As Youth Sports Economy Grows, Complexes Scale Up to Serve It
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/sports/youth-sports-costs.html
This article focuses on the so-called “youth sports economy” and the networks of businesses and communities that have emerged to support this growing sector of the economy. This industry is now valued at above $15 billion, and there is a large network of businesses at work to create that evaluation. The networks at play here are most clearly seen through the communities that host large sporting events for youth travel teams. These communities like The Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana, have been building themselves into Meccas of travel team sports. Millions of dollars have been invested into these towns to transform themselves into one-stop shops for all teen sports, ranging from tennis to basketball. These towns have become hybrid sports centers/resorts that are dedicated to providing the best services for both teams and families. Everything in these towns works towards creating a network that can provide for every need of the teams and families traveling there, ranging from high-class resorts and restaurants to state of the art athletic facilities. Parents spend thousands of dollars on these trips in the hopes of their child receiving a college scholarship and possibly going on to play at the professional level.
Although NCAA universities only give scholarships to about 2% of applicants, the approximately $3 billion in scholarships given out every year is enough for these parents to splurge for their children. Tournaments in these facilities are oftentimes the best chance for an athlete to be seen by recruiters, as there is a whole network of them dedicated to attending these events. Many big names in both college and professional sports like Mike Krzyzewski from Duke and Russel Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder have been seen attending these games in addition to standard recruiters. Additionally, athletes and companies, like Nike and Adidas, have sponsored youth sports teams and tournaments to increase exposure of their brands to the younger generation. The interaction of teen players and how they use these events to try and break into the network of pro athletes is just one of the many networks at work in this industry.