I am new to this board, and it appears that there is good discourse occurring and that perhaps my point of view may be valued.
Clearly it appears that there are grievances by people with the money that seems to be a necessity to spend in the process of getting your son recruited or drafted. I don't have a daughter, but I am sure it is the same in women's sports as well, but we are on a baseball forum and appear to have the ear of the industry leader, so perhaps this feedback will resonate.
What I am hearing on this particular thread is that there are problems with the statistics being input correctly into a system, or lack of knowledge on scorekeepers part in getting this information correct. If that is the case, and there is any potential for that misleading or erroneous information in some way to impact a young athlete's future, I would hope that any financial gains a company may have forecast by doing this is measured against the potential harm (and perhaps financial loss) an athlete could potentially suffer as a result of it being made part of a publicly available record. I'm not a lawyer, but I have to think there is a measure of vulnerability on Perfect Games part here. Again, not a lawyer, but I am pragmatic and risk averse in my profession.
I am not sure who said it above, but it appears the old school days of recruiting and draft included basic corruption (see Adidas and NCAA basketball). Pay the middle man to get looks. I guess I see that the middle man has taken on a different form now. Not that the services provided aren't legitimate or lacking of value, but these services like Headfirst, Showball, Prospectwire, PBR, and Perfect Game all fill the same role: pay for opportunities to be seen and to have your chances improve to get looks. So, the middleman did not go away, he got a business plan, a Tax ID and rich.
Another poster wrote that as parents we have an emotional need to try to provide the most/best opportunities for our children to find success. I agree on this, and if I had a dollar for every dollar I spent on Power Rangers toys and laser tag I would be even mathematically. If I denied my kid those things, I would feel that I cheated them on an emotional level. The creme always rises to the top, easy to discern the best of the best. But that leaves Thousand and Thousand of parents and children to basically battle for the left overs,
I see both sides of this argument, I truly do. I don't blame these companies for seeing a market ripe for the picking and taking advantage of that. But I also don't blame people for getting sick of it, and in turn complaining. It's natural, it's part of life to complain about a boss, a spouse, or a system that takes considerable resources to participate in. I've seen some posts on here chastise those who bring their complaints into this forum. Then I see the discuss evolve and now we are really communicating. We don't all have the same level of disposable income. I have never been to Lakepoint, but I question why a parent has to pay to park and then pay to enter to see their own child participate in a game that they already paid a fairly steep entry fee for. I can understand that criticism, I don't chastise it. Is it necessary to charge these fees? Is it the industry standard? I have no arguments paying to see the Cubs at Wrigley. They are professionals. I do think paying to see my own child someday before they graduate high school, get a license or shave is "piling on."
This is probably not the way to go with my first post, I understand that Perfect Game is a large part of these forums. But I just feel that there is communication occurring and it is being ignored in a regard. College recruiting is out of control, from college camps to showcases and tournaments. You hear more people complaining because more people are over it.