Hockey is an expensive sport. I have been saying for years that it is the new “sport of kings”. With the costs of equipment alone, hockey becomes less inviting for new players to enter the game, and even more expensive for current players to reap the benefits of years dedicated to playing.
For nearly one hundred years, much of junior hockey was “free to play” or players were actually paid a modest amount to play.
One hundred years is a long time. One hundred years ago a loaf of bread cost 7 cents. A paid of shoes cost between $3.00 and $5.00, $70.00 to $116.00 in today’s dollars. Gas cost approximately 15 cents a gallon.
In 1916 a City in New Hampshire spent $100 to build two ice rinks for “children to use” for “ice hockey”.
Professional level skates cost $7.00, gloves $2.00, shin pads $1.00, and goalie pads around $4.50 a set. Today, you cant buy a cup of coffee in some places for $7.00.
Today, we spend a lot of money for equipment, training, camps, ice fee’s and on advisers. Like any business though, there is a cost associated with every opportunity. What cost $7.00 one hundred years ago cost’s $1000.00 today.
Many complain about the costs, understandably so. Understanding where the money goes is hard. Does anyone believe a paid of skates costs more than a few hundred bucks to make including all the best materials? Probably not. But we forget all those millions NHL players are getting for endorsement deals and that money has to come from someplace.
So now, with pay to play hockey spreading to every level of the game, there are more complaints. One thing that everyone needs to understand is that “free to play” junior hockey developed one hundred years ago is not sustainable in todays economy. As much as our costs to play have risen, operators costs to provide the team to play on have risen.
Tradition is hard to break, or acknowledge when it is time for tradition to go away.
Many refuse to accept that Tier II hockey will all eventually become pay to play. Its already happening in Canada, and as much as no one wants to admit it, it will eventually happen in the United States.
Free to play hockey will become the realm of the super elite athlete. And it should be that way.
Nothing else in life is free, so why, when we are willing to pay for any other goods and services we receive are we unwilling to pay for hockey at a certain point? Tradition.
If operating costs for junior teams have in some cases risen nearly one thousand percent in one hundred years, and income for those same operations has only risen four hundred percent, you have a six hundred percent price differential that becomes a loss.
Ice time isn’t free. Busses aren’t free. Jerseys aren’t free. Hotels, meals, tape, and everything else associated with operating a team costs money.
Its time to stop pushing back against paying for what you receive. Nothing in life is free. If you want something, you pay for it one way or another. Even if you’re willing to walk away from playing, its time to accept the fact that team owners have to start charging. Since when is anyone entitled to anything for free?
Just because something used to be, doesn’t mean it was meant to be, or that it should be. Maybe, we would all be better off complaining about how much our professional athletes are making in endorsements? Maybe if sticks, skates and everything else weren’t so expensive we wouldn’t complain about how much the opportunity to play is? That would make too much sense though because we all want to see which player is using which gear don’t wee?
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
