{"id":25029,"date":"2026-07-09T14:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=25029"},"modified":"2026-08-13T10:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:01:26","slug":"merkley-joins-push-to-kick-private-equity-out-of-kids-sports-and-stop-the-ripoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-joins-push-to-kick-private-equity-out-of-kids-sports-and-stop-the-ripoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley Joins Push to\u00a0Kick Private Equity Out of Kids’ Sports and Stop the Ripoffs\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington DC - <\/strong>Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley announced he joined Senate and House lawmakers in supporting the Let Kids Play Act<\/em>, legislation to stop Wall Street from pricing kids out of sports. The proposed legislation bans private equity firms from taking over youth sports, shutting down the vulture practices they use to jack up costs, and getting money back to the families who have been ripped off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cBillionaire Wall Street executives are exploiting sports for profit,\u201d <\/strong>dijo Merkley. \u201cInstead of fostering work ethic and sportsmanship, private equity is focused on making money from an essential part of childhood. Let\u2019s kick these greedy corporations out of kids\u2019 sports to restore the dream of athletics for millions of youth across America.\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Over the last decade, youth sports have become prohibitively expensive. What was once an affordable, community-based tradition to give kids a chance to have fun and challenge themselves, has morphed into a $40 billion industry dominated by private equity, with the singular goal of extracting as much profit as possible from families.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private equity firms have monetized and taken ownership of every layer of youth sports, including leagues, teams, venues, practice facilities, tournament circuits, uniforms, streaming services, hotels, and merchandise sales, boxing out local organizations that are invested in their community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once they\u2019ve taken control of the competition, private equity wields their market power ruthlessly, sticking ordinary families with substantially higher prices, endless junk fees, and mandatory multi-year contracts. In just a few years, the cost of participating in youth sports has risen by 46 percent. Families routinely go into debt to keep their kids in sports, with the average cost exceeding $5,000 a year. As a result, millions of lower-income families have been locked out of the youth sports experience entirely, participating at half the rate of wealthier families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bicameral\u202fLet Kids Play Act<\/em>\u202fstops Wall Street from pricing our kids out of sports by banning both private equity vulture investors and the vulture practices they use, and establishes strong enforcement tools to hold private equity accountable for the damage they cause by requiring: <\/p>\n\n\n\n