The Most Expensive Game in Town: The Rising Cost of Youth Sports and the Toll on Today's Families

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More About This Book

Overview

Nearly 50 million kids play organized sports each year, and each of them has a supportive family that digs deep into its pockets to pay for the essentials—uniforms, equipment, league fees, travel to away games. But the buck doesn’t stop there. With private lessons, elite sports camps, corporate-sponsored tournaments, and all the hotel expenses and tourist traps that come with them, youth sports is more than just a fun pastime. It’s an incredibly profitable market, and it’s become crowded with companies and individuals eager to reap the rewards.
 
Building on his eye-opening investigation into the damaging effects of the ultra-competitive culture of youth sports in his first book, Until It Hurts, sports dad and journalist Mark Hyman takes us behind the scenes for a startling look at the business of youth sports, how it has changed, and how it is affecting young Americans. Examining the youth sports economy from many sides—the major corporations, small entrepreneurs, coaches, parents, and, of course, kids—Hyman probes the reasons for rapid changes in what gets bought and sold in this lucrative marketplace. He takes us to tournaments sponsored by Nike, Gatorade, and other big businesses. He talks to parents who sacrifice their vacations and savings to get their (sometimes reluctant) junior stars to these far-off, expensive venues for a chance to shine. And he introduces us to videos purporting to teach six-month-old babies to kick a ball, to professional athletes who will “coach” an eight-year-old for a hefty fee, to a town that has literally staked its future on preteen sports. However, the story isn’t all big business and bad guys. Hyman also turns the spotlight on individuals cashing in on the youth sports market, but whose goods actually provide (at least) some benefits to kids.
 
Through extensive interviews and original reporting, The Most Expensive Game in Town looks beyond the high-energy ad campaigns, the supposedly performance-enhancing sneakers, and the cute baby-sized jerseys to explain the causes and effects of the commercialization of youth sports—and to reveal how these changes are distorting and diminishing family life. The proof is in the price tag. Happily, Hyman unearths promising examples of individuals and communities bucking this destructive trend and using youth sports to uplift and enrich kids’ lives, rather than to fill their own pockets. 

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Following up his previous book, Until It Hurts, Hyman, a sports journalist for Business Week, further probes the soaring cost of the youth sports economy, targeting the dreams and aspirations of parents obsessed with the hope of transforming their children into professional athletes. The author scores high points in telling the stories of families in Ohio, Kansas, and California, who pushed their budgets near their breaking point to get their kids the best equipment, coaching, and summer camps. While slick-talking advocates of the youth sports business promise great results from the various programs and academies, the cash-strapped parents feel guilt for not taking advantage of every opportunity to guarantee their charges fame and fortune. He wisely poses key queries about media overexposure, financial sponsorship in the inner city vs. suburbs, and government inaction. However, Hyman’s slender volume presents more questions than answers, touching on topics rather than going into them in depth, yet he still puts some significant issues on the front burner. (Mar.)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780807001363
  • Publisher: Beacon
  • Publication date: 3/20/2012
  • Pages: 176
  • Sales rank: 221,856
  • Product dimensions: 5.70 (w) x 8.50 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

Mark Hyman is a journalist and former writer for BusinessWeek and Sports Business Journal. He is the author of Until It Hurts: America’s Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids, as well as coauthor of Confessions of a Baseball Purist and a forthcoming book on traumatic brain injury (with Dr. Robert Cantu). He frequently contributes to publications, such as the New York Times and Sports Illustrated. He currently teaches in the sports management program at George Washington University.

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