New York MagazineNew York Magazine Facebook ad: “Around 5 million children in the U.S.”
Ran for 12 days, from August 25 to September 6, 2026, the last day Crush saw it.
Run by New York Magazine on Facebook. Crush is not the advertiser and does not verify its claims. See this ad in Meta's Ad Library(opens in a new tab)
Make your own version of this ad
Crush makes it, launches it in your own Meta ad account, scales the winners and pauses the losers.
About this ad
- Meta Ad Library ID
- 1092103019912519
- Platforms
- Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads
- Relaunches
- 0
Ad text
Around 5 million children in the U.S. now compete on travel teams. Parents find themselves trapped. They know the benefits of sports and want that for their children, yet giving it to them often means buying into a sports ecosystem that’s inherently flawed. The modern-day hydra of youth sports can partly be traced to the pandemic. While many public programs were put on pause, privately owned sports leagues had the capital to get back up and running soon after lockdown. Parents who could afford the fees were more than willing to pay if it meant returning their children to some semblance of normalcy. Investors saw an opportunity. Private investment firms began buying up teams, facilities, software, camps, apparel, and media streaming in a roll-up strategy that allows them to profit from almost every aspect of a family’s participation. In 2024, families spent 46 percent more on a primary youth sport than they did just five years prior, according to Project Play. It estimated that youth sports generate up to $40 billion in annual revenue — nearly twice as much as the NFL. Meanwhile, profits for investors in youth-sports companies are growing significantly. One reason parents accept these expensive and hypercompetitive conditions is they’re anxious about what will happen if they don’t. In a time of justified concern for children’s mental health and unease about the future, parents have latched on to sports as a lifeline. And in their pursuit of a competitive edge for their children, parents can inadvertently take the positive effects of sports and turn them inside out. “Every day, it was soccer, soccer, soccer,” said London, who joined a travel team at age 9. “It could be so bad that I would start playing soccer and then start hyperventilating and have to sit down. I was so scared that I wasn’t doing good.”
Where the ad sends people
nymag.com
New York Magazine
Subscribe: nymag.com(opens in a new tab)
