All-Star The Current State Of Allstar Cheer

Randomly, in all of my tears as a baseball mom, I have zero idea who the best teams are nationally. We play, for the most part, kids in our state. We've traveled a few hours away...once to Canada. His final season has required two hotel stays and zero plane rides...and maybe $50 total in admission for my husband and me. He'll play probably 100 games by the end of the season.

Eta: his team is based out of a facility that's just down the street from our cheer gym. It's probably three times as large.

As a parent of younger cheerleaders I will say that I like reading threads like this because it helps me gain perspective of what's to come. We live in an area where choices are numerous and I feel like we've chosen a gym that keeps their customers wallets in mind and I appreciate that; however, our older teams do three away competitions that involved plane rides and that is where I'm ready to draw a line in the sand. One flight...okay, three? Not happening.

However, at her current level/age group, we only have one real 'away' competition (8 hours, will drive it) and it'll mean a multi-night as everything else is within 3 and a half hours or less. We still do hotels for a lot of them, but that is by choice, not by force. Our gym also rents out uniforms so I don't pay for them, they have inclusive pricing and included in that is a practice outfit with bow, warm-ups are options and any white cheer show is fine though NFinity Venge and Defen seem to be the most popular. One day a week the kids wear their practice wear and on the other it's whatever goes as long as it's gym colors (they get a shirt at try outs that doubles for practice wear as well). My elder is on a J1 team this year and she'll be doing 6-8 competitions this year depending upon the bids they receive and my younger is on a TP1 will be doing 4-6 competitions depending upon the bids they get. One of those dates is also a showcase. The gym utilizes strong IEPs though a Varsity event was added for us this year. However, the older teams are doing closer to 10-12 competitions and their tuition (also inclusive) is only $80 more a month than we pay for J1 and both are a fair bit more than I pay for TP1.

Our gym seems to thrive in the open gym (packed to the brim with kids), gymnastics (also has a competitive team), half-year cheer and then classes. They also offer a full summer summer camp and then various things throughout the year. Plus the local high schools and a pop warner team uses the facility from time to time. I don't know the logistics of it all, but they seem to be doing okay while still keeping things cost effective.

One major change I noticed this year is that they wiped Summit off the table; they have fielded an IOC5 team this year that will aim for World's, but the Summit was removed completely. And it was something I was happy to see.

After pulling out my calculator and adding it all up; including the options stuff we do buy, travel and hotels plus tuition for 2 kids plus a once a week tumbling class CP takes on a rotating schedule, this season will cost me less than $5K total for both kids. Still quite a bit compared to our other sports options, but definitely manageable for us and if I decided to cut out a lot of the option hotels, warm-ups, clothes...etc, I could easily take that down by about $1,000-$1,200 if needed. As this is the third gym we've been with and now elder CP's 4th year, I can say this is the most budget friendly program we have ever been apart of and though the drive is long, it's absolutely worth it.

IMO almost all of the "extra" costs in cheer can be attributed to the fact that it is not only a sport, but a performance. when people go to a cheer competition they go to see a show, where as someone going to a football game is going to see a game. you can go down to any park on a weekend in the summer and watch lots of different sports, getting the same entertainment as going to your child's hockey tournament, but you can't go to the park and watch a show. This turns cheer comps into big events, upping the demand for bigger arenas, professional lighting, and bigger rewards. while this doesn't justify all of the extra costs, it's important to remember that you are essentially paying for the production of a show, rather than participation in a game.

it might also be helpful to realize that a young child (tiny and mini aged) will likely get the same enjoyment from a rec or prep team as they would from a full competitive team, so there's no shame in waiting until your child is older or more skilled to move them into a competitive program. (also if any parent is buying a $300 uniform, Nfinity shoes, 4 sets of practice wear, and weekly tumbling privates for their 5 year old, it might not be cheer that's the problem)just saying...

I looked up the cost to rent the DCU (Worcester, Mass) center, and I was actually appalled at how cheap it was. It's $4000 to rent the venue for 5 hours. Since they have the venue for three days, they likely pay a lesser rate than that. When comp fees are 100 dollars a head, plus swingers fees, it's a great business model, unless the overhead is really costing almost a million dollars.

ETA: I don't know how many of these areas they use.

Quotation said:

IMO almost all of the "extra" costs in cheer can be attributed to the fact that it is not only a sport, but a performance. when people go to a cheer competition they go to see a show, where as someone going to a football game is going to see a game. you can go down to any park on a weekend in the summer and watch lots of different sports, getting the same entertainment as going to your child's hockey tournament, but you can't go to the park and watch a show. This turns cheer comps into big events, upping the demand for bigger arenas, professional lighting, and bigger rewards. while this doesn't justify all of the extra costs, it's important to remember that you are essentially paying for the production of a show, rather than participation in a game.

it might also be helpful to realize that a young child (tiny and mini aged) will likely get the same enjoyment from a rec or prep team as they would from a full competitive team, so there's no shame in waiting until your child is older or more skilled to move them into a competitive program. (also if any parent is buying a $300 uniform, Nfinity shoes, 4 sets of practice wear, and weekly tumbling privates for their 5 year old, it might not be cheer that's the problem)just saying...

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People expect a "show" because the EPs have groomed them to believe that flashy is better/more prestigious. Some competitions do still host in high school gyms. They're just not the big ones that we hear about. Yes, parents are forced to pay for all of that, but it's the gyms that decide to pursue these competitions. All parties hold a piece of responsibility in this issue.

The same goes for the "any parent is buying a $300 uniform, Nfinity shoes, 4 sets of practice wear, and weekly tumbling privates for their 5 year old." Yes, parents are the ones who dole out the money, but the gym might rope them into contracts before fully disclosing the extent of the costs. So, they are forced to pay for a uniform, shoes and new practice wear. And now because their CP loves the sport and they have invested so much money, parents might has well make it worth it, throw a few thousand into privates and hope their kid gets to level 5. It's a very messed up and complicated cycle.

[QUOTE/ His final season has required two hotel stays and zero plane rides...and maybe $50 total in admission for my husband and me. He'll play probably 100 games by the end of the season.[/QUOTE]

100 games baseball season, compare to cheer. Would like an allstar cheer model that supports cp to play more times at low-expense nearby comps, and friends/family easily attend, rather than travel more. Funny thing our town has cheer comps many weekends hosting teams that travel here, while our in-town gyms travel to other towns "bigger comps"....

Thankful our gym strikes a great balance. Just wish the sport dollars structure went more to gyms and athlete playing time and supporting producers that can bring quality comps to multiple cities.

Beans100 said:

People expect a "show" because the EPs have groomed them to believe that flashy is better/more prestigious. ...

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THIS!

Now consider the EP is really just one company pushing that line. Consider that company actively does what it can to disrupt, discourage and dissuade smaller EP's from being able to get a foothold. That you sell out or get run over. Consider that that 300.00 plus dollar uniform that you just have to have because it looks like _________ team, was given to ______ team for free or at a tremendous cost discount as marketing/modeling purpose by the uniform vendor just to get you to buy it.

Don't get me wrong. I understand the above is how it works in business. The issue is when we are told it is not about business but about the kids that makes me want to pull my hair out.

In regards to stay to play. I am going to AAU JO Nationals in Houston this week. This is our only stay to play event for Power Tumbling. For what it is going to cost me for one hotel room, I could take my other team coach - this will be the first event this year she did not attend due to cost, plus feed both of us for at least a day or two. We refuse to exorbitantly charge parents above what we project at the beginning of the season. It stinks, but that is another thing to consider with stay to play.

@Michael White I am actually surprised by those prices, too. However, with that said, that's just the square footage, lighting, use of their sound equipment and AC or heat. We are also paying for the following:

Federal, State, and Local taxes on competition revenue (probably 35-40%)
Spring Floors and Maintenance
Trash Collection and Removal from venue
Sound Engineers
Venue Staff
Venue Security
Venue Cleaning
Catering
Coaches Hospitality Room
Housing (As much as we hate them they are insuring we have somewhere to stay)
Wristbands
Prizes
Advertising
Displays
Staff computers, phones, walkie talkies (whatever they need to accomplish the job)
Office Supplies
Technology Staff
Customer Service
Warehouse and Warehouse Staff
Finance Staff
Legal
Insurance and benefits
Economic down turn and hazard coverage to pay employees (in case we can't or don't show up)

Every day these EP's expand a day, that's less patrons with the same amount of cost per day incurred. The majority of business expenses do not generate revenue but, they exist and have to get paid.

Schools don't have to pay for much of the above because, us tax payers or parent/student volunteers pay for it or do the work.

catlady said:

@Michael White I am actually surprised by those prices, too. However, with that said, that's just the square footage, lighting, use of their sound equipment and AC or heat. We are also paying for the following:

Federal, State, and Local taxes on competition revenue (probably 35-40%)
Spring Floors and Maintenance
Trash Collection and Removal from venue
Sound Engineers
Venue Staff
Venue Security
Venue Cleaning
Catering
Coaches Hospitality Room
Housing (As much as we hate them they are insuring we have somewhere to stay)
Wristbands
Prizes
Advertising
Displays
Staff computers, phones, walkie talkies (whatever they need to accomplish the job)
Office Supplies
Technology Staff
Customer Service
Warehouse and Warehouse Staff
Finance Staff
Legal
Insurance and benefits
Economic down turn and hazard coverage to pay employees (in case we can't or don't show up)

Every day these EP's expand a day, that's less patrons with the same amount of cost per day incurred. The majority of business expenses do not generate revenue but, they exist and have to get paid.

Schools don't have to pay for much of the above because, us tax payers or parent/student volunteers pay for it or do the work.

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Oh I know. I don't know the overhead cost at all, but I imagine there's the potential for big profit for sure.

NJ Coach said:

I just don't see the industry, in its current state, as sustainable. Why do you NEED a $500 uniform? Why does an EP NEED to charge $170 competitor fee? Why do we NEED the huge setup (stage, lights etc) for every stupid competition?

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We don't.

AngelsMum24 said:

We don't.

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I was talking with a friend the other day, and was asked what my favorite competition was. My answer was, once you've been to one, you've been to them all. The locations were what I talked about. It used to be, the lights/stage etc were rare, and made those comps special. Now, even 1 day comps have lights/smoke etc. There's nothing special about any of them anymore. We used to have a ton of 1 day comps...but now they're getting to be just as expensive as 2 days, and they way they draw out the schedule, I'm there for 14+ hours. Not fun.

The only way things will change is if we change on an individual level. Complaining about it does nothing. I'm all about finding solutions. Since I can't solve the worlds problems (or EP's) for them then I have to solve my own and start there. Hopefully others do the same and we actually see some relief on our end that help us all out on the other end.

NJ Coach said:

I was talking with a friend the other day, and was asked what my favorite competition was. My answer was, once you've been to one, you've been to them all. The locations were what I talked about. It used to be, the lights/stage etc were rare, and made those comps special. Now, even 1 day comps have lights/smoke etc. There's nothing special about any of them anymore. We used to have a ton of 1 day comps...but now they're getting to be just as expensive as 2 days, and they way they draw out the schedule, I'm there for 14+ hours. Not fun.

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This ^^^^ Again this is our first year and I have already heard from the seasoned parents to be prepared to spend at least 12+ hours at a competition and that they are pretty much all of the same.

All the same but with far different costs. It's interesting isn't it??!!

quitthedrama said:

All the same but with far different costs. It's interesting isn't it??!!

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Interesting wouldn't be the word I used