Running tab for Summer Ball

I heard $9000 all inclusive costs last night from a Sophomore when the discussion came up at Legion tryouts. He had kept track of every line item spent.

 

My thoughts? My family should give up now cause I can't do nor compete with that level of bought exposure. We are going to have to find a far more economical route to do this. We have offers to join some better showcases style teams but I can't spend what they want to start. So I guess son is priced out until experience show us a doable route to take.

$9000 seems like a lot.  Did the team travel by air several times?

 

I didn't keep track line-by-line, but budgeted an amount for summer baseball.  Baseball weekends and East Cobb were our vacations for 3 years.  No one at my house complained.

 

But, if your son should play college ball and you want to see him play, keep those line items in the budget.  We are on the way home from the conference tournament now.  We flew one time for the season opener because it was keewartson's first college start.  "Priceless"...not, but we wouldn't have missed it no matter the cost.  

 

Many wouldn't give up their summer week at the beach, and I understand those traditions, but the time on the field for these boys is limited.  The beach will be there when he hangs up the cleats.  IMHO.

There have been numerous discussions here on the topic that can be accessed via search.  Spending runs the gamut and $$ spent does not equal best exposure or experience.  Some of the best exposure here in Southern/Central California is via the SoCal Scout teams and I know at least a few charge as little as a few hundred dollars for the season.  Most games played in SoCal and if you live in the region you are only talking about a car drive each weekend and usually no need for hotel.  I know others will cover the other end of things but it does not have to be an opportunity just for the wealthy.

 

My 16U will be be playing his first tournament in early June.  I will keep track also but I'm probably going to be pretty close by saying it will cost us about

$700 for tournament fees (after split 15 ways) and uniform

$1,800 ($300 for weekend travel for 6 tournaments)

$800 for end of season tournament travel in Georgia

~$3,500.00

I enjoyed American Legion but unfortunately their state and regional tournaments interfere with football. 

 

 

 

At the USA NTIS in Cary a couple of years ago, another dad of a very good player told me he roughly calculated $40,000 over all the years of travel ball for his son, including parents hotel & food.

Very tough for some to swing that outlay.

 

We thank our stars that Son has been invited to play on several top well-coached (sponsored) teams that were free and gave him bats, cleats, gear, etc as well.

Certainly easier when you only pay travel, food and hotel for us,

though that adds up quickly.

 

PS- only team we know costs a friend almost $4500 all told for the summer!?!

 

I'm coming back to this, because $3,500 sounded about right (maybe just for the summer).  And then I thought a little more.

 

One year keewartson played for an organization that charged a monthly fee.  It totaled about $750 for the fall and about $1500 for the summer, which included tournament fees, coaches, and a jersey or two and hat.

 

But, don't forget other costs:  sports equipment like bats (and the wooden ones that break), gloves, batting gloves, cleats, turf shoes, under armour cold weather gear, sliding pants, etc.  Belts and socks.  And more socks.

 

Then, hitting or pitching lessons. Gym fees or other workout places.  Running coach fees/lessons.  

 

Gas, meals, gate fees, parking fees(!), hotels, plus any entertainment you may want to do between games. 

 

Ironout, by the gallon, or other types of cleaners to keep white pants white.

 

Sweatshirts, sweatpants, shorts, hats, all intended for baseball...but wind up being "the wardrobe".

 

It adds up in a hurry, but I always said baseball was better than ballet and tutus (sorry if I offended anyone).  You most likely will be paying for something for your child to do, whether it is baseball, other sports, dance teams, or band.  It all costs something.

 

 

 

team and training costs.

 

summer 1,400.00, fall 1,000.00 winter 600.00

some private hitting instruction 600.00

soft costs of travel, hotels, misc...

 

5k per year for sure. that is probably a bit low...for me it is times 2!

I'll bite...

 

My son was fortunate enough to be asked to play this summer for a sponsored team (16U) being run by a group of scouts.  There are no team fees or uniform costs, so what I will keep track of is all of that "incidental" stuff.

 

The kid is a PO for his school, but the summer coaches are having him hit.  Since we are playing some wood bat tourneys, he needed a new bat. ($100)

 

Our first tourney was this past weekend in Jupiter. It was only an hour away, and we ended up with favorable scheduling, so only one night in the hotel.  Son's girlfriend traveled with us, so we got a suite with a separate room for her to sleep in. ($200)

 

Drive through lunch on Saturday on the way to the park ($25).  Decent dinner for 5 after Saturday double header ($100).  Hotel had free breakfast on Sunday. Lunch at the park ($30).  Various drinks/snacks/etc. ($50)  Gas ($30) Gate fees ($30)

 

So running total this far is $565.  We have at least 3 more tourneys scheduled including a trip to Lake Point at the end of July.

 

I'll keep updating as the summer progresses. Next up is Vero Beach starting on June 5th.

We have had to really be frugle with 2016 cost the last 2-3 years.Very lucky for me my guy is a kid that gets the phone calls and offers.He knows the deal and works very hard to do his part.His showcase case last year cost 50:00. plus gas and 2 nights in a less than 100;00 a night hotel.We combined it with an offical visit.From the point football ended(played in semis) and he joined the others already practicing.We have spent @ 200:00 in gas(3 trips a week 75 mile round trip) along with 150:00 for 3 new uni tops.2016 will be spending his playing time playing with 2-3 teams this summer.His showcase this year is close enough that no hotel will be needed and cost 45:00.Just guessing but will keep track baseball will cost 1000:00 this year.

This will be an interesting topic to keep an eye on.

 

The entire "machine" has become expensive.

 

I include my services in that statement.  I'm very sensitive to the fact that every penny adds up though.  So, while some keep raising fees, I haven't raised mine in years.  And I actually look for ways reduce my fees.  That is one of the main reasons we film entire teams and organizations now.  Price per player drops dramatically.  As far as our College Bus Tours goes, there are lots of expenses that come along with the trip, so I can't reduce it but so much.  However, I've become creative with how a family can offset their fee.  And families are really taking advantage!  

 

The topic of "cost of baseball" comes up in lots of conversations these days.  

I'd say a family should keep a few things in mind....  

 

A) The math sucks!  We are talking baseball, not football, so stop thinking you are "investing" towards a full scholarship.  Doesn't exist.  And any kid getting a full baseball scholarship doesn't need to be spending thousands traveling the globe.  

B) Remember that baseball is a hobby.  With that in mind, keep in mind that there are lots of way more expensive hobbies out there than baseball.  Fly fishing or straight up flying would cost much more!

C) If chasing baseball around the state/region/country is not affordable for your family then I would strongly encourage you to stop do it.

D) If you continue to spend more than you can afford, don't complain to anyone!

E) Isn't Atlanta your dream vacation spot after all?  Goes something like Atlanta, Hawaii, Hilton Head as top 3 best summer vacation spots I think.

 

Rich

www.PlayInSchool.com/bus_tour

Projecting ours as best as I can for the year:

 

Team Fees (including uni):  $1400

Fall & Winter Showcases: $100

Semi-Out of Town Tourney - if we decide to spend night instead of driving - $200

Wood baseball Bats - we only use wood - $200

Gas for area games - $not sure but not much

Fall FL or AZ trip - $no idea but most likely fairly cheap as I will cash in airline and hotel points

 

 

 

My son just graduated Sunday.  He's played 8 years of travel ball....with some fairly serious travel.  Omaha, PG in GA twice, Cooperstown, Tennessee 3 times.

 

At 10U-13U, we started in mid/late April and played 10-12 weekends.  I'm thinking Omaha and Cooperstown were the most expensive.  Omaha was 6 days....Cooperstown 7 (he played, I coached, family split a Lake House).   We made if fairly affordable in GA and TN by renting Lake Houses and splitting with 2 other families (paid roughly $100 night ea), but had a full kitchen/grill etc, so never had to eat out.  Once he hit 14U he was in HS, so the season was much shorter (6/7 weekends) and by 16U/17U he often went with other players and the whole family didn't always go along.

 

I would guess 10-12U years were in the neighborhood of $4000 summer when you include team fees, travel, hotels, food, etc.

 

13U was probably $2000 (only one long trip)

 

14U $1500 or so

 

15U and 16U I ran the team and we hosted a tourney to cover a lot of costs.  Probably got by for $1500/year.

 

17U playing for a top team.....and having paid college coaches...$1400 for the team fee/uniforms....and I would guess another $700-800 in expenses so $2200 or so

 

Looks like that totals around $20K for his 8 seasons......

 

The baseball portion of his college scholarship is almost exactly that amount over 4 years.....so I guess we broke even....lol

 

 

It adds up really fast.  I have two sons 18 months apart in age that both play.  We are in the northeast which means a lot of tourney travel down south.  We've elected to skip some high exposure stuff, and elected to attend some other high exposure things.  For example, we've skipped some showcases that we probably should have attended.  The showcases aren't prohibitively priced, its the travel, lodging, rental car, meals out, etc that adds up.  There is another thread on the site right now about "the series" invites.  My son got one.  New event apparently being run by PGStaff's sons as near as I can tell.  Cost is only $399 (if I remember) which isn't too bad.  Now add plane tickets for son and me (assuming Mom doesn't want to go), airport parking for the car, lodging in Ft. Meyers, rental car, restaurants, vacation time from work.  It's approaching a couple thousand bucks by the time you are all in.  Tough to manage that multiple times per year for all the invites on top of regular travel ball expenses.

A couple thoughts...

 

How the heck do you all get away with only one or two wood bats for the year?  Granted it is often another kid borrowing that breaks the woodie but, man have we gone thru the wood bats.  Son just bought a 3-pack for summer ball and training and I'll be shocked if more are not in order in a couple months.

 

Once son got close to moving out for college, we tried to calculate how much we would save on food and laundry once he moved out, in part to determine how much we would contribute to his college expenses.  If you want to feel good about how much baseball costs, just compare to how much you spend on a teen every month at home for food and laundry.

Two playing baseball.  One 2016 and the other 2020.

 

2016: Approximately 35 games with 6 tournaments.  Two tournaments out of town. 

Summer Fee: 900

Uniforms: 150

Video: 100

Showcases (so far this year): 240

Gas, Meals, Hotels: 1000 (rough guess)

 

2020: Approximately 50 games with state tournaments.  Two out of town events.

Team fee: Free but we have donated 425

Uniform: Free

Cooperstown fee: 1200

Cooperstown lodging: 700 (rented a house)

My Cooperstown meals, expenses, etc: I don't want to know

Gas, Meals, lodging (cooperstown excluded): 1000

 

Also had a 300 sponsorship for the little guy, but that went to the team account and not directly towards personal use for my son. 

 

2016 estimated cost: 2390 +

2020 estimated cost: 3325 ++

Estimated total for two: 5715

 

This is just at the college exposure level. My daughter's team was heavily subsidized by a rich old lady with more money then she knew what to do with. The cost per summer was only $700 each year for four years of 18u ball.even her travel was included. 

 

At at sixteen and seventeen my son played for a subsidized showcase team and a free scout team. The showcase team was $1500 for each summer. The big expenses were if I decided to attend a far away showcase. I spent over $1000 on myself (airfare, car, lodging, food, entertainment) for a week at East Cobb.

 

Once in high school my daughter attended a $500 speed camp. My son did the same plus about $1000 for hitting and pitching lessons after his soph season.

 

Before showcasing my kids played for travel teams run by parents who knew what they were doing. They weren't run for profit. Play was local (baseball and softball) or in the next state (softball) travel costs were minimal. Sometimes we stayed over Saturday night. The teams cost $500 per summer.

 

Add: I forgot about individual showcases. Those were $1500 per summer for a couple of summers for both kids.

2016's summer team from Northern Illinois

7 tourneys

2 out of state (PG Emerson) (Cincinnati)

Team Fee $1800.00

Travel, food and lodging $2800.00

Total $4600.00.

 

This does not include last years fall schedule that included PG WWBA Ft Meyers

Right now my son has 4 wood bats ready to go.  I am guessing by halfway through the season we will purchase at least 2 more and then another 2 by the time fall ball arrives.  I will say as he has gotten older he has become conscience of trying to hit with the label up (or down) which seems to help.

Even tho 2016 has been extremly lucky the last couple of years.Going to cooperstown for the 12U tourney was a real eyeopener in respect to expenses.It was during/after that trip that I was 100% commited to making sure 2016 realized 90% or better of all this "stuff" was just a way to take money from one group of people. most of the time either indirectly or directly using the hey its your chid thing.So that another group of people can get 1st groups money.Thankfully 2016 trusted my feelings on this long enough he could see it for himself.Actually I think it helped motivate him at least with baseball to work to get better.Spending money to get better typically doesn't go a long ways.From that cooperstown team only 3 kids made/play varsity.2 of them just going up the normal way JR. year.

We didnt start travel ball until son was 14

cant imagine what families have spent who started at age 9-10, or even younger. There are honestly 7 yr old "travel teams" around here. Most are day trips, but they have 2-3 uniform combos, and factor in gas, food, gate fees, and fees to play. Just crazy. My son paid  70 to play on LL teams, and we had one jersey, cheap ones. We loved going to the same park every wk. It became our second home. 

I say wait and see what sport little Johnny is really into and will stick with before spending all that money. 7 yr olds have no clue what they want to do from yr to yr. they should be practicing and learning skills, and play one, two games a wk max

I see these 9 yr olds playing 5 plus games a wk. when do they practice?

Awesome schedule, your gonna see some good ball.

 

I'll volunteer. Rising senior. College prospect. HS just won state championship. Not offered/uncommitted. Already have spent north of $4000 for player fees/team hotel fees etc. Bat speed avg. (not exit speed) 96. Have 3 long distance trips planned and 4 PG events in town plus scrimmage/showcase stuff. I'll keep a line item tally for you guys.

Either it's worth the money or it's not. I'll be honest with you.

Are those 50 games for 2020 just for summer?

Just reading this thread is giving me a headache and an appreciation for working with pitchers primarily. A video shot with an iPhone from two angles with a radar gun in the shot is more than enough recruiting for many of my guys. Velocity and command of pitches is enough to get attention from any number of college and pro scouts. Then you pick the tournaments and games to maximize your exposure from that.

 

Hitting and defense... not so much. It's a tricky thing for sure. Feel for you guys. 

My neighbor has kids my son's age.  They don't play baseball, they boat:

Annual slip/storage fee: $1800

Annual boat loan payments: $2400

Annual insurance, tax, registration fees: $600

Annual Gas and Maintenance: $500

Annual Misc. Expenses: $700

ANNUAL TOTAL:  $6000

 

I might spend $5000 on my son's baseball in a year, and we do a lot.  I don't lose sleep over it.  The memories are PRICELESS.  One cannot affix a price tag to son's first Little League HR, or son's debut in a college uniform.

 

Life is too short, and the time we have with our kids is far shorter.  It's all about priorities.  My neighbor has a wonderful family and they boat together.  We do baseball.  The things I've seen my son do on a baseball field are priceless in my eyes, I would pay any price to have the chance to see what I've seen. 

 

It's all about priorities.  99% of good parents; their priorities are their kids.  How you choose to spend money and how much around your kids is the question? 

 

OP asks a great question and it's always smart to assess and take stock, and THINK about what you are doing and what you are spending.  That's prudent and important.

 

Personally, I'll gladly spend that extra $60 for a tank of gas to get us to that baseball tournament if it will give me 5-hours of undistracted, uninterrupted, quality time with my 16-year old son.  Priceless.

 

 

This is why the MLB suggested to all of the summer collegiate leagues to which they donate (all required to be nonprofits) that they charge a "player fee"; the rationale is that these guys/families are used to paying a fortune for travel ball so a "player fee" won't be a problem.  Our league (Valley) adopted a $200 fee effective this year, a portion going to the league for marketing but it's very helpful to a lot of teams....and the negative feedback has been nil.   It's not a huge amount but for nonprofits, it can take some teams from red ink to black.  

Agreed!

....then he would fall asleep before we hit the highway home.

Wouldn't trade it for the world, though.

My 2020 plays in tourneys that are usually a 3 game guarantee. He plays 2 pool play games on Saturday and if they did really bad they have the 8am game on Sunday, if they loose that game then that's it, tourney over.  If they win that game and make it all the way to the championship they could play 3-4 games on Sunday if they were a really low seed from pool play, making the game total for the tourney 6 games. 

 

So, 50 games could only cover 8 weekends of tourneys, probably more, but then again the Cooperstown week alone is a 7 game guarantee.

 

 

 

^^^^^This^^^^^^

 

The above is what people don't seem to understand.  We don't do 7-8 weekends of travel baseball ON TOP of other summer activities....it's typically in place of other activities.

 

During my son's years of travel ball we:

 

Took a vacation to Omaha to watch the CWS (oh, and he played in a tourney)

 

Stayed in a lake house in Tennessee with 2 other families...boated, and rode jet ski's for a week (oh, and he played in a tourney)

 

Stayed in a lake house in Georgia with the same 2 families....boats, jet skis, fishing...and a lot of fun (oh, and some baseball)

 

Stayed in a lake house in NY for a week...jet ski's, friends and fun....(oh, and he played at Cooperstown)

 

I guess my point is that in each of those years.....our VACATION  revolved around baseball....but was never ONLY about baseball. 

 

The amount of money we spent doesn't both me a bit when you consider the good times, memories and friends that our family and my son made over the past 8 years.

TPM - sorry for the delayed response, but yes that is for the summer.  50 was a guess, but I just looked at his schedule and he has played 26 games since mid March and they are scheduled for another two tournaments this summer (excluding Cooperstown).  Of those 26 games played so far, about 6 of them have been "instruction scrimmages" against local teams.  His summer season will come to an end in mid July. 

My 6 year old thinks that if anyone stays in a hotel they must be there to play baseball....going to have to work on that.

Ok so that is March through July, I thought you meant summer, that is a lot of games for a 12/13 year old in a short period.

Yes, it is a lot of games for kids that age.  It was orriginaly going to be much more than that.  Thankfully people came to their senses about mid April and dropped two tournaments.  They will use that time to let the kids be kids or schedule some extra practice or scimmages.  The 12/13's typically end in July here and the next age bracket (13/14) will start up again in mid August with a much lighter playing schedule than their spring/summer schedules.

Not sure what number is "too many".  When my son was 11, he played for his local rec league...a travel team....and filled in on any team he could find that needed a kid.  It was all him (trust me, I could have used a couple weeks off).  He finished the summer/fall with 97 games....and was beside himself that he didn't get to 100 games...lol.  

I made my son be a kid one time during baseball season and he hated it. I forced him to swim, and go fishing with his brother, I even let them ride 4 wheelers across the shallow river. And he told me that he missed out on 15-20 quality at bats off of the best pitching around and reminded me that he plays competitive ball, and he can go swim anytime. So we never tried that again.

I had 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018... i don't want to add it up

One thing I definitely will not miss are weekend tournaments where if you have a low seed after pool play you have to the "long way" in the elimination round  to win the entire thing.   Watching three seven inning games on one Sunday gets to be old after awhile.  (don't recall ever having to play 4 in one day, that would be unbearable.)  Plus unless you have a lot of pitching, by the time you get to game three the guys are playing on fumes. 

Almost forgot to add last week's tourney in Vero:

 

Hotel for 3 nights : $385  (Should have booked earlier...)

Food for 4 days: including meals/drinks/snacks $390

Gate fees: $60

Total of : $835.00 for the tourney

 

Total so far: $1400

 

On the plus side, son picked up a win and a save, and the team won their pool.

 

Next up is this weekend in Port St. Lucie.

Any other campers out there?  We picked one up a few years ago when the baseball budget started getting a little too scary for my liking and I got sick of staying in hotels.  I love having my own kitchen, bath and memory foam mattress, plus my waistline is much happier!  Here's the breakdown for last weekend:

 

2 nights campsite rental, 2x35:  $70

Gas:  $86.40

Meals--brought most from home but one trip to subway and a couple of powerades:  $8.80

Movie tickets:  $12

Broken bat: $30

 

Total:  $207.20

 

Team fees for the season are $1350 which include all indoor training, uniforms, coach fees, tournament fees, etc.