The Denver Post investigates the economics of American youth sports — from the fear of missing out that drives families to spend tens of thousands of dollars a year, to who gets left behind, to what the system gets right and whether the all-in pursuit of athletic excellence at such a young age is worth it.
The youth sports industry generates over $40 billion annually, according to a 2024 Aspen Institute survey — a figure expected to reach around $70 billion by 2030. A separate 2024 Harris Poll found that 75% of sports parents have strongly considered pulling their kids out of athletics, with some of those concerns driven by unsustainable costs.
The Denver Post is publishing this four-part series examining the rise of the youth sports industrial complex over the last couple of decades and its specific impact on youth sports in Colorado. The Post spoke with over four dozen local youth sports stakeholders, including coaches, parents, athletes, private trainers, and club directors, as well as national experts on the topic.
Read The Post’s Pay to Play series here:
Part I: Booming $40B youth sports industry has Colorado families spending thousands for fear of missing out
Vinny Amorosa’s rise as a budding wrestling star left his father, Joe, wrestling with his approach to the sport— and the roughly $10,000 a year his family spends chasing it. A look at how the pay-to-play model of club sports has turned youth athletics into an enormous commercial venture, underscored by what Amorosa calls “a fear-of-missing-out gig.” Read more ►
Part II: How the youth sports industrial complex has widened the opportunity gap and diluted the neighborhood team
Travel sports have created an economic gulf between families who can pay and those who can’t. The commercialization of youth sports has also hollowed out recreational leagues and burned out athletes while draining the pockets of parents chasing Division I scholarships that are statistical long shots to pan out. Read more ►
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Part III: Youth sports costs are skyrocketing. Some Colorado parents and kids say ‘it’s worth every dime.’
Nate Brandt is spending roughly $50,000 this year on club baseball for his two sons — and says he’ll do it again without hesitation. For some parents and athletes, elite travel teams offer better coaching and structure, faster development and a legitimate opportunity to be recruited. And some parents say the family experiences make the cost worth it, provided the kid actually wants to be there. Read more ►
Part IV: Coach: Youth sports have been irreversibly changed by money and expectations, but they’re still great
Sportswriter Kyle Newman reflects on watching his own son’s unguarded joy in backyard wiffle ball against the pressure of real games. Newman sits with the contradiction the whole series has circled — old-school sweat equity versus present-day FOMO — and lands on cautious optimism: 55% of American youth, and 65% in Colorado, play organized sports. Read more ►
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