All-Star Competition Fees/stp Costs

[cheermomforever]

I heard Worlds costs are going up also! Cutting back on hopper days too??! Anyone know....

 

[SthrnCheerMom]

Here's a subject that speaks to me...Now I don't know how it is for US based teams but for us in Canada, the choices are pretty much limited, unless of course you decide to plan your trip yourself.

We have 2 options (At our gym at least) :

1-World Packages witch includes your stay at the same Disney resort as your team (7 days, 6 nights) + Transportation from airport to hotel (Magical Express) + 3 day admission to ESPN WWOS + Access to charter bus (At Celebrity Hall) to take you to WWOS + 5 day Disney park hopper pass + Block Party.

To this, you have the choice to add the plane ticket or not.

All in all, depending on if you split your small Disney room with 3 (+/-1100$), 2 (1300$), 1 (1500$), or nobody (2300$) if you add the round trip (+/-750$) the total experience will cost you between 2000$ and 3000$ each person, not counting your kid for whom you have paid at the start of the year in the 5 or 6000$ for the season witch includes World's wether you make it or not...if you don't, you get to go on the trip but you don't hit the mat.

2-Same as 1st but without the plane ticket, witch is often what people take because you can get a trip to Orlando for far less than 750$. (i.e. Last year I paid 329$ round trip).

Of course, athletes get the same package minus the opportunity to take another plane but since it is in the price of their season, it's ok.

The option of planning my own trip from top to bottom doesn't appeal to me as much, even though almost every experienced parent at our gym does so...Renting a home or Villa between a couple of parents is much less costly but you have to rent a car for yourself (or split with everybody) plan all your moves with you gym's and World's schedule (that can change on the drop of a dime) deal with traffic, pay for parking and daily admission to WWOS etc etc, all that without seeing your kid once except when they're on the mat competing during all the duration of your stay.

Now what would be MY ideal package (Since I've now been to Disney 2 times in the last 2 year and seen every park or attraction) would be the stay near our team (i.e. Disney All Star Sports) + ESPN WWOS 3 day access + Charter. That's it.

5 day park hopper is great for those who can't get enough, the newbies and the kids, same goes for the Block Party.

For the sake of discussion, depending on where you're from (US, Europe, Canada) : What can you do without ? What is the all around cost at your gym ? Do you have options ? But mostly : What would be YOUR ideal Worlds Package ?

Thanks to the OP for the great subject, I was thinking about starting one myself but leeching on to yours is just as good ;)

Not Worlds but Summit. If the team is not going on a paid bid, I'd like to see the option of not getting the 3 day pass. Or maybe get a 2 day pass. It's just wasted money. She only was able to go 2 of the days. So 1 day was a waste. The team she is on this year has made it to finals every year for many years and won Summit this year. So chances are she won't get but 1 day. As parents, we didn't purchase a multi day park hopper. We were only planning on one day. But b/c they didn't make it to day 2, we went back to the park. I guess I would just like to see options to make it less expensive and wasteful.

 

[cheermomforever]

Not Worlds but Summit. If the team is not going on a paid bid, I'd like to see the option of not getting the 3 day pass. Or maybe get a 2 day pass. It's just wasted money. She only was able to go 2 of the days. So 1 day was a waste. The team she is on this year has made it to finals every year for many years and won Summit this year. So chances are she won't get but 1 day. As parents, we didn't purchase a multi day park hopper. We were only planning on one day. But b/c they didn't make it to day 2, we went back to the park. I guess I would just like to see options to make it less expensive and wasteful.

The thing is they don’t care that we would like to save $$...

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

The hopper passes (for HS nationals at least, are sold so cheaply that this issue doesn’t even really bother me. It did at first, but last year I had a kid lose her pass. She hadn’t taken a picture of it so I started trying to piece together what it would take to get her one. I had an option of buying another 3-day park hopper pass at the Varsity office for $300+ or buying a two-day one from Disney. I assumed 2 days would be cheaper. By the time it was all said and done, no about the same price.

Luckily we found a coach who was selling some, and got her one for $100.

 

[catlady]

I no longer think it's funny that kids and parents think these comp venues and leagues can just charge a few dollars and pay bills all in the name of Suzie and Bobby getting to do and have whatever they want.

1) Venues- land/building debt and interest on billion of dollars, maintenance, legal fees, utilities, employees, insurance/benefits, investing for economic downturn and future growth.
2) Varsity/EP's-all of the above plus travel for employees, storage and moving equipment, setting up/tearing down.
3) Gym owners- much of the above plus income lost for doors closed and employee travel.

Parents, you have to foot all those bill if that's what you want for your kids. Dreams of a $15 athlete fee, free spectator admission, free parking, and profit-free? And, then wonders why no one listens. Less travel is the most obvious way to lower prices in youth sports and especially to venues in cities where the whole tax structure has been built around tourism and forcing people to buy park hoppers or stay at hotels within their city tax limits to get their venue.

Parents are going to have to provide realistic ideas. What about a combined division scoring system during the months of Nov-April so teams can have competition at local or closer comps? One true National at the end? Or, what about having an on-line, big screen competition option at these small events that have fewer competitors in the fringe divisions through the months of Nov-April? More reasonable expectations on practice wear, costumes (they're no longer truly uniforms) and bows, snacks, team apparel, team bonding/dinners, spray tans, team nails, posh ponies, goodie bags, ....

 

[Knowcheering]

They will never drop the park hopper pass because that's how they make all the $$$$$. It's not about the cheerleading, it's about Disney World making a lot of money.

The Summit was never a good idea. Suzy doesn't need an annual end-of-the-year Disney World trip with her Level 1 team. All it's doing is pricing out more families. By the time the kids get to high school, families are broke and haven't been on a real vacation in years. And for what? The beginner levels of cheer? The Summit wouldn't be necessary if there weren't 3894 fake Nationals with 485 divisions and 192 division splits at each Nationals. If there was a more legitimate competition circuit, people wouldn't have to keep going to Disney World all the darn time. The fact that some gyms travel far distances for both UCA Nationals and Summit boggle my mind. It's the same park hopping nonsense twice.

 

[CoachTamara]

I no longer think it's funny that kids and parents think these comp venues and leagues can just charge a few dollars and pay bills all in the name of Suzie and Bobby getting to do and have whatever they want.

1) Venues- land/building debt and interest on billion of dollars, maintenance, legal fees, utilities, employees, insurance/benefits, investing for economic downturn and future growth.
2) Varsity/EP's-all of the above plus travel for employees, storage and moving equipment, setting up/tearing down.
3) Gym owners- much of the above plus income lost for doors closed and employee travel.

Parents, you have to foot all those bill if that's what you want for your kids. Dreams of a $15 athlete fee, free spectator admission, free parking, and profit-free? And, then wonders why no one listens. Less travel is the most obvious way to lower prices in youth sports and especially to venues in cities where the whole tax structure has been built around tourism and forcing people to buy park hoppers or stay at hotels within their city tax limits to get their venue.

Parents are going to have to provide realistic ideas. What about a combined division scoring system during the months of Nov-April so teams can have competition at local or closer comps? One true National at the end? Or, what about having an on-line, big screen competition option at these small events that have fewer competitors in the fringe divisions through the months of Nov-April? More reasonable expectations on practice wear, costumes (they're no longer truly uniforms) and bows, snacks, team apparel, team bonding/dinners, spray tans, team nails, posh ponies, goodie bags, ....

To me the big issue is that it WAS reasonable before, and you can't make me believe that venues and costs have doubled or tripled for the exact same event with the exact same seat up. It hasn't, but admission prices sure have. None of this has to do with costs, it has to do with making more money. Jamfest events used to be free for spectators. Imagine how much they make charging admission now. They would not have allowed free spectators before if they weren't still making money, so now they are just making thousands more with no more actual work or improvement to their event.

As long as coaches and owners do it, it will continue. Don't even get me started on Summit.

 

[cheermomforever]

To me the big issue is that it WAS reasonable before, and you can't make me believe that venues and costs have doubled or tripled for the exact same event with the exact same seat up. It hasn't, but admission prices sure have. None of this has to do with costs, it has to do with making more money. Jamfest events used to be free for spectators. Imagine how much they make charging admission now. They would not have allowed free spectators before if they weren't still making money, so now they are just making thousands more with no more actual work or improvement to their event.

As long as coaches and owners do it, it will continue. Don't even get me started on Summit.

Also when my daughter began AS, she wasn’t required to buy new practice gear every year, uniforms were moderately priced because they were athletic and non blinged out, and new a t-shirt/practice gear wasn’t required for certain comps either....so it’s not just the venues and their fees!

 

[catlady]

To me the big issue is that it WAS reasonable before, and you can't make me believe that venues and costs have doubled or tripled for the exact same event with the exact same seat up. It hasn't, but admission prices sure have. None of this has to do with costs, it has to do with making more money. Jamfest events used to be free for spectators. Imagine how much they make charging admission now. They would not have allowed free spectators before if they weren't still making money, so now they are just making thousands more with no more actual work or improvement to their event.

As long as coaches and owners do it, it will continue. Don't even get me started on Summit.

We began in 2010, and I will agree, the costs were fairly reasonable. However, cheer is dealing with two industries (Venues and Varsity) that are coming into play. From 2007-2012 the housing crash was going on and travel was cheap, because business and families had cut it out of their budgets for the most part. Around 2013-2014, business travel had greatly increased along with family travel entering a better economy. Many of these cities have done major renovations to their cities to compete for that business, and in finance, it has been THE topic of growth in the US. Convention centers, sport parks, and hotel renovations and construction boomed, which now means we're not just footing the bills for demand, but also all of those billions in renovations. Then, you have Varsity coming off of some major acquisitions and being acquired by an equity group. All I will say to that is, Bain Capital is the master of that universe now.

Parents in every youth sport are complaining about the exact same things, including FloSports. The articles are endless on this topic:

How Youth Sports Became Big Business
FloSports adds $47 million more in funding, led by Discovery
Strong growth in business travel spending predicted through to 2022 Business Traveller
Booming Global Travel And Tourism Is Driving Economies And Job Growth Despite U.S.-China Trade Strains
U.S. Travel's Outlook, SEPTEMBER 2019
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/feature/new-and-renovated-meeting-spaces-compete-for.html
What a Convention Center Adds to a City: Successful Meetings

 

[catlady]

Sorry for the double post, but I pulled a handful of expansion, renovation, and new construction going on in Atlanta the past five years. You aren't just paying for the GWCC, you are paying for all this as well:

ATL airport- $6 billion expansion
MARTA transit- $2.7 billion expansion and improvements
Suntrust Park (new Braves stadium)-$622 million
High Museum-$124 million
GA aquarium- $100 million expansion
Georgia World Congress Center-$55 million expansion
Hawks Arena (new) adjacent to Georgia International Convention Center-$42 million
Peach Tree Center- $25 million
Hospitality (hotels, shopping, zoo) 2019-<click here> $188 million

You don't have to use them, but you are paying for them when you use their venues. Disney just opened Galaxy Edge at a cost of $1 billion, they're doing an expansion of Epcot for $1 billion, they built a cheer venue at ESPN, plus all of these 2019-2021
<click here > A great book: "Convention Center Follies: Politics, Power, and Public Investment in American Cities" It will open your eyes to what you are actually paying for when you use a Convention Center.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

They will never drop the park hopper pass because that's how they make all the $$$$$. It's not about the cheerleading, it's about Disney World making a lot of money.

The Summit was never a good idea. Suzy doesn't need an annual end-of-the-year Disney World trip with her Level 1 team. All it's doing is pricing out more families. By the time the kids get to high school, families are broke and haven't been on a real vacation in years. And for what? The beginner levels of cheer? The Summit wouldn't be necessary if there weren't 3894 fake Nationals with 485 divisions and 192 division splits at each Nationals. If there was a more legitimate competition circuit, people wouldn't have to keep going to Disney World all the darn time. The fact that some gyms travel far distances for both UCA Nationals and Summit boggle my mind. It's the same park hopping nonsense twice.

you just spoke from the very core of my soul.

 

[JerseyGirl112]

Coming back to this after spending some time on instagram today. I read a few posts on those insta anon accounts talking about whether or not school cheer was a sport. And the overwhelming majority of comments on these posts were from younger kids saying that school cheer is a sport because it's the best alternative they can afford to all star. So many comments of young girls and boys stating how much they wished they could do all star, but just cannot afford it. Not only is this heartbreaking as someone who loves the sport, but from a business perspective it's terrifying. How many tens of thousands of potential customers have been priced out of the sport during what could have been its biggest period of growth? All-star Cheerleading has become akin to horseback rising, something only the affluent can afford. It's something we've all talked about for years but after today I see that it's happened already. The cost of entry is too high for beginners and intermediates alike. I know why, cat lady has done a great job of explaining that repeatedly. So the question is how do we save this sport? What can consumers do 'vote with our money' and help to lower these costs?

 

[BlueCat]

Coming back to this after spending some time on instagram today. I read a few posts on those insta anon accounts talking about whether or not school cheer was a sport. And the overwhelming majority of comments on these posts were from younger kids saying that school cheer is a sport because it's the best alternative they can afford to all star. So many comments of young girls and boys stating how much they wished they could do all star, but just cannot afford it. Not only is this heartbreaking as someone who loves the sport, but from a business perspective it's terrifying. How many tens of thousands of potential customers have been priced out of the sport during what could have been its biggest period of growth? All-star Cheerleading has become akin to horseback rising, something only the affluent can afford. It's something we've all talked about for years but after today I see that it's happened already. The cost of entry is too high for beginners and intermediates alike. I know why, cat lady has done a great job of explaining that repeatedly. So the question is how do we save this sport? What can consumers do 'vote with our money' and help to lower these costs?

I would encourage all parents to be more vocal with the gym owners and coaches and share that they do NOT want to go on ultra-expensive year-end events and chase bids. Gym owners generally try to do what they believe their customers want and many fear cancelling Summit or other events for fear that customers will jump ship. If they know that many customers really do NOT want to spend that kind of money, they will be more likely to pass on those pricier events and take the program to events with less travel and better value.

It is incredibly rare that I talk to a gym owner that really wants to go to those Disney venues, but they generally feel they have to to keep their customers happy. (It is expensive for the gyms also - plus the qualifying events have raised their entry fees a huge amount also.)

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

Coming back to this after spending some time on instagram today. I read a few posts on those insta anon accounts talking about whether or not school cheer was a sport. And the overwhelming majority of comments on these posts were from younger kids saying that school cheer is a sport because it's the best alternative they can afford to all star. So many comments of young girls and boys stating how much they wished they could do all star, but just cannot afford it. Not only is this heartbreaking as someone who loves the sport, but from a business perspective it's terrifying. How many tens of thousands of potential customers have been priced out of the sport during what could have been its biggest period of growth? All-star Cheerleading has become akin to horseback rising, something only the affluent can afford. It's something we've all talked about for years but after today I see that it's happened already. The cost of entry is too high for beginners and intermediates alike. I know why, cat lady has done a great job of explaining that repeatedly. So the question is how do we save this sport? What can consumers do 'vote with our money' and help to lower these costs?

Yep. The leading incentive to do HS cheer is because it’s cheaper (at least at CA public schools, where we cannot charge for ANYTHING because of a lawsuit a few years back). Up until recently we could claim crowdleading as something kids couldn’t get from AS, but the addition of the Global division has changed that.

So... gotta be frank, little concerned about the sport I was brought up in. AS was barely a thing when I was a kid, and frankly... it was where you went if you werent good enough for your HS team. Things have changed so much and while I’m glad AS has fostered these incredible skills in kids that were literally unheard of when I was young, they shouldn’t be available only to those who can literally afford it. It kills me when I see these incredible natural athletes prevented from landing any college cheer scholarship they want because the cost of practice wear makes putting them in a strong program an impossibility for their parents.

 

[Mndl]

CP’s gym has never been big on going to Summit and only started accepting bids a year or two ago. A couple teams went last year but all it did was solidify Summit dislike-lol. Her team has already decided that with UCA on the schedule they don’t want to go back again in May and I’m thrilled about that choice! It’s possible that some teams not going to UCA might try for bids but the general feeling I get from parents is ‘no thanks’