For sure the transparency and comparison options are great points.
And CSC does a good job of factoring several of my examples into their publication, but also prove a few others.
My big takeaway remains youth soccer is way too expensive and what is up with that facilities cost separated out? Don't we charge enough without adding more for fields that should be standard cost of doing business. Consider 500 members and that offers $50,000. Probably not enough to cover all field rentals/upkeep or even likely the actual cost so I see this just as an added parent tax.
To me, what is missing other than some clubs hiding extras, or some teams offering more and charging for more than standard services is the ability of teams and clubs to cover many of the 'variable' operating costs through sponsorship and fundraising. In my experience as a parent, coach and administrator it is not unusual for clubs to underwrite parts of costs (training equipment etc.) through sponsorship (I know we do). And team parents often raise significant amounts for other team level costs. I have witnessed one team in the past raising more than $5K and eliminating large parts of all variable overhead including uniforms. Even my team last year covered enough for coach travel and ref fees entirely without asking parents for a dime. Fixed costs sort of renders this ability moot unless they pay themselves back the cash?
