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What Club Soccer Really Costs a Family

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2 days ago

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Every club soccer parent remembers the moment. The tryout goes well, the coach says the words you hoped to hear, and then an email arrives with the number. Whatever that number is, experienced families will tell you the same thing: it is the beginning of the bill, not the bill. Here is the full picture, line by line, in reported ranges.

Start with club dues. Published cost breakdowns of U.S. club soccer put entry-level travel teams at roughly $1,200 to $2,500 a year in dues alone, mid-level competitive clubs at $2,500 to $4,500, and top-tier regional programs — the ECNL and MLS NEXT level — at $2,000 to $5,000 and beyond, depending on the market. Dues buy coaching, fields, league fees and administration, and they are real costs. They are simply not the only ones.

Next comes the uniform kit, typically $150 to $300 when a club requires families to buy through its official provider, plus cleats and training gear. Then tournament fees, often billed separately at a per-player share of roughly $300 to $800 a year. And then the line item that changes everything: travel. Cost guides that tally full seasons estimate a single away-tournament weekend at $300 to $600 per family once hotels, meals and fuel are counted, and four to six of those weekends add $1,200 to $3,600 a year — sometimes far more when flights are involved.

Put the stack together and the reported all-in totals for one competitive player generally land between roughly $2,600 on the modest end and $10,000 or more at the elite end, with private training add-ons — commonly priced per session in most markets — able to push a determined family’s year higher still. That range sits well above the $1,016 average the Aspen Institute’s Project Play survey found across all youth sports in 2024, which underlines the point: club soccer is not youth sports at average prices.

Before signing, ask the club four questions: What exactly do dues cover? Which tournaments are required, and how far away are they? Is there a payment plan or scholarship fund? What did families at this age group actually spend last year, all in? Good clubs answer those questions gladly. The families who love this sport the longest are the ones who walked in knowing the real number — and chose it with open eyes.

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We Speak Financials

Formula 1’s Money Boom in America

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16 hours ago

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October 27, 2026

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A generation ago, Formula 1 treated the United States as a nice place to visit. Today it treats America as the engine room. Three U.S. races, a Las Vegas event the sport promotes itself, and team values that now rival the biggest franchises in American sports tell a story that is less about lap times than about money — and the money is moving fast.

Start with the valuations. In Forbes’ November 2025 ranking of Formula 1’s most valuable teams, Ferrari led the grid at an estimated $6.5 billion, with Mercedes second at $6 billion and McLaren third at $4.4 billion. Across all ten teams, the average valuation reached $3.6 billion — up 89 percent since 2023, according to Forbes — and every single team on the grid was valued at $1.5 billion or more. A cost cap introduced in 2021 turned teams from spending contests into controlled businesses, and investors have priced them accordingly.

Then there is Las Vegas. Formula 1 did something in Vegas it does almost nowhere else: it promoted the race itself, buying land, building a permanent pit facility and collecting the ticket and hospitality revenue directly. The inaugural 2023 race generated an estimated $1.5 billion in total economic impact for the city, according to analysis by Applied Analysis reported by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, including $884 million in visitor spending — with attendees spending about 3.6 times more than the average Las Vegas visitor. The race drew a global television audience reported at 59.3 million.

The audience story backs up the asset story. The inaugural Las Vegas race pulled 1.3 million U.S. viewers on ESPN despite a 1 a.m. Eastern start, and the sport’s American calendar — Austin, Miami and Las Vegas — now gives sponsors three premium weekends on U.S. soil instead of one novelty stop.

Austin’s long-running race and Miami’s event, added in 2022, round out the American trio, giving teams, sponsors and broadcasters a season-long presence in the sport’s largest commercial market rather than a single annual visit.

Put it together and the boom explains itself: capped costs, soaring team values, a self-promoted American flagship race, and sponsors paying record rates to stand next to all of it. Formula 1 did not just find America. It found America’s wallet — and America’s investors found it right back.

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