Is the economy hurting select teams traveling?

My son's 16U team has it's normal preseason workout, game schedule and trips as usual. It's $1,300 before travel expenses which includes a trip to Georgia and possibly Florida. There wasn't a problem getting players.

The program my son left playing and I left coaching has increased from one team to two even though half the players from the one team left. They charge $1,200 before travel expenses. I think most of their tournaments are local.

I doubt if we will see any change at all. One of the big expenses of travel ball is the travel itself and with gas currently around $1.80, that's a bargain compared to the $4.00 last year. Baseball will survive the economic downturn. Unemployment is currently at 7.6 %.
This isn't uncharted waters for the economy nor for sports. Here are some unemployment figures for past years.
'76 - 7.7%
'80 - 7.1%
'83 - 9.6%
'85 - 7.2%
'91 - 6.8%
'93 - 6.9%
'03 - 6.0%
If YOU'RE out of work, YOU might have to cut back, but overall I see no reason this shouldn't be a good year for travel baseball!
Fungo

In GA the unemployment rate is closing in on double digits, so it probably is a reflection of the local economy more than the national one. To a degree, it is affecting travel ball for us. It looks like our team has cut a tournament that would have required a flight out west and a longer out of town stay. Not confirmed yet, but that's the way it looks on the schedule. Also, some parents have pulled their kids from different teams due to the cost (so I've heard.) We lost 1 player.

Just read an article that our gas prices are tied to West Texas Crude - expect $2.50 by summer. It is already $1.90 here.

I think the price of gas is tied to the whether or not the execs want a new plane or vacation home.

Our 15u summer team was originally going to Denver for a week long tournament for a World Series event. Coach is currently looking to replace that tournament with something closer due to economy. We probably would have made due to attend, but I will say I will be happy to not have to spend that much money.

My son's former select team is scaling back its out-of-state trips. Only one is scheduled for the 17U team this summer.

For the first time in memory, the 16U teams will not be competing at the Jr. Olympics in AZ and FL.

In the past, the organization would hold tryouts and put together the teams. This year, after tryouts, there are still openings and the director is fielding calls from interested parties.

On Friday I talked with the mom of a former player with this organization. Her 2012 son really wants to play college ball, but she's the sole breadwinner (husband is disabled) and with her teacher's salary, she is having a hard time coughing up the $1600 fee (plus travel expenses).

I definitely think that the economy is taking a toll.

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On Friday I talked with the mom of a former player with this organization. Her 2012 son really wants to play college ball, but she's the sole breadwinner (husband is disabled) and with her teacher's salary, she is having a hard time coughing up the $1600 fee (plus travel expenses).

I would think it would be very difficult for a sole breadwinner earning a teacher's salary with a disabled spouse to find $1,600 fee plus travel expenses to fund their son's travel ball even in a strong economy with 100% employment! I don't think is a result of the economy but a result of career selection and misfortune resulting from her husband's disability. Besides I personally wouldn't pay $1,600 for any travel team --- not worth it. Rec ball is less than a $100.00 here.

If a tournament is cancelled because of "the economy" I'd like to know exactly how "the economy" has impacted that particular tournament. Are the umpires demanding too much money --- are gas prices too expensive to drive to the tournament --- are the majority of the parents unemployed and unable to come up with money for tournament fees? Or has the tournament simply been cancelled because of lack of participation because parents and coaches have been told the economy is terrible?

I'm going car shopping today. They have some great deals, inventory is high because people have stopped spending because of the terrible news they keep hearing about "the economy".

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Originally posted by Fungo:
I'm going car shopping today. They have some great deals, inventory is high because people have stopped spending because of the terrible news they keep hearing about "the economy".

This is great! You are a patriot, sir.

How about building a new house? I'll bet you could get a good deal on building materials (LUMBER!) to build a new house.

I know someone who has some for sale!

It all depends on the region of the country and what your particular financial situation is

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Originally posted by Fungo:

people have stopped spending because of the terrible news they keep hearing about "the economy".

Major part of the problem and our new "pres" is not helping with the words he uses.

I think 93% of Americans are working aren't they? How many of the 7% were not working before the "downfall", 4%?

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Major part of the problem and our new "pres" is not helping with the words he uses.

Oh, I just can't wait to hear what Chuck Norris says about the "economy"

Not to get into a politcal debate here, but the negative media coverage of the economy has been going on for at least a year. I think the new president just has a better vocabulary.

And I agree that we consumers are greatly affected by it. Our family has not been financially affected at all, yet we are thinking about every purchase because of "the economy". When the DOW drops 3%, it is headline news, but when it goes up 3% it's not even a story.

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I'm going car shopping today. They have some great deals, inventory is high because people have stopped spending because of the terrible news they keep hearing about "the economy".

It looks like the economy needs my help. I'll soon start shopping for more guitars. Inventory is high because I've been out of work, but I'm back on the job now. OLAYYYYEEEE!"

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It all depends on the region of the country

"she was bread in ol kentucky...........but she's just a crumb up here."
curly 1929

When talking about a travel team costing $1200 or whatever before travel expenses, what does that money cover? Unis? Local tourneys? Equipment? I'm just wondering, as it seems like a lot to me.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I don't have any kids yet, so obviously none playing travel baseball. I do some volunteer work with a local travel team, but I avoid any issues involving money. I don't accept any money, I don't collect dues, I couldn't even tell you what the pricing structure is and what it covers. I'm there strictly for the baseball side of things.

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When talking about a travel team costing $1200 or whatever before travel expenses, what does that money cover? Unis? Local tourneys? Equipment? I'm just wondering, as it seems like a lot to me.

For my son, it covered select coaches' salaries (and their travel expenses), jersey/hat/belt/socks (players provided pants and cleats), and tourney expenses.

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Originally posted by Emanski's Heroes:
When talking about a travel team costing $1200 or whatever before travel expenses, what does that money cover? Unis? Local tourneys? Equipment? I'm just wondering, as it seems like a lot to me.

When my son played 13U everything as local, we didn't start practicing until outdoors mid spring and played ten local tournaments from late May into early August. The cost was $500 plus $60 for the uniform. The only travel costs were a few gallons of gas and lunch.

Now he's on a 16U team that's $1,300. The first $300 is for a weekly indoor facility and training by specialists for ten weeks. He's worked with pro players, college coaches and had his mechanics video'd and analyzed. The $1,000 is for two uniforms, six tournaments, use of a beautiful D1 facility in the summer for about 25 games and a 17U tournament in East Cobb. There will also be the overnight travel costs to Long Island, NY, Rehoboth, DE and Marrietta, GA.

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When talking about a travel team costing $1200 or whatever before travel expenses, what does that money cover? Unis? Local tourneys? Equipment? I'm just wondering, as it seems like a lot to me.

You're in for quite a surprise, Emanski. I think that most travel clubs charge around this amount, or more. I know of clubs here in CA that charge double that amount, or more. On the other hand, there are also plenty of clubs out there that charge less than $1,200, we're still well below $900. In our club, the team fee covers cap and jersey, costs of insurance, league and tournament entry fees, baseballs, misc equipment, umpires, fields; in short, everything except each player/family's traveling costs, which they bear themselves over and above the team fee.

I do think that most people don't realize what it costs to operate a travel baseball club. Just putting on a double header for Connie Mack League games is expensive. Umpires run $275.00, Field rent runs $100-350, depending on location,plus the cost of traveling to the game, which is often an hour away, or more. I figure as a rule of thumb that it costs more than $200 per team, per game for summer ball, and that is on the low side.

If you really want an idea of what it costs to play travel ball, for us as a west coast team to travel to East Cobb for a week, last year our total expenditures for airfare (28 people), hotels, rental vehicles, tournament fees, meals, etc. exceeded $30,000. That was for a one week tournament.

By the way, to answer the central question of this thread, I expect us to do more or less the same things this year that we always do. We'll play in one tournament on the east coast (Florida this year), Jr. Olympics in Arizona, a couple tournaments in Southern CA and possibly Oregon, plus play a full schedule of games here in northern Ca, totaling around 40-45 games in 12 weeks. I don't see a lessening of participation. We have to turn players away every summer as there are more who want to play with us than we have roster slots to accomodate.

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Originally posted by play baseball:

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Originally posted by Fungo:
I'm going car shopping today. They have some great deals, inventory is high because people have stopped spending because of the terrible news they keep hearing about "the economy".

This is great! You are a patriot, sir.

Only if he buys American!

Well, not necessarily.... I'm assuming that he will buy his new car from a dealership which employs Americans (unless he is buying his car in a country other than the USA), I assume there are state and local taxes tacked onto the sale price, so those stay here (unless, of course, he buys in a foreign country), and other costs involved. Besides, aren't a lot of "foreign cars" built in the US?

Just spending money in general helps!

I just went through the same car-buying process, and it's difficult to be sure you're buying American. Some of the Big Three are made in Mexico; there are a number of "foreign" car plants in the South.

I bought a Ford, in any case. The exceedingly strange thing was contacting five dealerships via the internet for proposals. One never sent a proposal, but argued with me that he had in preference to just re-sending. One sent a one-line, limited response answering none of my questions and with a very high price; no followup. One decided for me that I didn't want a 2009, I wanted a 2008 and kept pushing that. Two were ready to deal until the day I said (from the first inquiry) that I would be buying. Then the price went up $400....just "because". Fortunately, one wanted to sell a car, and I was happy with the deal. The only evidence that the industry was in trouble was that I was the only customer (no shoppers either) that evening.

Amusingly, four out of the five (the one-liner stayed just that) called within two weeks to "see if I had made up my mind". Even though I had said, from the first e-mail to them, that I would be buying Jan 28. So I told them I bought. Jan 28th. And yes, that was four out of the five calling after purchase. I even got a call from the dealership I bought from, when an embarassed young telemarketer told me she was in a call center and didn't know I had already closed the deal....

I'd be interested to hear your experience, Luke. I suspect my problem was that I don't have the right "equipment" to go car buying.

DOD, I have to disagree with you. As has already been pointed out, many 'foreign' brands are built here in the USA, sold by dealers here in the USA, serviced here in the USA, etc. Every pickup I've owned since 1983 has been a Ford or Chevrolet. That will probably change with my next purchase, when I'll probably purchase a Toyota pickup.

The reason? Toyotas are built, I believe, in the south by non-union employees, while my Ford or Chevy pickup might be built in Michigan or Canada by union labor. I was totally disgusted with Ron Gettlefinger's (He's the head of the UAW) stance on labor not participating in the auto industry bailout. I may be the only one who feels this way, but I'll be darned if I'll support his union with the leadership they have in place. They are part of what is wrong with this country today, IMO.

I don't think that is un-partiotic. Anti-union, sure, but the people of the south will probably think it's patriotic to purchase a vehicle they built.

Actually if you buy a Toyota Tacoma, it was probably made right down the road in Fremont California...

No doubt travel ball is very expensive. Trust me I have had three boys who all played compeitive summer and fall ball. But like my friend told me it is cheapier than paying for drug rehab.

Toyota brings cars half built here to the southeast distributor (owned by an american company) and then parts are assembled and shipped throughout the US.
Some parts I beleive are also manufactured here in the US.
Toyota is a japanese company but in reality many americans make their living off of Toyota.

The privately owned distribution company will be laying off about 20-30 percent of their workforce, which means about 1200-1500 or so americans here in south Florida will be out of work shortly.

My son has an F150 and my neighbor a Tacoma,in quality comparison, Toyota wins hands down.

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Originally posted by Shamrock01:
No doubt travel ball is very expensive. Trust me I have had three boys who all played competitive summer and fall ball. But like my friend told me it is cheapier than paying for drug rehab.

Do kids who don't play baseball do drugs? Do all kids who play baseball not take drugs? When my daughter played travel softball I heard it kept her from getting pregnant. I think it's values learned from parents that keep kids from taking drugs and getting pregnant.

TPM, you're right! We have one Toyota plant in our home town:
Bodine Aluminum (Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc.), St. Louis, Missouri, is building a new diecasting plant on a 200-acre site in Jackson, Tennessee, which will produce aluminum engine blocks.
The Jackson plant, which will begin operations in 2005 and expand over several years, will produce one million units per year, employ 200 workers and cost an estimated $124 million. This will be Bodine's third plant.

I live in a fairly affluent burb of Orlando. Unfortunately I am not on the affluent side. There are some very good 16u travel teams in our area (Scorpions, Juice, etc.) that I am saving for but I may try and put one together myself and hit the tournaments closer to home as their travel schedules look rather expensive. We can do 6 tournaments for around $250-$300 per player. That includes uniforms, and gas.

Our Travel team cost $1,800. That covers indoor winter workouts (twice a week for 1 1/2 hours each session) from November thru March. A full uniform with practice shorts and tee shirts as well (pants socks, shirt, hats and jacket). We play one tournament over Memorial day weekend (kids stay on site in dorms eat there all weekend etc..) and then AAU games all spring and summer (30-40 games). We usually take August off to rest up and allow for family vacations. Then we play in a wood bat fall league.

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Originally posted by redsox8191:
Our Travel team cost $1,800. That covers indoor winter workouts (twice a week for 1 1/2 hours each session) from November thru March. A full uniform with practice shorts and tee shirts as well (pants socks, shirt, hats and jacket). We play one tournament over Memorial day weekend (kids stay on site in dorms eat there all weekend etc..) and then AAU games all spring and summer (30-40 games). We usually take August off to rest up and allow for family vacations. Then we play in a wood bat fall league.

Isn't your son in middle school? That's a lot for that age. In middle school we didn't bother with offseason workouts. The summer team was $500. The fall team was $200. That was for 60-70 games. The coaches were dads who were college and/or pro players who coached free.

For my son's 16U team, take East Cobb out of the equation and it's less for more games with our home field being a D1 facility. All the instruction is included as part of the rental of the indoor facility.

The thing I don't like about many academy teams is paying for the coaches to coach practice and games.