When I first starting coaching (1989), my club charged each player $100. That guaranteed a 36 game regular season schedule at the 17-18 level in the Baltimore Metro League. It also guaranteed one tournament (all expenses paid - we went to Denver the first year), and if we made post-season (AABC, NABF, Dizzy Dean, etc...), player's expenses were paid. Now, here is the catch. We had a sponsor. Mr. John Lopez was a local businessman who took care of the rest of the expenses. He felt like he needed to charge some money so folks felt like they had made an investment. When your money is on the line, you tend to be a little more committed.
Mr. Lopez moved out of the area in 1996, and although he kept providing some financial support, we didn't feel right asking for the same level of support. By that time, our team was more established in the area, our coaching staff had been together for 7 seasons, and we had built a reputation for player development and assisting them to reach their potential to play college baseball. We had also expanded to playing about 36 regular season games, 2-3 in-season tournaments (Orlando, Toledo, Denver, New York, wherever), and we were a fixture in a post-season tournament. We were averaging about 60 games from Memorial Day to the first week in August. We were charging, and this was real tough for me to swallow, $350 per player. Add in another $300 to cover the tournament costs, and our parents were doling out $650. I remember having a conversation with a parent who took the coaching staff to dinner one night. I mentioned how bad I feel for the cost of playing baseball with us...he said, and without batting an eyebrow...we were the best bargain in town. He told us about his daughter who was playing travel s****r at the age of 11 and how they were shelling out $2K per year. He said he appreciated the fact that none of our coaches were paid, and that we even paid our own expenses. All the guys on our coaching staff played college ball, so we weren't some dad and dad show filling out a line-up card.
To this day, we charge $500 for the regular expenses, and tournaments cost another $300-400 per season. In 15 years, I've seen the cost of umpires triple, field use fees come into play, etc... I don't know how folks can spend as much as they do, but God Bless 'em!
As others have said you need to really do your homework on a team.
There are teams who are Regional or Nationally known that will draw attention (of course you need to have a certain level of talent to get on those teams)
I've seen teams that charge $1500 for the summer and travel up and down the East Coast but don't have the talent pool and probably would have been better off staying closer to home (with airfare and hotels, food I can only imagine how much was spent).
Or the travel team that has minimal costs but is Daddy run and has no college contacts, and draws no attention.
Trying to find the right balance is difficult, and make sure if you are playing for "exposure" its just one part of your plan.
There are teams who are Regional or Nationally known that will draw attention (of course you need to have a certain level of talent to get on those teams)
I've seen teams that charge $1500 for the summer and travel up and down the East Coast but don't have the talent pool and probably would have been better off staying closer to home (with airfare and hotels, food I can only imagine how much was spent).
Or the travel team that has minimal costs but is Daddy run and has no college contacts, and draws no attention.
Trying to find the right balance is difficult, and make sure if you are playing for "exposure" its just one part of your plan.