Soccer veteran Landon Donovan warned U.S. sports have a problem—and it’s the prohibitively high costs keeping out potential talent.
In a recent episode of the The Late Run podcast, the all-time leading scorer for the United States Men’s National Team explained that the early stages of his career were contingent upon outside benefactors sponsoring his participation in high-level youth sports, such as a club or travel teams. Donovan played in three FIFA World Cups for the U.S. team and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2023.
“Growing up, there is zero chance I could have played club soccer,” Donovan said. “My mom made $34,000 a year as a single mom raising three kids. She couldn’t pay $4,000 for me to play club soccer—are you kidding? She couldn’t pay $400.”
“Somebody let me on the team and paid for me,” he added. “Otherwise, I couldn’t have. That’s not a good system to create good players. How do you create good players by doing that? You can’t.”
Youth sports have become increasingly expensive to participate in, with costs soaring 46% from 2019 to 2025, according to a 2025 Aspen Institute report. By some calculations, travel soccer leagues can set a family back by up to $15,000 for year-round coaching and travel.
