{"id":3680,"date":"2026-07-18T12:37:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T12:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3680"},"modified":"2026-07-18T12:37:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T12:37:35","slug":"u-s-soccer-star-landon-donovan-was-raised-by-a-single-mom-and-said-he-wouldnt-break-though-today-because-youth-sports-have-gotten-too-expensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3680","title":{"rendered":"U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan was raised by a single mom and said he wouldn\u2019t break though today because youth sports have gotten too expensive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a recent episode of the The Late Run<\/em> podcast, the all-time leading scorer for the United States Men\u2019s National Team explained that the early stages of his career were contingent upon outside benefactors sponsoring his participation in high-level youth sports, such as a club or travel teams. Donovan played in three FIFA World Cups for the U.S. team and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2023.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGrowing up, there is zero chance I could have played club soccer,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cMy mom made $34,000 a year as a single mom raising three kids. She couldn\u2019t pay $4,000 for me to play club soccer\u2014are you kidding? She couldn\u2019t pay $400.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cSomebody let me on the team and paid for me,\u201d he added. \u201cOtherwise, I couldn\u2019t have. That\u2019s not a good system to create good players. How do you create good players by doing that? You can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youth sports have become increasingly expensive to participate in, with costs soaring 46% from 2019 to 2025, according to a 2025 Aspen Institute report. By some calculations, travel soccer leagues can set a family back by up to $15,000 for year-round coaching and travel.<\/p>\n

Beyond club fees and uniforms becoming more expensive, travel is the largest expense for families putting their kids through youth sports, Tom Farrey, executive director of the Aspen Institute\u2019s Sports & Society program, told The Athletic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The exorbitant costs of participating in club sports, not just soccer, isn\u2019t just detrimental to kids with dreams of scoring goals for Team U.S.A. in the World Cup. It risks shutting talent out of the sport and weakening a pipeline for gifted but less-resourced players who could someday bolster professional teams.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. sporting world \u201cis not a youth-centered or a talent-development system,\u201d Farrey said. \u201cIt\u2019s primarily a system set up to use kids to make money for adults.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the cost to play, youth sports participation in the U.S. has remained high, with about 55.4% of youths aged 6-17 playing a sport as of 2023, according to federal data. <\/p>\n

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However, the way organized sports in America are set up creates the need for equipment, referees, and travel, but little way to subsidize those costs.\u00a0The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 prohibits the U.S. government from funding any Olympic sport, meaning the organizations that emerged to create amateur sports teams were usually in higher-income areas. <\/p>\n

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High demand for clubs means various leagues\u2014such as MLS Next, USL, NPL, and Girls Academy\u2014charge higher costs, arguing they are able to offer prospective players a shot at honing their talent.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s on top of private equity firms taking interest in youth sports. In 2023, Swedish private equity firm EQT acquired the sports-oriented boarding school IMG Academy Bradenton, Fla., for $1.25 billion. For the school, the deal means greater access to global athletes, particularly rising football and tennis stars. But with high tuition and the need to demonstrate strong returns, these private equity projects could price out many families.<\/p>\n

While Donovan did not disclose who paid his club fees, he began his sporting journey in earnest at IMG Academy, formerly called Bradenton Academy, supported through the U-17 national team\u2019s residency program. <\/p>\n

He had his big break at age 16, when he signed a six-year contract with Bayer Leverkusen, a German club competing in the Bundesliga, for more than $1 million. The team loaned him to the San Jose Earthquakes, where he began his MLS career. Donovan suggested he wants other kids to be able to find the same support he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about how many kids you\u2019re missing out on in this country because they can\u2019t afford to play the game,\u201d he said. \u201cThe clubs are winning, and the kids are losing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat’s not a good system to create good players,\u201d Donovan, a three-time FIFA World Cup participant, said. \u201cHow do you create good players by doing that?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nU.S. soccer star Landon Donovan was raised by a single mom and said he wouldn\u2019t break though today because youth sports have gotten too expensive - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3680\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan was raised by a single mom and said he wouldn\u2019t break though today because youth sports have gotten too expensive - 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