Add "Private Equity's New Venture: ..." to the list of sentences that scare me.

> Instead, parents are forced to subscribe to these companies’ exclusive recording and streaming service, which can cost many times more than the streaming costs for professional sporting events. Meanwhile, the firms’ exclusive contracts have prohibited alternative video services from being made available.

> In some instances, parents have been threatened that if they choose to defy the rules and record the game, they may end up on a blacklist that punishes their kids’ teams. Those threats were even reportedly made to a sitting US senator.

> Black Bear’s streaming service costs between $25 and $50 a month, depending on the package and additional fees. In addition to its recording rules and associated costs, Black Bear is starting to add a $50 “registration and insurance” fee per player for some leagues. That’s on top of what players already spend on expensive equipment, team registration, and membership to USA Hockey, the sport’s national governing body.

Feeling bad for the folks having a hard time pulling the plug on scams like these and going back to a more sensible and sustainable way of life.

I feel like this article is trying to make this seem like this is becoming a widespread thing despite the entire thing being about hockey. In my experience hockey was always the sport that the wealthier households participated in due to the costs (equipment, rink time, travel, etc..).

As a parent with two younger kids I haven't run into this at all so I wonder how much of it is more sport dependent where the company controls the infrastructure. Maybe I'm being naive here but I struggle to imagine this is going to make its way very far into other sports where you simply are out in a field.

Anywhere there is money, making an everyday man some money, these pests creep in. I generally dislike what has become of recreational sports and how the parents are either forced to spend for things that really don't matter, when learning to play. But learning Private Equity is eyeing this give me creeps. There must be some guy who observed how families are spending and decided it would be the next destination for PE.