Every spring I open my registration invoice and feel the same slow burn. Another four-figure bill. And the conversation that follows is always the same — clubs are greedy, Europe does it for almost nothing, the system is broken.
But after spending a lot of time thinking about this, I've come to believe the popular framing is mostly wrong. The clubs aren't running a racket. And the solution isn't as simple as "just make it cheaper."
In this post I break down both sides of the equation — the cultural demand that drives prices up, the supply-side consolidation that keeps competition out, and why the European comparison doesn't hold up the way people think it does.
