roles.
The commission would focus on increased participation -- specifically in rural counties -- as well as athlete safety and "keeping the money youth sports generates here in Alabama." Its scope would be ages 14 and under; the AHSAA’s oversight of high school sports in the state would not be impacted.
The concept was first pitched in a white paper published earlier this summer by Dr. Darin White of Samford University’s Center for Sports Analytics and Sports Industry Program.
The paper was in partnership with the Coach Safely Foundation and the Andrews Research and Education Foundation, which is helmed by famed Birmingham-based surgeon Dr. James Andrews.
While the commission would not be a government body, it would likely be political to some extent.
A contingent of commission advocates and lawmakers including recently visited Washington and met with Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL). And the white paper says the commission would “position the next Governor of Alabama ... to become the national leader on an issue that touches the lives of nearly every family in the state."
Former Auburn football coach and current Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is the favorite to be elected governor later this fall. He has been very involved in Capitol Hill’s college sports debates.
While the pitch right now may be that this is not another government body, some of the ambitions and goals laid out in the white paper would probably require some sort of regulatory heft to be achieved.
Case in point: The emphasis on economic value flowing out of the state through outside partners that work with parks and rec organizations and that "online service providers that manage scheduling, registration, and payment processing for youth sports organizations also collect significant revenue from Alabama families."
“Without a coordinating body at the state level, there is no mechanism to ensure that the economic activity generated on public property benefits the communities that provide the facilities, the coaches, and the children,” the paper states.
Along those lines: It sounds like youth sports venues would be a focus, both in terms of building them and ensuring that Alabama residents benefit more from them. Reporting on the commission proposal included an interview with a facility owner who said out-of-state demand has made it costlier and more difficult for locals to utilize complexes.
This feels like a state-level money grab more than improving sport participation and safety in Alabama.
Why?
The press release focuses on the money leaving the state. The line about out-of-state registration platforms benefitting from family spend is absurd— the press release was 64% written by AI, according to Pangram, and likely on a device designed in California and assembled in China. Tech value leaves almost all states, all the time— youth sports isn’t unique there.
Alabama says it is trying to form a coalition to figure out how to pull money from the proposed Youth Sports Facilities Act, which makes available economic development funds for, well, youth sports facilities and is heavily rooted in tourism economics.
The irony, of course, is that out-of-state demand bemoaned by at least one facility owner here would increase in this scenario.
Go Deeper: Governments trying to address youth sports accessibility and affordability often step right into the exact dynamic most responsible for driving up cost in the first place: out-of-state travel. I can’t tell if this is accidental or on purpose. Every state and town in America is rightfully happy to earn the tourism spend that comes from building facilities, but it’s this very proliferation which drives up costs for all. I’m a capitalist and don’t take a moral stance here, but it’s fighting fire with fire.
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