When my son played OBA the team was AAA and we played some great teams out of TO, Kitchener etc but Elite ball had not had taken most of the top players at that time . Yes there was a lot of daddy ball but we just ignored it ! Our coach's son was good enough to play and ended up at a D1 college and just finished his PHD in Electrical Engineering !
I found that the OBA was reasonable and cot 2-3 hundred a year plus back then a couple hundred to play district all-star. I understand they no longer have district all-star which were the best players from the 8 Ontario districts. That was a blast !
The Elite teams were $2200 to $8000 back then but we always cut a deal ! To me that is at least 10 times the OBA team we played for but it was worth it in my opinion ! I understand it is watered down a lot now and the costs are ridiculous . I don't know what I would do in todays situation !I certainly would have my son buckle down so he would be noticed no matter where he played if his goal was to play US college ball ! I also recommend doing well in the classroom !