Josh Meadows told me something this week that I haven't been able to shake. Some leagues sell families an eight-game season and only guarantee six. Rainouts and forfeits eat the rest, and nobody gets a dollar back. He was talking about North Texas. I've heard the same story from parents in other states and other countries, with different numbers and the same shrug.
I'm not here to say clubs are robbing people. I've been around this long enough to know what a season costs to run. Fields aren't cheap anywhere, referees aren't free, and a good coach who shows up four nights a week deserves to be paid like it. Mario Iveljic made the same point on the show: somebody has to pay for the coaches and the fields, and in most places that somebody is the parent. Fine.
I can live with pay-to-play.
What I can't live with is paying for something nobody will define. Families should be demanding transparency, and most of us never do.
Ask most families what their fee covers and you'll get a shrug. Practices a week? Depends on the coach. Games? "Around eight." Tournaments? Extra.
Uniform? Extra. Camps? Extra, but strongly suggested. The one number that's never fuzzy is the one on the invoice.
So here's my position. Every club and league that charges a season fee should put one page in front of families before they pay: the number of league games guaranteed, the number of practices, who coaches and how often, and what happens when a game doesn't get played. And if the games don't happen, credit them. Not a sorry email. A credit on next season or money back.
The pushback I expect is that clubs can't control the weather, and they can't control a team that quits the league in week four. That's true. It's also the reason to write it down. If you only guarantee six games, say six, and price it like six. The problem isn't that games get lost.
The problem is selling eight, delivering six, and acting like the family should have known.
I'll go one further. If a club is honest about what you're buying, that honesty is worth more than the badge on the jersey. Mario's line sticks with me here: a lot of families are paying for trophies and a logo when what they think they're paying for is development. A club that can tell you exactly what your money buys has probably thought about what it's actually selling.
There are clubs already doing this, here and in plenty of other places. They publish their calendar before the season, they tell you the practice-to-game ratio, and when a weekend gets rained out they add a date instead of a shrug. They don't lose families to the big-badge club down the road, either. People stay where they're treated like customers.
Parents, this one's on us too. We ask about the coach, the league and the travel. We don't ask what happens to our money when the schedule falls apart. Demand the page. Ask what's guaranteed, ask what happens when it isn't, and get it in writing before you sign.
A club that won't tell you is telling you something.
How many of the games you paid for last season actually got played?
Ian
Host, Chat By The Pitch
Hear the full conversations: Josh Meadows (episode 192) on Spotify and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRx4X1_JZ1A. Mario Iveljic (Part 1) on Spotify and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Li4z5YmNiU
