How much do competitive youth sports really cost per year?

It varies widely by sport and level, but competitive travel programs commonly run from a few thousand dollars a year to well over $20,000 for elite-level hockey, baseball, or showcase programs once travel, coaching, and equipment are included.

What are the odds of getting a college athletic scholarship?

Only about 2% of high school athletes receive an NCAA athletic scholarship, and the large majority of those are partial scholarships rather than full rides.

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Travel Sports Cost Calculator

What your family is actually spending on competitive youth sports — and what that money could become if even part of it went somewhere else instead.

How many kids are in competitive/travel sports?

How many more years do you expect to keep going at this pace? 5

If invested instead, assumed annual return

Assume costs rise ~3%/year (tournament fees, travel, equipment tend to creep up)

Household income ($/year, optional — only used for context)

Is part of the motivation here a hoped-for college scholarship?

What are you hoping for?

Roughly what’s that scholarship worth to you, per year? ($)

Total this year, across all kids

$0 / year

Kid	Sport / Level	Annual cost

What that money could become instead

If invested instead each year (7% average annual return)

Defaults are rough, research-informed starting points (Aspen Institute Project Play, industry cost surveys) — every family’s actual spending varies a lot. Adjust every field to match your real numbers. This is a planning tool, not financial advice.

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The number parents don’t add up until it’s too late

Individually, the costs look manageable: a club fee here, a tournament weekend there, new cleats every season. It’s only when you total an entire year — across every kid, every tournament, every hotel stay — that the real number shows up. Family spending on youth sports has risen sharply over the past several years as travel has become the norm rather than the exception, and most families underestimate their own total by a wide margin because they only price the obvious line items.

The part nobody wants to do the math on

Roughly 2% of high school athletes receive an NCAA athletic scholarship, and most of those are partial awards, not full rides. That statistic gets repeated often — and just as often, it doesn’t change anyone’s spending, because nobody actually runs their own numbers against it. This calculator does that math directly: your real annual spend, projected forward, next to what that same money could become if part of it were invested instead.

What’s different about this calculator

Most youth sports cost tools (and there are a few good ones) estimate what one kid costs in one year. This one is built for families further down the road: multiple kids, multiple years, with the investment math and the scholarship reality check built in side by side — not as separate articles you have to go find, but as part of the same calculation.