Initial Travel Team Costs

What do you mean by "initial" ...does that mean per season, or one-time ...or??

I think ours were $350 per season, not including uniform which was probably $100-$125...but you didn't have to buy it every season (assuming everything fit).

Are your coaches paid?

Our season runs from March through July. Coaches are not paid. the $750 we charge per player is a one-time fee that is paid on the first day of Spring practice. That's the only fee each that is required for each player for the duration of the season. (Excluding family travel, gate fees, etc.)

This is a travel ball team and is not affiliated with any school programs.

Our goal is to have a 10 tournament season ending with a world series and break-even on expenses. We do not do any community fund raising events. Just trying to figure out if our team/season costs are typical of other youth travel teams.

We played an entire year (2 seasons) for around $10K. We got $2500 each season from a very generous sponsor, and each parent was responsible for $225 each season (so $550 per year). We got 3 Easton Skins 2 Button Jerseys w/ Silkscreen & Numbers each (I had to order 25 of each to get a deal), and 2 different hats. Everyone had to buy their own Easton pants, UA socks and belts (which the local sports distributor carried). We played 37 games (which included AAU Doubleheaders and 5 tournaments – USSSA & Triple Crown) in the Spring ’07 season. The next season we used the same uniforms, played 33 games (which included AAU Doubleheaders and 5 tournaments – USSSA only).

Field Rentals/Umpire Fees/Player & Team registration fees/Insurance fees/ Ball etc. fees were all part of that $10K as well.

This past season (our 3rd) we kept using the same original Jerseys because they just hold up SO GREAT (Highly recommended, BTW!) and got matching 2-tone Easton Helmets, and upgraded our hats… We played a 31 game schedule (which included USSSA Doubleheaders and 4 USSSA tournaments)… We currently have around $1200 left in the account.

FYI: 10 Tournaments in a season, WOW! That could be 40-50+ games just right there...!

We have never charged a start up or initial fee. I am not a big fan of the sticker shock.

We charge $100 per month that we are practicing. We usually take off mid July through August. We start up for the fall in September and are done by November. We take off November & December. Take BP and throw in January and fire it up in February.

The monthly fee covers 2 jerseys (we use UA shirts instead of $50 jerseys), 2 hats, helmet, bat bag, balls, tourney and umpire fees and any field fees. Also, we typically reimburse parents at the end of the year with whatever is left in the account to help pay for lodging at Nationals.

We usually leave some money in the account to start the next year.

I've never been a fan of the teams who have $300 worth of uniforms per player. We take pride in kicking their butts...lol

We just finished our first year of competitive ball at 9u. These are my observations and what I learned from the first year.
1. Set up a non profit LLC and seek donations that can be deducted from peoples taxes. Even parents get the deduction saving at 25% on all cost. Make books available to everyone affiliated so no one can suspect misappropriated funds.
2. Seek Donations
3. Shop and compare for equipment and keep uniforms somewhat simple. Tackle Twill looks great but cost 2-3X what a screen print does.
4. Try to book indoor facilities well in advance of the start of the season. Most facilities will discount if enough blocks of time are reserved.

I have a friend that has coached his boys for the past 8 years in youth ball and this was how he laid it out for me. I plan to follow the same blueprint because he said donations are much easier to obtain this way. (I don't know for sure what type of LLC, INC or whatever it is but the team has its own entity for accounts)

My advice is to stick with teams with volunteer coaches, at least until your kid is high school age. Notwithstanding many complaints you may hear about "daddy ball", there are many dads out there who are dedicated, strong coaches and it's just absurd to pay what some of these teams charge to play at elementary school ages.

We used to get custom uniforms, but found that the kids grew out of them rapidly, and in addition, it is well nigh impossible to get replacement jerseys, etc., if one gets lost or damaged, or if a kid leaves the team and a replacement has to be recruited. In the end we adopted an MLB team name so that we could buy MLB replica Henley tees. They cost about $15 each and can be screen printed with numbers and names for a total of about $20/jersey. Later you can get just one if needed. Hats are similar; you can get a twill MLB logo hat for under $10.

Use white pants and a stock color belt/socks/Under Armour set and you can get the whole uniform for about $65, $85 if you get both home and away jerseys. There are many MLB logos that do not mention city names, e.g., Cardinals, Blue Jays, Orioles, and others, so you can be the "XYZ Orioles" and look as good as anybody on a budget.

After that, the amount you spend is determined by how many games you play (umpire fees, tourney entry fees, etc.).

My 10 year old's team cost us $675 not including the uniform. We have a paid coach who is fantastic. We played in 5 tournaments. We also have to hold indoor practice from January to mid March or early April. That can set us back quite a bit.

Caveat emptor. We got raked over the coals by a team a couple of years ago. New expenses just kept popping up all over the place, but once your kid is on the team and they're in the middle of a road trip 1500 miles away and the manager says more money is needed, what to do? We were just happy to get it over with. All the promises of high level play, competition, and a REAL pitching coach never came to fruition. It was a huge waste of $$. Get many opinions from current/former parents before spending a dime.

My son's focus at age eleven was LL. His all-star team played into August. It was $100 for the season. We did a 16 game USSSA travel Sunday doubleheader league around LL. That was another $100 per player plus $12 for a tee shirt and hat. We were more interested in playing well than looking good. The kids got into beating teams looking like dirty rats.