{"id":4044,"date":"2026-08-23T10:03:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4044"},"modified":"2026-08-23T10:03:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:03:36","slug":"pay-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4044","title":{"rendered":"Pay to Play"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…<\/strong><\/div>\n
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The Denver Post investigates the economics of American youth sports \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

The youth sports industry generates over $40 billion annually, according to a 2024 Aspen Institute survey \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Read The Post\u2019s Pay to Play series here:<\/p>\n

Part I: Booming $40B youth sports industry has Colorado families spending thousands for fear of missing out<\/h2>\n

Vinny Amorosa\u2019s rise as a budding wrestling star left his father, Joe, wrestling with his approach to the sport\u2014 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 \u201ca fear-of-missing-out gig.\u201d Read more \u25ba<\/em><\/p>\n

Part II: How the youth sports industrial complex has widened the opportunity gap and diluted the neighborhood team<\/h2>\n

Travel sports have created an economic gulf between families who can pay and those who can\u2019t. 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 \u25ba<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more PHOTOS: 9th annual Swim Across America \u2013 Denver<\/a><\/p>\n

Part III: Youth sports costs are skyrocketing. Some Colorado parents and kids say \u2018it\u2019s worth every dime.\u2019<\/h2>\n

Nate Brandt is spending roughly $50,000 this year on club baseball for his two sons \u2014 and says he\u2019ll 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 \u25ba<\/em><\/p>\n

Part IV: Coach: Youth sports have been irreversibly changed by money and expectations, but they\u2019re still great
\n<\/h2>\n

Sportswriter Kyle Newman reflects on watching his own son\u2019s unguarded joy in backyard wiffle ball against the pressure of real games. Newman sits with the contradiction the whole series has circled \u2014 old-school sweat equity versus present-day FOMO \u2014 and lands on cautious optimism: 55% of American youth, and 65% in Colorado, play organized sports. Read more \u25ba<\/em><\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Federal Boulevard reopens after motorcycle crash seriously injures one<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Read more Colorado man arrested in suspected vandalism \u2018became unresponsive\u2019 after police confrontation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Denver Post’s investigates the cost of youth sports, travel teams and club fees in Colorado and the rest of the U.S. in this four-part special report by Kyle Newman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nPay to Play - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pay to Play - Colorado Springs Moverss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Denver Post's investigates the cost of youth sports, travel teams and club fees in Colorado and the rest of the U.S. in this four-part special report by Kyle Newman.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colorado Springs Moverss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-23T10:03:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=4044#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=4044\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4857af3bff7f66cee0c97667a8e70c1c\"},\"headline\":\"Pay to Play\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-23T10:03:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=4044\"},\"wordCount\":537,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=4044#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/fed493954869de1a716709f2080cd2e2-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=4044#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=4044\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=4044\",\"name\":\"Pay to Play - 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