Including travel, monthly fees, tournament fees and everything else, how much are you guys spending on summer ball? Any estimates are greatly appreciated.
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If you play with an academy team ($$$) and have one big tournament requiring a week far away, while the rest of the tournaments are fairly local, my estimate would be $6000.
$3000 for club fees and uniforms, $2000 for the week away (assuming driving to save on airfare; pre covid you could save by sharing Air BnBs with other families) $1000 for more local tournaments, day use fees, gas, and extra eating out.
It depends on the team. Both my kids played for heavily subsidized teams. Both traveled up and down the east coast. One went to Colorado. The oldest (daughter) was $750 for the summer. This team was subsidized by a very wealthy, elderly softball fan who felt sports are good for girls. The youngest (son) was $1,700. We don’t know where the money came from. We suspected a former MLBer and a MLB franchise.
Average team price is $2200 $3500. Uniforms were $300. Then you add travel cost to tournament if it’s national you travel via plane hotel car rental (1500 a trip or cheaper depending on budget, rewards etc) . If it’s local you drive (food gas etc) think 6 weeks of travel for the summer. It can be reasonable or extra pricy etc. some teams are sponsored some is all out of your pocket.
It can get quite expensive. We’re going to Atlanta twice, South Carolina, Orlando, and Ft Myers. The rest are local. Hotels alone will probably be over $3000.
As RJM mentioned, there are some teams that will pay some of the costs and possibly even the entire cost, including travel. There are even teams that will pay you (your parents) to play on their team.
3K team fees, add on another 2 to 3K for travel expenses. That is just summer. In fairness that is today's going rate for paying for any extra curricular activity.
How much is being spent on training and development vs summer travel games?
IMO, if you are paying these $$$ under the age of 15, you may be over doing it. Save $$$ for the later years and put the savings aside in the baseball fund.
It is according to the future level of play. If you see yourself/your player being recruited nationally then you need to play for a national team which a lot of them now are fully funded which includes motels and food. If you are looking to play locally, no need to play on expensive team. $1,000-1,500. I would not pay the $6,000 to play because either there are better options or you are playing above your level of recruiting. As has been said here a thousand times, know the right pond to be fishing in.
My son's team charged $175 a month for weekly practices and additional fees for tournaments - usually $400 for a week long event in Georgia or AZ, and maybe $200 for a local weekend tournament or LV. All in all if he played a couple tournaments a month in the summer we'd be into it for about $2500 plus travel (at about $3k per week to Georgia or AZ the travel budget dwarfed the baseball expense).
My 2025 will be $2800 for summer fees, instruction, practices, coaches fees, local tournaments/ games. $300 uniform/swag. $1000 surcharge for 3 out of state tournaments/hotels. Then his flights, say $1000. Food? If we go then our costs also... Wait a minute this is completely nuts. That's $5+g. Seriously it is nuts. But he already has D1 talk about him in the travel org as a LHP and big bat.
My 2023 is different. Even more costs as he is in high school but likely D3. Not sure about the value there at all but honestly hard to step off the wheel. These days, with covid, I'm thinking he might need a big travel org vouching for him to get into a decent D3 program.
As an interesting side note, when son was in those years, he played scout ball with a lot of the best talent in Southern and Central California. A bunch of teammates and opponents are now wearing MiLB or MLB uni's. I don't think we spent more than about $500 per season. Many of those players also played with high profile travel orgs but they didn't need to. There were plenty of scouts and RC's there for many of those weekend (mostly single day) events.
@cabbagedad posted:As an interesting side note, when son was in those years, he played scout ball with a lot of the best talent in Southern and Central California. A bunch of teammates and opponents are now wearing MiLB or MLB uni's. I don't think we spent more than about $500 per season. Many of those players also played with high profile travel orgs but they didn't need to. There were plenty of scouts and RC's there for many of those weekend (mostly single day) events.
In addition to the travel program my son also played in a mid week scout league. The team was 100% subsidized. I don’t know about other teams.
@2025prospect posted:Including travel, monthly fees, tournament fees and everything else, how much are you guys spending on summer ball? Any estimates are greatly appreciated.
Not telling you is cheaper than getting a divorce.
Seriously, with an academy team, you're looking at the thousands. Most around me charge about $3K for summer ball. Then travel costs and lodging are on you.
I've seen people writing that academy teams give their A team a free ride while using the other teams to subsidize, and now seeing people writing that their kids' teams are mostly paid for. In the northeast I don't think this is the case (except for the most rarefied teams, or the lucky one that has a rich sponsor). None of the academy teams near me are having A team kids play for free. I am wondering if this is because finding training spaces is so much more expensive in cold-weather states. From what I have seen the (Northeast) dad-coached teams are much cheaper than the academy teams and play more games than the pro-coached teams, with the possible exception being academy teams asociated with tournament facilities (like Diamond Nation or MSI in my neck of the woods). And of course, if your kid is a dude pitcher, you can guest for most teams without paying, or pay less as a PO...
@Fan2024 posted:I've seen people writing that academy teams give their A team a free ride while using the other teams to subsidize, and now seeing people writing that their kids' teams are mostly paid for. In the northeast I don't think this is the case (except for the most rarefied teams, or the lucky one that has a rich sponsor). None of the academy teams near me are having A team kids play for free. I am wondering if this is because finding training spaces is so much more expensive in cold-weather states. From what I have seen the (Northeast) dad-coached teams are much cheaper than the academy teams and play more games than the pro-coached teams, with the possible exception being academy teams asociated with tournament facilities (like Diamond Nation or MSI in my neck of the woods). And of course, if your kid is a dude pitcher, you can guest for most teams without paying, or pay less as a PO...
I ran a dad coached team for 13, 14 and 16u (kids were 15) in ‘06, ‘07 and ‘08. All four of us (coaches) had played college ball. Two played pro. We knew our stuff. It was $600 per summer to play in ten tournaments and a handful of friendlies (doubleheaders). We didn’t calculate travel. Two facilities were within 40 miles. One was 80. It was all day trips. We requested “no 8am games” at the facility 80 miles away.
But when kids are ready for college ball exposure you don’t want to be saving money playing for a daddy coached team. You want your kid on a team with a reputation with the college coaches, and coaches with wide ranging credibility and contacts.
I’ve definitely seen some academy/national teams use their lower teams to pay for the A team. Some didn’t give every A player a free ride, but they took care of the stud players.
When my son was going through the process ten years ago a local facility was known for bringing in name players and throwing their paying customers under the bus. While visiting the facility I saw a couple of names of kids I played college summer ball with the dads. I knew they didn’t live within 400 miles. I called the dads. They were told, “Get your kid there. The rest is on us.” Of course these kids were on the alumni board. They went to Vanderbilt. One spent seven years in the majors, The Upton brothers were also on the board. They lived 250 miles away.
When I saw a HS coach take credit for two players that graduated the year before he got there I stopped using program “alumni” as a deciding factor. I saw his flyer a year later and it was a complete joke. I wanted to warn the new parents he was full of s***.
Facilities have an A and a B team because 26 checks are better than 13. More checks = more money. More money coming your way is better when running a business. That said, yes, without question, some organizations will cut select players on the A team a discount where there is some benefit to having that player in the organization. But, it's not for everyone on the A team, just some, if any.
I find this discounted or free "A team" discussion interesting. My 2025 LHP was offered to be on the club's national travel team but I declined as he is only 14 and having fun with his current teammates. Besides there was going to be 17 players on the roster! There was no offer of a discount during the discussion. But I believe it probably does happen given the discussion here. If he has a big year and makes the jump next year for exposure, how do you think one asks for a discount? I suppose you get some other duck in a row and tell them you are thinking about jumping ship?