I tried to stay away from this topic.....
Welcome to the travel ball world.
From our recent experience, most ALL showcase or tournament events that keewartson's team atttends/attended (ie Braves/D1Draftable, Canes/Dynamic Baseball, Dirtbags/Impact Baseball, and others):
1) Charge gate fees, usually $10-25/pp for all games at the event. I remember not that long ago balking at $5. The PG WWBA week-long event was $50 for 7 games.
2) Teams play at least one game at "the main venue" such as a college campus and all other games are played at off-site fields such as high schools. This is typical. Sometimes the off-site fields are 45-60 minutes away from the campus. This is typical. Coaches will come out to see talent.
3) Most organizations started out with one very competitive team, many years ago, before the travel ball boom. You tried out for the team. Once 'they' figured out that there were lots of kids that wanted to play ball, and the parents were willing to pay for their child to play ball, teams were formed at all age groups, then later multiple teams at each age group. Now all over the country you see blue, red, white, camo, gold, national, american, west, east, north, south, etc teams. This is not a bad thing, you just need to know it is a business.
4) I am not sure of the age group your son plays, but most teams at the upper age groups are not instructional. You get your hitting, fielding, pitching instruction elsewhere. Some teams provide instruction, but the players mostly live nearby. MANY (most!) teams are formed with talented players that do not live in the same local.
5) The prices you were charged were in line with what we paid yearly for keewartson's prior teams, paid on a monthly basis. This included part of the uniform (jersey/hat) and maybe some group instruction at the beginning of the season. I think it is becoming common knowledge that the younger teams support the older teams, mostly by charging all teams the same price, however,the older team's events may cost more, or are provided at no charge. We have heard that it rewards the older players.
6) The talented teams naturally draw the college coaches. It is up to the PLAYER to provide college coaches with his team's schedule. Otherwise, how will the coaches know to show up? And who to look for?
7) As with any other 'purchase', it is buyer beware. Talk to other parents if you can. Rarely do you hear complaints from the parents of players on the "top tier" team. If you need to, change teams. You read it all the time on this site, "play on the best team you can" and still get playing time. The landscape of travel ball (coaches, team, organization) can change quickly.