Rising Talent, Rising Costs: The New Landscape of Youth Athletics
Anwar Stetson
Early in June, LeBron James commented that young athletes are spending too much time with personalized trainers and not enough time just playing basketball for fun. Draymond Green, on his podcast, took the conversation a step further.
“Basketball used to be a poor man’s game. Now it’s a rich kid game.”
Draymond’s point holds weight: basketball, like many sports, is increasingly becoming a game for the wealthy. While talent will always shine, the barriers for underprivileged athletes are growing higher, making it harder for them to reach the top.
Peaches to Hoop Dreams
Dr. James Naismith needed only a peach basket and a laced leather soccer ball to create the game of basketball in 1891. By the 1930s, the relatively simple sport had become one of the world’s most popular–with an aging Naismith attending the introduction of basketball at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Fast-paced, fun, and inexpensive, the game was accessible to nearly everyone.
Even before professional sports were integrated in the U.S., basketball was always considered the sport of working class minorities. Once called a “Jewish sport”, baseball legends like Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax–both working class children of Jewish immigrants, began as hoopers on the gritty streets and cramped gyms of New York City.
By the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, burgeoning stars like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and Elgin Baylor gave hope and inspiration to young and disenfranchised Black athletes wanting to enter the hoops world. By the early 90’s, seminal documentaries like Hoop Dreams gave mainstream America an in-depth look into the struggle, poverty, and pain of inner city stars fighting for a college scholarship and a chance at the NBA.
Stories of star athletes in all sports who came from humble beginnings, like LeBron James, Pele, Mike Tyson, and others, have crafted the idea that athletics is a rags-to-riches endeavor. The reality is becoming far different: Your chances of going pro are worse if you’re poor.
One study from Utah State University found poor children are actually six times more likely to quit sports than wealthier children because of the costs associated with playing. Another study, by Forbes, found that Black NBA players born in the 1980s were actually 30% less likely to be raised by a poor single mother. Now that youth sports is a multi-billion dollar industry, the “regular” kids can get left behind.
Family Business
The number of multi-generational pro athletes is also increasing. Even if they didn’t go pro, thousands of athletes have played at the college level, often meeting spouses who also had athletic careers. This creates an ecosystem of college-educated athletic families who help their children gain a physical and financial advantage in sports at an early age.
A 2015 Wall Street Journal report found 48% of NBA players, 17% of NFL players, and 14.5% of MLB players are related to an elite athlete.
One example is Dylan Harper, the number two pick in last week’s NBA draft. He’s the son of Chicago Bulls champion Ron Harper, who earned $34 million in his NBA career. Dylan’s mom Maria, was also a former athlete and served as his assistant coach in high school at New Jersey’s Don Bosco Prep.
Number one overall pick Cooper Flagg also had two parents who played college basketball, and consensus number one overall pick in the upcoming MLB draft is Ethan Holliday, son of Matt Holliday. Holliday made nearly $160 million in his lucrative baseball career.
Draymond Green himself has won championships with “rich kids”. Considered the greatest shooter of all time, his longtime teammate Steph Curry received invaluable training from his father, former Hornets sharpshooter Dell Curry.
The elder Curry not only made over $19 million in his NBA career, but he also gave Steph the knowledge, training, and help he needed to grow into one of the greatest players of all time. His “splash brother,” Klay Thompson, had a similar advantage, being the son of Laker Mychal Thompson and attending the wealthy Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Orange County, California.
17% of NFL players are related to an elite athlete, and the league has more than doubled its number of direct second-generation NFL athletes in the last 40 years, which is significant considering the NFL has three times as many players as the NBA. (over 1,600).
Simply put, the idea that athletes are poor inner-city kids is largely an old, incorrect stereotype from a bygone era. But for prep athletes, there is hope. If you’ve got the skill–the scouts will find you wherever you are.
Opportunities to Compete Remain
Unheralded and unknown not even five years ago, 76ers third overall pick VJ Edgecombe shed tears talking about the conditions he faced growing up in the Bahamas, living without consistent electricity. Despite averaging fewer than 20 points per game at Long Island Lutheran, Edgecombe’s great athleticism and championship mindset got him to Baylor, and now to the NBA.
Superstar Anthony Edwards was raised in a working-class neighborhood in Atlanta by his siblings after losing both his mother and grandmother to cancer in high school. He was able to skyrocket his profile without attending a nationally known prep school, and is known for playing Pop Warner football as a kid before focusing on basketball.
Many of the pros who do make it often give back with free camps in their communities.
Additionally, companies are getting involved to expand access to youth athletics. Fastbreak.AI and Adidas have started a partnership to expand access to camps and tournaments for 6,000 athletes, and digital platforms like Snap!Mobile have also allowed clubs to organize and fundraise for events more efficiently. Here at Prep Network, we run our “Grow the Dream” Scholarship to help make college athletics a possibility for local students who otherwise couldn’t afford the cost of tuition.
Finally, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals have grown at the high school level and may even become the norm as early as middle school, allowing prep athletes to take advantage of lucrative branding and sponsorships. While there is more competition than ever, there are also more opportunities for student-athletes to market themselves and earn real wages for all of their hard work.
While the financial challenges of competing in youth athletics have clearly grown, the talent, coverage, and investment in the industry have grown as well. With current pros giving back, companies stepping in, and NIL opportunities abound, we’re hopeful that we’ll continue to see more success stories like Ant and VJ in the future.