More Media Scrutiny Of Youth Sports Industry

Three things:

1) People need to actually read the Let Kids Play Act. Both the FC and NYM stories suggest the bill targets conduct rather than corporate structure; the NYM piece inaccurately writes that LKPA “would require any investors in youth-sport companies with below-board tactics — junk fees and binding contracts, for instance — to divest over a two-year period.”

Again: LKPA would automatically label all private equity as a “vulture investor” and ban it from the industry, regardless of conduct. The bill also clearly defines “covered parties” as private equity. Non-PE entities are not impacted by the bill. In our interview with bill co-sponsor Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), the congressman also seemed fuzzy on the distinction between targeting specific practices and an ownership structure. And while the bill mentions PE firms could effectively get a waiver if they prove they have not engaged in specific practices, the mechanism to do so is murky at best.

(This is also the subplot of the federal stay-to-play lawsuit against Team Travel Source that should be getting more industry attention: The plaintiffs are arguing that a non-PE entity is engaging in the conduct, not the PE-backed platforms it partners with.)

2) We now have a good amount of data that indicates average youth sports costs are being inflated by high-end spending and the vast majority of families are not spending tens of thousands of dollars. But these reports never seem to be able to find the parents who are spending a combined $750 for their two kids to play rec sports where the longest trip is to the other side of town. We know they exist!

3) One of the Business Insider essays led with Project Play figures. But the woman goes on to explain that about $1.5K of the $2.3K she spent on her kids was for Boy Scouts, piano lessons and musical theater. It’s another reminder that all activities for kids are rising in cost, but the scrutiny tends to be confined to youth sports.