ISSUE 4: There Goes The Money: Have High School Sports Gotten Too Expensive?

The money it takes to join a high school sport is piling up, has it gotten too much?

Annabelle Bulger, Fun Coordinator

May 9, 2025

One of our most expensive sports, flag football, celebrating another win.

According to USA Today High School Sports, only 22.2 percent of high school students in Florida participate in school sports. While this doesn’t include students who may do club sports and travel teams, this number reflects the slow decline in the participation and quality of high school athletics. Many factors contribute to this problem, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the ever-rising costs of simply being on a team that is keeping kids off the field.

Let’s start with the unavoidable, cost of equipment. According to EDUCounting, “a good quality lacrosse stick can cost anywhere between 100 and 300 dollars, and if you need other gear like cleats, a mouthguard, and gloves, the cost will only go up.” Football helmets can cost between 150 and 400 dollars, and each sport has its requirements, so if you play multiple sports, you have to buy various very expensive equipment. One such solution could be group and individual fundraising to help lessen the burden on families and donating used gear that could be sold for less to those who need it.

Onto the preventable, the cost of registering is almost ridiculous. Most teams have a registration fee, which can be anywhere from 30 to 100 dollars to simply join the team. Based on a survey done by APNews, the average cost-to-pay was 93 dollars, with 21% of students having to cough up upwards of 150 dollars just to register for the team. Not to mention some schools make you pay additional fees for anything from T-shirts to water bottles throughout the year, along with requiring you to get a physical that could run you an additional 40 dollars.

That’s only for the regular season as well. Larger scale games such as championships, district and national meets and playoffs often require most if all of the team to travel away from home, which brings on even more costs from paying the bus driver(if you use a school bus), hotel rooms if it’s an overnight event and other costs such as food and other necessities while the players are out of town. If a team is swimming in success, it seems like the players are drowning in fees and costs to keep playing. I understand that schools and leagues need money, but it’s already difficult for families to keep up with equipment costs and all the extra fluff keeps people who may alright be struggling to turn away from the team and even keep some out of bigger competitions.

The obvious solution is to bring more attention to team fundraisers to bring in more money that can then benefit the players who may need it. This can help offset the extra costs such as travel and paying coaches, which in turn helps keep the costs balanced for the school and players. However, this solution requires people like you to participate. A donation as small as 5 dollars can help pay for new equipment or to pay a referee, and if you are newly out of the sport, donating your old, usable gear can save someone an extra 150 dollars for the season.

High school sports are integral to the health and happiness of young people, offering chances to exercise, compete with their peers and learn essential life skills and mentalities. They can offer chances to go to college on scholarships and can help kids from lower income brackets achieve higher education they otherwise wouldn’t have had access to. Rising costs cut those who need and rely on sports the most out, it’s time we start paying attention to how much we pay to play, and for schools, coaches and districts to start working to bring back the financial accessibility of high school athletics.

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About the Contributor

Annabelle Bulger, Fun Coordinator

Annabelle Bulger is a senior at Robinson and this is her second year on staff. She is the Fun Coordinator for the Knight Writers. Bulger has been dancing since the age of three. She’s has done ballet, jazz, tap and musical theatre dance. She has lived in Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas, Washington, Texas and now resides in Florida. “Dancing has pretty much been one of the few constants in my life, no matter where I went, I had dance,” Bulger said. She has gone on a few adventures. Her mother would take her on hikes during her time in Washington state. She hated it initially, but she eventually began to enjoy it. She started to like hiking more when she realized how beautiful the landscapes were. “My favorite was hiking in Mount Rainier National Park, in Washington, in the summer of 2022,” she said. “I hope to travel more once I graduate, either to Europe, New York City, Yellowstone National Park, or Washington, D.C.” Bulger loves traveling and would love to travel and explore more places once she’s done with school and college. She also loves Journalism because it gives her the freedom and space to write about whatever she wants and gives her peace of mind. “I joined journalism because I always wanted to be a part of a school newspaper or yearbook, and I got suggested to Mrs. Webster as a staff writer. I love the energy of the class and how we work together to create our final product,” Bulger said. Annabelle plans to do more fundraisers and help build a positive environment in Newspaper. She wants to focus on expanding her portfolio to include more topics. “Last year I mainly wrote opinions and A&E, and this year I want to do more sports and news,” Bulger said. Bulger has always loved non-fiction books. Some of her favorites include Wright Thompson’s “The Cost of These Dreams” and Tom Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff.” “I loved the way these authors told their stories,” Bulger said, “and they continue to inspire how I approach my writing.” Bulger says Thompson and Wolfe are two of her biggest inspirations. After graduation, Bulger is pretty set on her plans after high school, as she has a plan for college and after college graduation. “I’m set on my future careers. I want to be an Air Force pilot and maybe once I retire, I’ll become a journalist or a screenwriter, I’ve always loved creating stories. I plan on pursuing an engineering career with some minor in either STEM or literature,” Bulger said.