Over the last couple of weeks, my inbox has been flooded with emails from administrators at three different schools about my children’s registration, “meet the teacher night” and, most stressful of all, sports tryouts and/or sign-ups.
I’m suddenly remembering the afternoons of autumns past, wherein I was expected to be at three places at once, getting each of my three children to their team practices all at the exact same time and then home at the exact same time and an hour later. And I’m remembering the surprise fees of each activity, usually north of $100. And if it isn’t a flat-out registration fee requirement, it’s a requirement for buying softball pants or soccer cleats or basketball shorts. Often north of $100. But it’s worth it, in my mind, for the resilience, problem solving, and team cooperation that sports provide my children.
While the constant dropping off and picking up and paying random charges and buying lots of gear is annoying, I know I benefit from immense privilege because I am able to cover these expenses and have enough job flexibility to serve as chauffeur for my children from 2:30 to 6 p.m. But I know that there are many families who don’t have those luxuries. And many kids who have likely been priced out of participation.
And it’s not just anecdotal observation. Data shows the cost of youth sports has risen sharply in recent years. According to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, the average family spent $1,106 on their child’s primary sport in 2025. That’s a 46% increase from 2019.
Hanna Skandera Grady, CEO of the Colorado-based Daniels Fund, explained that participation is falling fastest among kids who can least afford to play, widening a gap in access. “Talent is universal, but opportunity is not,” she said.
Grady listed three drivers behind rising costs and shrinking access: the price of participation itself; the disappearance of neighborhood-based teams in favor of leagues that require significant travel, especially in rural areas; and competition from technology and screens for kids’ time. These are trends that a new statewide fundraising effort could help reverse.
The Daniels Fund has partnered with Miller Sports + Entertainment and the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation to launch Youth Sports Giving Day in Utah. The campaign aims to raise $3 million for youth sports nonprofits across Utah, with a two-week giving campaign launching Sept. 12 at a Salt Lake Bees game and lasting through Sept. 26.
Donors and family foundations partnering with the campaign have committed $1.5 million that will be used to match, dollar for dollar, whatever individual nonprofits raise from the community during the campaign, up to $150,000 per organization.
Jenny Teemsma, vice president of communications and community at Miller Sports + Entertainment, explained, “So say a group raises $150,000. We will match $150,000 and then they’ll have $300,000 towards their programming.”
Any 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose programming benefits youth sports is eligible, Teemsma said, whether that’s a soccer club, a running program or a high school booster club. The initiative has partnered with the Utah Nonprofit Association, which is offering training for groups that want to register as a 501(c)(3) in time for next year’s campaign. So far, 31 nonprofits have signed up to participate.
The list of eligible youth sports organizations goes well beyond the traditional lineup of basketball, soccer, football and baseball. Teemsma highlighted Carve On, a skateboarding-focused nonprofit her own son participates in that centers on mental health and resilience, and Girls on the Run, a running club for girls, as exceptional candidates for the initiative.
Utah’s Youth Sports Giving Day is an expansion of a program the Daniels Fund has run in Colorado. Over the past two years, the Colorado campaign has raised $9 million and benefited more than 240 youth sports organizations.
“I think Utah is going to give Colorado a run for its money,” Grady said, adding that her hope is for the campaign to raise at least $3 million more for youth sports in Utah than would have come in otherwise during that same window. “I think $3 million is a bold goal, and I think it’s a great start for Utah.”
It is a bold goal, but one both Teemsma and Grady believe is worth reaching for the impact it will have on Utah youth sports programs.
Teemsma explained, “There are so many benefits and memories and skills that kids learn through sports.” Grady, a former collegiate runner and coach who later played competitive beach volleyball added, “Sports do way more than create an awesome, fun, healthy experience. They teach those key things about winning and losing and teamwork and grit and perseverance and self-sufficiency.”
My hope is that this initiative will help ease the cost restrictions for parents all over the state, and for their kids, who will be able to enjoy the many benefits of participating in sports. And I’ll see you on the sidelines. Before I have to get to a different sideline in a different part of town in three minutes, that is.
