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Affordable Sports Equipment is Paying Off for Sporting Goods Franchise Owners

With the growth of pay-to-play sports teams and leagues driving up the ever-increasing cost of participation in youth sports, many families are being forced to choose between their children’s extracurricular activities and staying within a budget.

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Luckily, Play It Again Sports® franchise owners give kids who may not have had the chance to play an opportunity to do so with their wide variety of quality used sports equipment offered.

Costs Go Up, Opportunity Goes Down

Pay-to-play sports are becoming prohibitively expensive, and compared to earlier decades, children’s sports now involve traveling out of the local area for weekend tournaments, as well as rising prices for equipment and camps. Typically, the average American family spends about $700 annually on their child’s sports activities, but some parents are willing to shell out the hefty total of $35,000 annually for everything from extra lessons to higher-end equipment.

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One of the main reasons pay-to-play sports and school sports are becoming increasingly expensive is due to pressure from parents wanting their child to attend an elite college and earn athletic scholarships. A recruited athlete has a greater advantage as they apply to elite schools. These parents are willing to make the investment just so their child can stand out – even though one in ten young people who play sports ever get a sports scholarship.

The Pressure of a Tight Budget

This pressure to excel in athletics has created an unbalanced system that prevents children whose parents are under financial stress from getting their shot at playing sports. Families who earn $50,000 or less per year cited cost as the top reason their kids don’t participate in organized sports. These children are then forced to sit on the sidelines, while others get to reap the benefits of playing a sport. Playing sports has a wide variety of benefits of the physical, emotional and interpersonal well-being on children, from better vision to motor skills development and self-confidence.

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Unfortunately, pay-to-play sports aren’t the only catalyst for the cost of youth sports. Thanks to budget cuts, public schools are upping their costs to balance out the downsizing of their sports budgets or caps on property taxes in their districts. With the cost of sports participation rising, it’s no wonder that participation in sports among families earning less than $75,000 annually has dropped since 2011.

Bringing Hope to Local Communities

However, with the addition of a Play It Again Sports franchise to the community, parents can obtain the sports equipment their children need to play at a fraction of the cost. Since 1983, Play It Again Sports has been making it easier for those on a tight budget to benefit and enjoy participating in sports. Play It Again Sports not only allows community members the opportunity to purchase quality equipment at discounted prices but also provides them the chance to sell their old equipment – boosting the local economy.

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Looking to give back to your community and give local kids a chance to participate in organized sports? Contact us today!

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