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You cant compare high school baseball to private sector tennis. I'm speaking in reference to the private leagues in both sports. High School sports do not cost anything for any sports outside of what the individual chooses to purchase on their own. So you have to compare private to private...
But that's not true. High school programs generally do not provide racquets. They do not pay to have racquets strung. At the most, they will provide balls and might provide transportation (and even that's iffy). That's usually it. In high school baseball, the schools are usually providing all of the equipment. Given the disparate funding between the two sports, you are going to have higher barriers to entry in tennis.
So you have a situation where parents are shouldering almost all of the cost whether their kids are playing high school or USTA Juniors. There is no way to play tennis that does not require you as an individual to purchase some very pricey equipment. You can play baseball, on the other hand, without having to fork out money for balls, a uniform, a bat, a catcher's mask or any of that stuff. In some places, the school districts will even pay for the cleats.
Baseball, on the whole, is a far more accessible sport to most people at various points along the economic spectrum. That's why you hear about kids rising from impoverished villages in the Dominican Republic to become superstar shortstops and very little about kids rising from the favelas of Rio or the ghettos of Berlin to assume an ATP Tour's Top 10 ranking.
Here's an exercise... I went to Dick's Sporting Goods website. Picked the basic pieces of equipment for each sport and chose the best sellers... which would give us the best avg cost. Baseball equipment is clearly higher... even if you buy two tennis racquets and only 1 baseball.
Tennis:
Prince O3 Hybrid Pink Tennis Racquet $99.99 x 2
HEAD ATP Pro Series Tennis Bag $39.99
Wilson Championship Tennis Balls (3) $2.59
Nike Men's City Court VII Tennis Shoe $54.99
GAMMA Zo Power 16L Reel $229.99 Total Cost: $527.54
Baseball:
Easton S1 BBCOR Baseball Bat 2012 (-3) $399.99
Wilson 11.25" A2000 Series Glove $219.99
Nike Men's Air Swingman Remix Molded Baseball Cleat $54.99
Easton Synergy II Wheeled Bag $59.99
Easton Senior Natural Grip Two-Tone Batting Helmet $44.99
Rawlings Pony League Baseball $4.99 Total Cost: $784.94
But that's not true. High school programs generally do not provide racquets. They do not pay to have racquets strung. At the most, they will provide balls and might provide transportation (and even that's iffy). That's usually it. In high school baseball, the schools are usually providing all of the equipment. Given the disparate funding between the two sports, you are going to have higher barriers to entry in tennis.
High school does not provide baseball bats... Nor the glove! And bats are more expensive, even with the stringing. But the glove trumps that cost! And when I was in high school they did not provide the travel... which was a long time ago.
Don't even start on the empoverished argument. Tennis is not accessible but that doesnt mean it's because of cost always (the popularity has a lot to do with that). Of course you don't need much to play baseball. But you dont need much to play tennis either. If you wanna do either competitively then you are looking at tons of costs... And baseball is more. at the lowest level sure it is cheaper. But at the highest levels it is more expensive.
Back to my original point... Tennis is not an expensive sport relative to football and baseball... And since the numbers are smaller who particpate in the sport it just seems like it is more expensive.
Another difference between tennis and most other sports played in the US. How many tennis players (college or professional) played on a high school team versus basketball, football or baseball players?
Monica Seles also played at the Bollitieri Academy, which is a measley $60,000 per year school where your life literally revolves around tennis. Monica Seles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Here's an exercise... I went to Dick's Sporting Goods website. Picked the basic pieces of equipment for each sport and chose the best sellers... which would give us the best avg cost. Baseball equipment is clearly higher... even if you buy two tennis racquets and only 1 baseball.
Tennis:
Prince O3 Hybrid Pink Tennis Racquet $99.99 x 2
HEAD ATP Pro Series Tennis Bag $39.99
Wilson Championship Tennis Balls (3) $2.59
Nike Men's City Court VII Tennis Shoe $54.99
GAMMA Zo Power 16L Reel $229.99 Total Cost: $527.54
Baseball:
Easton S1 BBCOR Baseball Bat 2012 (-3) $399.99
Wilson 11.25" A2000 Series Glove $219.99
Nike Men's Air Swingman Remix Molded Baseball Cleat $54.99
Easton Synergy II Wheeled Bag $59.99
Easton Senior Natural Grip Two-Tone Batting Helmet $44.99
Rawlings Pony League Baseball $4.99 Total Cost: $784.94
Really? You pick the "Prince O3 Hybrid Pink" racquet for $99 and the $400 baseball bat. That's being fair.
There's one thing that completely separates tennis from baseball: the fact that it's an individual sport. So when you're traveling from tournament to tournament, there is no team bus. It's you and your mom or dad driving in your own personal vehicle, renting a car, or flying. And there are no teammates to split hotel costs with. It's going to be you and your parents.
It is because of cost. As an individual, you are paying far more to play tennis than most sports, including baseball. Public transit is also more costly than tennis, but the average person pays a lot less to ride a subway than they would to play tennis.
Supporting a junior tennis star is a hardship for most American families," Seena Hamilton, the Easter Bowl Junior Tennis Championships' founder and organizer, said. "Our survey suggests that the costs are prohibitive for the middle class as more and more of their kids are being barred economically from training and competition.
Duh.
Quote:
In all, 31.3% said their annual training expenses cost more than $10,000 and 40.3% said their families spent between $5,000 and $10,000. Only 4.3% of the youngsters said their costs were under $2,500.
Ok u posted a link that says tennis is 10K... I posted one that says baseball cost 11K.
So who's right?
PS... Nice touch with the arbitrary quote from whoever saying Tennis is expensive. That really proves Tennis is more expensive than baseball.
I will say it again... I NEVER said Tennis was not expensive. You are just trying to say baseball is not. And that sir... is just NOT TRUE!
The touch of random percentages is even better.. 40% of what? O... All 5 people surveyed. Wow... That's a lot then! for every 5 people playing Tennis there are 50 playing baseball. That means only 10% of families have to spend the same amount on baseball for the cost to be the same. Yet there are another 90% who may spend just a tad less. It's obvious that baseball is more expensive.
In addition... Here is an article that has an actual parent of a 9 year old who details the 4K he is spending on his son playing baseball. 9 years old!!! Imagine what age 15 is like...
"In fees alone, we are looking at $1,500. That includes uniforms and what we have to pay for each tournament. That does not include the park fees. Just this weekend it cost me $35 to get into my own baseball park for the tournament we hosted. It's $5 for each adult and $3 for each kid for every single day you go -- it doesn't matter that I'm the parent driving my player there, I still have to pay. This upcoming weekend we'll spend several hundred dollars on hotel rooms, food and gas. In July we'll head to Panama City, Florida, for an entire week to play baseball. That is also not included in the cost and is essentially our summer vacation. You also need to factor in costs for baseball bats (we went through two last year, approximately $450), cups, chest shields, you name"
Guess the public doesnt really pay the park fees as you said... huh? this email sounds alot like what I already said.
"Baseball and softball equipment accounted for $488 million in wholesale sales in 2010, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Cleats and uniforms drive the total sales over $1 billion. Youth equipment represents the highest percentage of sales, particularly bat sales, as the parent willing to buy a $200, 28-inch bat for a 9-year-old is likely to pay the same price for a 30-inch bat for a 10-year-old the next season."
"
PS... Nice touch with the arbitrary quote from whoever saying Tennis is expensive. That really proves Tennis is more expensive than baseball.
And your hypothetical comes closer? Not every player in a high school dugout will own a bat or buy a uniform (I played baseball for six years and never owned a bat or a helmet). The one item that a typical high school player will have to own is a glove. Your average high school tennis player, on the other hand, will have to buy at least two racquets. Since schools almost NEVER pay for the equipment, individual players must bear of all the costs, which makes tennis a much more cost prohibitive sport for the average person than baseball.
This explains why you have little league teams full of little brown boys hailing from the poorest neighborhoods in the Bronx. Tennis players, on the other hand, come from almost exclusively upper middle class backgrounds. It's not that tennis is wildly popular among the upper classes whereas baseball appeals to the masses. It's simply that the equipment is expensive and has to be replaced often, and without subsidies, it's just not feasible for regular kids. Most children cannot afford competitive tennis, particularly at its highest reaches.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. GE
In addition... Here is an article that has an actual parent of a 9 year old who details the 4K he is spending on his son playing baseball. 9 years old!!! Imagine what age 15 is like...
What you should find is an article stating that "the cost of baseball effectively bars middle class families from competition." That would be the equivalent of the article I posted. But you're probably not going to find that because that's a ridiculous notion. Any kid who wants to be competitive in baseball can play on his high school team just as Derek Jeter, Gary Sheffield, Pete Rose, Alex Rodriguez, Tony Gwynn, Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Bo Jackson, Chase Utley, Reggie Jackson, Randy Johnson, Mike Piazza, Bobby Bonilla, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Curt Schilling, Scott Rolen, Bobby Abreu, Andre Dawson, Kirby Puckett, Eddie Murray, Mark Grace, Greg Maddox, Kerry Wood, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens all did.
Money will never be an obstacle for any farm boy or kid from the barrio aspiring to make it to the Big Leagues.
A family, however, would spend a fortune trying to get their child to the comparable level in tennis.
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