Greg did I miss something? If you hate travel ball so much why are your kids doing it? Are their bad things about travel ball, sure but I would rather have my son busy with baseball than setting in his room playing video games like way to many kids these days. My son started travel ball at 11. Our family vacations for the most part are during and after a tournament. We have some amazing memories around the game And the places it has taken us. Our family is a baseball family so to us it's not a sacrifice it's fun family time. If your son or daughter doesn't like it then don't make them play. Rec ball should be for rec players, the ones i feel sorry for are the rec talent players trying to play travel ball. Kids should play the level they will enjoy the most. My son always wanted to play against the best so we let him play at a high level. Baseball teaches more life lessons than anything I know while still having fun. And yes my son and I also find time to hunt and fish.
My girl was scoring 3-4 goals every game, there's no competition left in rec, it wasn't fair to the other players for her team to win every game. My boy's LL coach last fall asked to him to only throw change ups because it wasn't fair to the rest of the boys. Every at bat was a triple or HR.
There is your answer. It's not "fair" so they try to make it "fair" and people leave.
No, I'm saying I had no choice if my kids wanted to play sports but to pay through the nose and spend every weekend in a camping chair because people have turned kids sports into a business. Look, you can't be a gymnast now if you don't start tumbling at age 3, by age 13 your over the hill. It's ridiculous, my daughter's soccer uniform bill was $650. They have 2 sets of practice jerseys, really? Come on, think for a minute, is this a good thing? i want my kids to play and have fun, if they are good enough to play HS and beyond, great, but pushing this hard is not the right thing to do. Little League is 501c for a reason, it was started with kid's best interests in mind. Travel ball is not about kid's best interests, it's about money.
So that little thing on ESPN/ABC this week -- the LL world series -- isn't about money?
Sorry, but in most cases travel ball is not about money. No coaches I know can make a full time living from it. Some of the academy teams try, but they aren't getting rich. Umps at $60-$70/game -- nope, not getting rich. The tournament people may get lucky and make a little money, but there are a lot of unforeseen costs when weather is taken into account. The only guys who are making money are the bat people -- Easton ($500 mako) et. al. 
You could have stayed at the rec. level but did not. I agree with others. Your kids seem to be in the wrong programs. In my experience, there is an inverse relationship between uniforms and quality of play. The teams that get off the bus with the fancy uniforms, bags, etc. usually stink. The guys I am worried about have a hat, a basic pair of pants and an UA shirt with a number on the back. They put their money on the field and usually kick butt.
I wasn't talking about the LL World Series. I was talking about your average American LL. I reviewed the budgets on the board for which I served. I know what they took in and what it costs to run a league. Spring season was $135 last year. Travel ball is 7-10 times more than that on average. You are being argumentative. And,I didn't say the coaches or umps were making money, but the people who run the large clubs ARE. I also know a guy who ran one and I know how much he made.