Hoops

What makes basketball so expensive for juniors?

@The Captain, I am guessing you are referring to a younger juniour age group there? When you say you have to pay to watch your kid play basketball, what level of basketball and where is it you are trying to compare with the football?

I would be interetsed to know specifically, it doesn't quite sound right to me...

Court hire is the biggest cost

As an side issue ,Ive been in many a stadium and watched quite a few persons just walk through not pay any fees( yes taken into account re-entries, coaches, parents roll in after kids ). Dont pigeon Hole the fee dodger ,they come in all manner of societies types .So did my own study( god yeah bored) whenever out on district games and now wonder if a turnstile with a bar code laminated ticket would be a good way to increase incomes collected ?

Thanks anon^, you are correct that the difference in the way each State runs its basketball operations varies so much in Australia it makes comparisons like this a nightmare...

A small comparison, in broad terms anyway, to justify some football expenses to that of some basketball expenses (generally speaking):

Associations
Football clubs usually have more autonomy and flexibility in the use and output in dollar terms to that of a basketball club. In basketball terms it is an Association that runs the competition, not necessarily the venue and clubs will play games there, where as in football the club is the main body under a bigger league made up of much bigger clubs than basketball (all with their own venue).

Benefits
The result is that football clubs can generate their own income, through meals, drinks, fundraising nights, chook raffles, poker machines, entry fees to games (much bigger crowds attending), sponsors etc...

They can control this aspect of income, basketball clubs generally have only a membership fee if at all, then some fundraising or sponsorship if they work at it.

Associations collect fees for membership, door entry and sponsors but most do not run their own canteen and will have massive ongoing fees, but some Associations are in control and do have more income generating options such as canteens, like HO states there are so many variations in basketball operations or structures.

For the average player/family person involved in these sports they have to pay to play and wear a uniform, but the difference in how much extra we pay for the privilage to play basketball lies in the 'middle man expenses'.

As stated in some of the above posts, basketball is a complex and multi-tiered organisation, far more so than football.

Basketball needs far more officiating and people to run games because there are far more games in shorter bursts and while overall participation numbers might be similar in some areas, teams are smaller and there are many more of them so costs are less spread among team mates than for football.

So many more areas to compare, but I won't try to do so here. Not even going down the track of training costs or just using a venue to have a run (you can always have a kick of the footy on an oval without being asked to shell out cash because of running costs to have the lights on).

'What makes basketball so expensive for juniors?'
Answer - 'Almost everything.'