Correct. And the article I posted notes: "The NHL audience is the richest of all professional sports. One-third of its viewers make more than $100k, compared to about 19 percent of the general population."
I personally don't think that is the right direction for baseball to head.
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The article is..... skewed a bit. The costs are relative to geographic location. The more rinks, the more hockey, the more reasonable the cost. To play hockey in California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Atlanta and Florida will cost an enormous amount of money, thus the wealthy families are involved. I will say, there's nothing like the sight of lil junior dragging his equipment bag over the side of the new S550 after "Dallas hockey mom" pops the trunk, while sitting comfortably in the drivers seat doing her nails!
They are the minority in overall numbers. A majority of USAH players are in the northeast, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois (Chicago and surrounding suburbs). The northern most players seldom travel over 30-40 minutes to play, even at the high school level. At the tier 1 level, everyone travels to play the top programs, which happen to be in the north.
Move a little further north, where those teams formed in unconventional markets must travel to play good competition! Hockey is not cheap in most places but it certainly does not leave players behind in the northern most states due to cost. Hockey in Minnesota and Wisconsin is typically between $400-$1,000 per season, depending on number of participants in the area. In many places ice is free or subsidized by the municipality.
The families I know from hockey come from humble backgrounds, they're linemen, pipefitters, carpenters, window washers, electricians and entrepreneurs of all kinds.
This is no different than a kid from Kansas attempting to gain exposure to a PG event. The closest event is Cedar Rapids but the big events are at Lakepoint. PG isn't in Kansas, so the kid has to go to where they are, and there are costs involved.