National benchmarks (Aspen Institute Project Play)
| Metric | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg family spend, child's primary sport (soccer) | ~$910 | 2024 | Project Play National Youth Sports Parent Survey (with Utah State University and Louisiana Tech University), as reported by CNN 12 Jul 2026: soccer spend $537→$910 since 2019. CNN · Project Play, 24 Feb 2025 |
| Avg family spend, primary sport (all sports) | ~$1,016 | 2024 | Project Play Family Spending Survey (same 24 Feb 2025 release): parents’ reported spend ran from nothing to almost $25,000 |
| Increase in all-sports youth family spending vs 2019 | +46% | 2024 | Same release. Context: soccer is higher - see +69% row. Daily Herald puts the all-sports average at $693 five years earlier against $1,016 in 2024 |
| Soccer-specific increase 2019–2024 | ~+69% | 2024 | Same release: parents in soccer spent 69% more than five years earlier (basketball 105%, baseball 68%). Dollar path $537→$910 as reported by CNN |
Evidence base: federal statistics
The pathway ranges come from published club and league fee schedules. Every multiplier and band that moves those ranges is either derived from one of these series or labelled as an assumption in the Modeling knobs table below - none of them is a round-number guess.
| Series | What it sets | Figures used |
|---|---|---|
| BEA - Regional Price Parities by state, 2024 (US = 100) data page · news release PDF |
Market tier: dues | Low tier = mean(AR 86.9, MS 87.0, IA 87.8, OK 87.8) = 87.4 → ×0.87. High tier = mean(CA 110.7, HI 110.0, NJ 108.8, DC 109.9) = 109.9 → ×1.10. |
| EIA - weekly retail gasoline, week of 2026-08-31 Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update |
Market tier: travel (15% weight) | US average $4.071/gal; Gulf Coast $3.618 (= 0.89); West Coast $5.206 (= 1.28). Blended 85% BEA / 15% EIA → travel ×0.87 low, ×1.13 high. |
| BLS - Consumer Expenditure Surveys 2024 Consumer Expenditures 2024 (PDF) |
Meals on the road | Food away from home $3,945 per consumer unit per year (of $10,169 total food). ClubScout’s $100-$200 of weekend food sits at roughly two to four days of household away-from-home spending, which is what two tournament days look like. |
| BLS - CPI, lodging away from home series CUUR0000SEHB |
Hotel half of the weekend band | 178.7 (Jan 2026) → 207.0 (May 2026) on a Dec-1997 = 100 base; +3.0% year over year in June 2026. Lodging is still rising, so ClubScout’s $250-$500 for two nights is treated as a floor. |
| IRS - standard mileage rates irs.gov |
Stated scope limit on the fuel line | 2026: 72.5¢/mile (Jan-Jun), 76.0¢/mile (Jul-Dec). The model counts fuel and tolls only - not depreciation or maintenance - so the fuel line is a floor. The same miles at the IRS rate would cost 4-5× more (see the weekend cross-check below). |
| USDA - Expenditures on Children by Families, 2015 PDF (Mark Lino, FNS) |
Sibling factor: direction at 3-4 children | Per-child cost runs about +27% for an only child and about -24% at three or more, against a two-child baseline. The model applies a flat factor instead of that steeper decline, so 3-4 child totals are an upper bound relative to this published curve. |
Evidence base: peer-reviewed research
| Study | What it corroborates |
|---|---|
| Post, Green, Schaefer, Trigsted, Brooks, McGuine, Watson & Bell (2018),
Physical Therapy in Sport 32:126–132 doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2018.05.014 |
n = 949 US club-sport parents: median $1,500/yr (IQR $500–$3,000) on club sport, and $200/yr (IQR $50–$500) on equipment and uniforms. The $1,500 median brackets the travel pathway; the equipment IQR brackets every gear line (rec $90–$155, travel and elite $150–$400). |
| Pandya (2021), Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine PMC8497066 |
Synthesises the cost-barrier literature: 63% of parents pay $1,200–$6,000 a year and about 1 in 5 pay more than $12,000 (TD Ameritrade parent survey) - brackets the travel band and the elite high bound at the same time. |
| Hughes, Johnson, Perrem & Francis (2025), Healthcare 13(13):1578 PMC12249973 |
Footwear scoping review: shoe-size changes every 4–6 months at ages 4–6; girls’ feet grow about 2% and boys’ about 10% in total from ages 12–17. Direct input to the gear-churn factor. |
| Squibb, Sheerin & Francis (2022), Children 9(5):750 PMC9139892 |
Narrative review of foot development through childhood and adolescence - establishes that growth decelerates through adolescence, the peer-reviewed backing for splitting the age bands rather than assuming a flat rate. |
Evidence base: national and regional press (2026)
- Washington Post, 7 Jan 2026 - The soaring price of youth sports: $50 to try out, $3,000 to play (Todd C. Frankel). Aspen survey: youth-sport spending +46% from 2019 to 2024, reaching about $40 billion a year; average primary sport $1,016; “other surveys have reported that the average youth club activity costs $3,000–$5,000 a year”; one club-baseball family spends at least $8,000 - washingtonpost.com
- CNN, 12 Jul 2026 - ‘I’ll pay soccer before I pay a bill’: how the cost of youth soccer blew out of control. Soccer spend $537 → $910 from 2019 to 2024; club fees “as high as $3,500 for nine-year-olds in affluent suburbs”; one parent estimates $15,000 a year for two sons, another $10,000–$12,000 - cnn.com
- Daily Herald (Chicago suburbs), 31 Jan 2026 - Travel tournaments and costly cleats: suburban parents pay big bucks for youth sports (Dave Oberhelman). Itemised club bill: registration $2,018 in 2025 (up from $1,450 in 2018), biennial uniform kit $339, required summer camp $165, airfare to Phoenix $995, hotel $884; park-district rec about $200 a season - dailyherald.com
- Aspen Institute Project Play - the family-spending research behind the $910 and $1,016 benchmarks - projectplay.org/research
Cost ranges by pathway
| Pathway | Typical all-in range | Primary verification |
|---|---|---|
| Recreational | ~$200–$700 / year | ClubScout: rec fee $90–$500/season, annual total $200–$700; town programs typically $90–$250. Press check: Chicago-suburb park-district soccer ~$200 a season (Daily Herald, Jan 2026) |
| Travel / club | ~$2,500–$10,500 / year | ClubScout: competitive $2,500–$5,000, premier $5,000–$8,000; One Beat Soccer all-in line items $2,600–$10,500. Press: average youth club activity $3,000–$5,000 (Washington Post, Jan 2026); itemised bill of $2,018 dues + $339 kit + $165 camp (Daily Herald, Jan 2026) |
| Elite (ECNL / MLS NEXT-style) | ~$5,500–$20,000+ / year | ClubScout ECNL/GA total $5,500–$12,000+, top-tier independent $8,000–$15,000+. Solstice FC’s true cost table puts elite national (ECNL, MLS NEXT, Girls Academy) at $8,000–$20,000+ all-in - the source of the published $20,000 high bound. Press: teen club-sport costs of $10,000–$20,000 (or more) (USA TODAY, Jan 2025); families at $10,000–$15,000 and upwards of $20,000 in the ECNL (CNN and The Athletic, Jul 2026). Peer-reviewed: ~1 in 5 parents pay over $12,000 (Pandya 2021) |
Line-by-line sourcing (every number in js/data.js)
Each level’s total is the sum of six lines, each anchored to a published range rather than invented. The expected figure sits inside its sourced band but is not always its arithmetic midpoint, because the bands come from different programs at different tiers.
| Level | Line | Model (low / expected / high) | Published source for the band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rec | Dues | 90 / 180 / 450 | ClubScout rec registration $90–$500/season; town programs usually $90–$250, some community programs free |
| Tournaments | 0 / 0 / 0 | ClubScout: rec families do not pay travel, tournaments or winter training | |
| Uniforms | 0 / 0 / 0 | ClubScout worked example: “club provides uniform” | |
| Gear | 90 / 115 / 155 | ClubScout: cleats $50–$100 + shin guards $15–$30 + ball $25. Post et al. (2018): median equipment and uniforms $200/yr, IQR $50–$500 | |
| Travel | 0 / 0 / 0 | ClubScout: rec families do not pay travel | |
| Add-ons | 20 / 55 / 95 | ClubScout’s social-pressure list: coach gifts $25–$50, team bonding $50–$100, extra team gear $50–$150, team photos $30–$60. Gifts and photos alone = $55–$110, where expected ($55) and high ($95) sit; low ($20) skips both. All four components = $155–$360 | |
| Travel / club | Dues | 1,200 / 2,400 / 4,500 | ClubScout competitive $1,500–$3,000, premier $2,500–$4,500; One Beat entry $1,200–$2,500, mid $2,500–$4,500; Daily Herald records $2,018 for a Chicago-suburb club (2025) |
| Tournaments | 0 / 200 / 400 | ClubScout tournament entry $0–$200 each; 2 typical weekends → $0–$400. Cross-check: 2026 3-game-guarantee team entry fees run $675–$1,175 per team (TBK Bank $675–$875, Springs SC $875–$1,000, Southwest SC $975–$1,175) = $42–$73 per player on a 16-player roster | |
| Uniforms | 150 / 200 / 300 | ClubScout club-issued kit $100–$300 on a 2-year cycle (worked examples $175 competitive, $250 premier); Daily Herald: $339 biennial kit | |
| Gear | 150 / 250 / 400 | ClubScout $150–$300 for subsequent years ($300–$600 year one); inside the Post et al. (2018) equipment IQR of $50–$500 | |
| Travel | 800 / 1,200 / 1,700 | Exactly 2 × the per-weekend band $400/$600/$850 (ClubScout: hotel $250–$500 + gas/tolls $50–$150 + food $100–$200). $600 is the band midpoint, not a quoted figure: ClubScout prices a drive-to competitive weekend at $500 and two weekends at $1,000, so the published expected line ($1,200) runs about 20% above that one Massachusetts example | |
| Add-ons | 200 / 750 / 3,200 | Sourced components: winter training $400–$1,500 + social extras $155–$360 + private training and ID camps $200–$500 + fundraising shortfall $200–$500. All four = $955–$2,860; low and expected ($200 / $750) price a subset, since ClubScout treats winter training and fundraising as conditional. High ($3,200) is 12% above the all-four ceiling | |
| Elite (ECNL / MLS NEXT) | Dues | 3,000 / 5,000 / 7,000 | ClubScout ECNL club registration/tuition $3,000–$7,000; fee sheets $2,195–$4,150; CNN records club fees “as high as $3,500 for nine-year-olds in affluent suburbs” |
| Tournaments | 500 / 1,000 / 1,500 | ClubScout ECNL showcase fees $500–$1,500 (2–3 events, U15+) → $62–$187 per player across 8 typical weekends, above the $42–$73 regular-season team fee because showcases price higher | |
| Uniforms | 200 / 350 / 500 | ClubScout ECNL uniform kit $200–$500 (2-year cycle) | |
| Gear | 150 / 250 / 300 | ClubScout gear $150–$300 for subsequent years | |
| Travel | 1,500 / 3,500 / 5,000 | ClubScout ECNL/GA table: regular-season travel $500–$1,500 + showcase travel $1,500–$3,500 (published sum $2,000–$5,000). The model takes the showcase floor ($1,500), the showcase ceiling ($3,500) and the combined ceiling ($5,000). Solstice FC puts national travel for this tier at $3,000–$8,000. Daily Herald records $995 airfare + $884 hotel for one out-of-state tournament | |
| Add-ons | 150 / 1,900 / 5,700 | Solstice FC’s “what you also pay”: supplementary training $2,000–$5,000 + college recruiting services and showcase fees $500–$2,000 + sports performance $1,000–$3,000 + video highlight editing $200–$500 = $3,700–$10,500 if all four are switched on; ClubScout adds College ID camps at $200–$500/camp and private training at $40–$100/hour. Expected ($1,900) and high ($5,700) price subsets; low ($150) is below every component floor |
Club fee vs all-in
- ClubScout: club fee is typically 50–65% of actual annual spend.
- ECNL/GA club registration/tuition often $3,000–$7,000 (ClubScout); published 2026–27 club fee sheets cluster ~$2.2k–$4.2k (Concorde Fire and NTH NASA ECNL $2,195; Columbia Premier ECNL / ECNL RL $2,725–$2,830; Richmond United ECNL / Pre-ECNL $3,550–$4,150), and playclubsoccer.org’s surveyed ECNL / MLS NEXT / GA fee range is $2,150–$2,950 (all-in $5,000–$10,000+).
- Headlines of $8k–$15k (or $5.5k–$12k+ for ECNL/GA) are usually all-in (tuition + showcase travel + uniforms + regular travel). The calculator’s “Club dues” line is program fee only; travel weekends and tournaments are separate lines so they are not double-counted.
Primary range sources
- ClubScout - How Much Does Travel Soccer Really Cost in New England? (2026) - myclubscout.com
- ClubScout - ECNL vs Girls Academy (cost component table) - myclubscout.com
- Richmond United - published 2026-27 fee schedule - richmondunited.com
- One Beat Soccer - cost breakdown by level - onebeatsoccer.com
- USSoccerParent - pathway cost ranges - ussoccerparent.com
- Sports Business Journal / CNN - ECNL & MLS NEXT fee coverage (all-in context) - sportsbusinessjournal.com
- Public club fee schedules (US Club Soccer + sample clubs) - usclubsoccer.org/fees
- Soccer Near Me - The Most and Least Expensive Cities for Youth Club Soccer (2026) - soccer-near-me.com
- 2026-27 published club fee sheets - Columbia Premier (ECNL / ECNL RL) - PDF; Concorde Fire, NTH NASA - playclubsoccer.org
- playclubsoccer.org - Club Soccer Financial Considerations (surveyed ECNL / MLS NEXT / GA fee ranges) - playclubsoccer.org
- Solstice FC - Youth Soccer Equipment Checklist (gear spend by level; used-cleat pricing) - solsticefc.com
- Solstice FC - ECNL vs MLS NEXT (per-category all-in table: dues, platform fee, tournaments, travel, gear, private training, recruiting, misc) - solsticefc.com
- Solstice FC - The True Cost of Youth Soccer (level-by-level all-in table; elite national $8,000–$20,000+ - source of the published elite high bound) - solsticefc.com
- USA TODAY (18 Jan 2025) - MLS NEXT expansion: teen club-sport costs of $10,000–$20,000 (or more) once all expenses are counted - usatoday.com
- Sporting City MLS NEXT - Division overview (10% 2nd-player / 5% 3rd-4th sibling discount) - sportingcitysoccer.com
- NYSWYSA - ODP Sibling Discount (10% off each sibling) - nyswysa.org
- 2026 tournament entry pages (per team, 3-game guarantee) - Tournament Guru / TBK Bank Sports Complex $675/$775/$875 - tbkbanksportscomplex.com; Springs Soccer Club $875–$1,000 - springssoccerclub.com; Southwest SC $975–$1,175 - southwestsc.org
Baseline contract: the calculator reproduces each published range above
exactly when the inputs sit on the documented baseline - typical market tier, ages 12–14, new gear,
one child, tournament entries not bundled, and that pathway’s typical weekend count
(rec 0, travel 2, elite 8). The ranges in the table are derived from the line items in
js/data.js, so the calculator and this page cannot drift apart.
Governing-body registration fees (floor, not full club price)
- US Club Soccer public fee schedule - usclubsoccer.org/fees
Travel weekends
Per out-of-town weekend model ($400–$850, expected $600): family hotel share, fuel/miles, meals and incidentals - entry fees are modeled separately.
ClubScout New England (2026): hotel (2 nights) $250–$500, gas/tolls $50–$150, food $100–$200 → $400–$850 when a hotel is involved. A drive-to league weekend runs about $500. Air showcases (FL/TX/CA) run higher - ClubScout puts an ECNL Florida showcase at $2,000+ - and are why region tiers matter.
Federal cross-check on each of the four ingredients
| ClubScout ingredient | Independent series | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel, 2 nights, $250–$500 | BLS CPI lodging away from home (CUUR0000SEHB): 178.7 Jan 2026 → 207.0 May 2026; +3.0% y/y June 2026 | Directionally sound and arguably a floor. Read off the index, $250 at Dec-1997 prices is about $330 in early 2026. |
| Gas + tolls, $50–$150 | EIA weekly gasoline, week of 2026-08-31: US $4.071/gal, Gulf $3.618, West Coast $5.206 | Consistent with a 250–500 mile drive-to weekend plus tolls. Scope limit: the IRS standard mileage rate (72.5¢ Jan–Jun 2026, 76.0¢ Jul–Dec) counts fuel plus depreciation and maintenance and would price the same miles 4–5× higher - so this line is a fuel-only floor. |
| Food, $100–$200 for two days | BLS CE 2024: food away from home $3,945 per consumer unit per year | $100–$200 across two tournament days is roughly 5–10% of a household’s whole year of eating out - appropriately small, not padded. |
| Incidentals / entries modeled separately | 2026 tournament entry pages: $675–$1,175 per team for a 3-game guarantee (≈ $42–$73 per player on a 16-player roster) | Confirms the separation is correct: entry is a per-player cost that belongs on the tournament line, not inside travel. |
How the slider interacts with the published range
Each pathway’s published travel figure already assumes a typical season, so the calculator does not charge that pathway’s whole travel budget on top of the weekend count. Instead the published travel line is the baseline, and the field moves around it:
travel = ( published travel baseline
+ (weekends entered − typical weekends) × $400/$600/$850 × rate scale
) × region travel multiplier (never below $0)- Recreational - typical 0, max 3, rate scale ×0.6 (mostly drive-to, rarely a hotel). Typical 0 because ClubScout’s sourced rec band carries no travel line, so the published $0 baseline is a season with no away weekends and every weekend entered is then charged in full. Assumed: ClubScout quotes no per-weekend figure for rec and no away-weekend ceiling, so the rate and the cap are both model choices. Daily driving to practice and home games is out of scope in every pathway, for the same reason - no sourced band contains it.
- Travel / club - typical 2, max 12, rate scale ×1. The band is ClubScout’s component sum (hotel $250–$500 + gas/tolls $50–$150 + food $100–$200 = $400–$850); its own worked examples price a drive-to competitive weekend at $500, so the published travel line sits about 20% above that one Massachusetts example. The band, not the example, is what the slider uses.
- Elite - typical 8, max 12, rate scale ×1.
At the typical count the adjustment is zero and the published range is returned untouched. Push the field above or below it and the total moves by that many weekends at the published band. The cap is written back into the field on blur, so the number on screen is always the number being used.
College odds & scholarship reality (NCAA 2024-25)
| Stat | Approx. value |
|---|---|
| HS soccer → any NCAA division | ≈5.9% boys / ≈7.9% girls |
| HS soccer → NCAA Division I | ≈1.4% boys / ≈2.8% girls |
| Scholarship structure | Split / equivalency-style aid within roster limits - House settlement (effective 1 Jul 2025) removed sport-specific scholarship caps; D-I soccer roster limit is 28 players (men 9.9 scholarships → 28, women 14 → 28) - NCAA, 23 Jun 2025 and College Sports Commission roster limits. Coaches still typically divide a limited budget; full rides remain rare |
Aid pathways (patterns, not a national database)
- Club hardship / need-based aid - many clubs publish policies using federal poverty guidelines or tax documentation (ask your registrar for the written policy before tryouts).
- Work-trade - concession, field setup, tournament staffing in exchange for reduced dues (common in published club policies).
- Payment plans & sibling discounts - widely offered; fees vary.
- National / federation access programs - e.g. U.S. Soccer Innovate to Grow Fund: over $16M awarded since 2017, including $3M+ in the 2023-24 cycle across 27 programs reaching 800,000 participants (ussoccer.com) - grants flow through member organizations, so ask your state association or club what is pass-through in your area.
- ClubScout aid section: typical coverage 25–50% of club fee; full scholarships rare but exist; MLS NEXT requires ≥1 fully funded scholarship per member club (2025-26+).
- Overviews: youth soccer financial aid roundups (e.g. Solstice FC guide) - treat as starting points; always verify with the specific club.
Modeling knobs (multipliers and factors)
Every tunable that scales a dollar figure lives in js/data.js and is rendered into the
tool’s Model assumptions table, where each one carries its full derivation. This table is the
short form: value, source, and whether it is sourced or assumed.
| Knob | Values | Source | Assumed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market tier (dues × / travel ×) | low 0.87 / 0.87, mid 1 / 1, high 1.10 / 1.13 | BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 + EIA regional gasoline at 15% weight (both linked under Evidence base: federal statistics) | Sourced (price levels for dues and travel only, not a club-fee index) |
| Gear churn by age band | young 1.6, middle 1.0, older 0.7 | 0.4 + 0.6 × pairs of cleats per year - Solstice FC and ClubScout for 2.0 pairs/yr,
Hughes et al. (2025) for 0.5 (linked under peer-reviewed research) |
Sourced; middle band is the baseline |
| Used-gear factor | 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.50 | Solstice FC used-cleat prices $10–$25 against $50–$100 new; cross-check Post et al. (2018) equipment IQR $50–$500 | Assumed band within a sourced range; gear line only |
| Sibling factor per line | dues 0.9, tournaments 0.9, uniforms 0.85, gear 0.7, travel 0.85, add-ons 0.8 | Dues ×0.9 from published 2nd-player policies (Sporting City MLS NEXT, NYSWYSA ODP, both linked under Primary range sources); ClubScout’s published 1.7×–1.9× as the check | Dues sourced; per-line split assumed; 3–4 child totals are an upper bound vs USDA |
| Per-weekend away band | $400 / $600 / $850 | ClubScout New England component sum - see Travel weekends | Sourced |
Method rules
- No unsourced numbers in the UI. Where a figure is an assumption rather than a citation, it says so in the same sentence that presents it.
- Always ranges (low / expected / high) - never false precision.
- One source of truth. Every tunable - multipliers, weekend bands, sibling factors, level line items - lives in
js/data.js. Nothing that changes a dollar figure is hardcoded in the logic. - Published ranges are derived, not duplicated. Each pathway’s total is summed from its line items at load time, so the calculator and the Sources table can never disagree.
- Baseline reproduction. At the documented baseline inputs the calculator returns the published range exactly; inputs only move the result from there.
- Region tiers (low / mid / high) are derived from BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 and EIA regional gasoline - price levels for dues and travel, not a club-fee index. The raw city-level club-fee spread is wider, and this page says why it is not applied directly.
- Sibling discounts are published where clubs publish them (dues) and explicitly labelled assumptions elsewhere; the two-child result is checked against ClubScout and the three-to-four-child result is disclosed as an upper bound against USDA’s economies-of-scale curve.
- Per-child comparisons use the household average (total ÷ children), not the first child, so larger families are not overstated against the Aspen benchmark.
- Clamped inputs are written back - the field always shows the value actually used, so the UI cannot disagree with the math.
- Club dues = program/tuition fee only; family travel weekends and tournament entries are separate lines.
- This tool is educational planning software for families, not financial advice and not a quote from any club or league.