Not sure what all the angst is about but I thought Seattle as a playoffs venue was ideal in terms of weather and cost. You can't beat weather in the 60's - 70's for this time of year. Yeah, one big improvement they can make is making the fields larger...they had room for it. And yes, it's a long haul for east coast teams but that's why they have the finals in VA as a compromise.
The problem is the expense and time away from work. At least at this age, the girls can go alone without the parents, but there is still alot of expense. Club soccer fees are around $5000 to $7000 depending on club ($8k to $12k before tax). You get incredible value with this imo. At least 2 trainings a week, loads of games, and lots of experience. Spending $5k to $10k for playoffs (7 games at most) is about $10k to $15k before tax. Now, if you have a household like me where I am reminded often that I have more than 1 kid, the other kid needs a trip. That trip will also be $10k to $15k after tax of income.
To keep this simple, if you can afford to spend $20k to $30k to include playoffs and nattys, you are probably confused as to the angst. For many, they don't do household finance well and many are probably among the 60% of American Adults that have less than $1k of savings for an emergency. For those like me, who can afford this, but not much more, should be doing the math. What am I getting for each part.
1. club soccer fees ( totally worth it imo. ($8k to $12k before tax)
2. playoffs and nattys with another sibling gettting equally compensated and could be even more than 1 sibling ($8k to $12k before tax)
If one were to invest that $8k every year for 5 or 6 years from 12 years old to 17 years old with just 5% appreciation, you would have saved at least $50k. If you happen to have another $50k per sibling for college in case you don't get a FULL SCHOLARSHIP (very unlikely), you're fine.
For the rest, I hope you love working! Some do, so the angst is probable just on those that don't want to work til they are old enough to die?
For the sensible, how is your money best spent to gain the most of this experience? Watching young girls get red cards and missing games at $1,100 per game is disturbing as all hell especially when they were not deserved from poor refs. Having small fields with 20 set plays a game and more fouls than necessary from the close contact is also disturbing. Playing teams we have here for $1,100 per player is disturbing.
In sum, the financial demand for what you get for playoffs is absurd! I just wish there was another option.
I would even prefer every conference have their own playoffs more local where the best 1 or 2 teams go to a national playoff. Subpar refs, fields, and game experience for $8k before tax was not pleasant for me. Like I said, my team did amazing and super satisfied with our performance and time, but I'd rather save that $8k for her college fund or even extra training for the next 4 years.
