Lately, I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about kids’ sports — and how much they’ve changed since I was a kid. Over the last five years, the cost of participating in youth sports has skyrocketed 46%. Families are squeezed: high sign-up costs, surprise tournament fees, requirements to stay in certain hotels to play in tournaments, costly gear and uniform packages, and even having to pay to stream a kids’ hockey game from the rink!
I heard about a lot of this at a town hall event I held in Green Tree in early April. What was once an affordable, community-based tradition has morphed into a $40 billion industry dominated by giant corporations and private equity, with the singular goal of extracting as much profit as possible from families.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy and I are both dads to young kids in sports, so we partnered up to address this issue head-on. Last week in Congress, we introduced the Let Kids Play Act to ban private equity from youth sports and keep this part of the American Dream alive for the next generation of kids.
The bill would focus on making youth sports less of a ripoff for families in Western Pennsylvania and across America. In addition to banning private equity from youth sports, it would get refunds back to families for junk fees and would collect all penalty fees into a new Youth Sports Fund to provide scholarships and keep local fields and facilities open for free community use. Plus, families would gain the legal standing to sue these bad actors for the damage they’ve caused.
I went to Washington and helped start up the Monopoly Busters Caucus in Congress to do this exact kind of work: take on the corporate power weakening the American Dream and making life a ripoff.
Sports should be a sacred part of childhood. Instead, big money vultures turned it into a luxury item and put it out of reach for far too many families. I’m proud to lead the Let Kids Play Act to give every kid a shot to play again.
In addition, My team and I are always here to help you and your family with issues related to federal agencies. My team works in three offices across our region — and they are ready to help.
Our flagship office recently moved to the Carnegie Municipal Building at 1 Veterans Way, Suite 204, Carnegie, PA and is open weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Carnegie office phone number is still 412-344-5583. My Beaver County office is open on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 3468 Brodhead Road, Suite 1, Monaca, PA 15061. You can reach the Beaver County Office at 724-206-4860.
My Penn Hills District Office, at 77 Universal Road, Suite 1, Penn Hills, PA 15235, is staffed from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Penn Hills phone number is 412-344-5583.
For more on my work in Congress, sign up for my e-newsletter at deluzio.house.gov, follow me on social media @RepDeluzio or call my office at 412-344-5583.
Very respectfully,
Chris Deluzio
Member of Congress
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