The Winter Olympics are full of entitlement and leisure class athletes

[Wiz Imp]

44. The issue isn't the cost of equipment.

AAA Hockey is the highest level of amateur hockey in the US. Anyone who wants to go to the Oympics or ever turn Pro has to first be successful at the AAA level.

https://thehockeythinktank.com/the-costs-of-aaa-hockey/#:~:text=I%20had%20emails%20of%20families,yikes.

The Costs of AAA Hockey
What are families paying to play AAA hockey?

When I started this project, I wanted to provide an average cost to play AAA hockey in the US and Canada. But after recognizing that there are so many different factors that go into it…it would be disingenuous to give a “one-size-fits-all” average cost.

I had emails of families that pay $5,000. I had emails of families that pay upwards of $50,000. And while I don’t think it’s right to give an average annual cost, I would say that a sensible range would be about $10,000-$20,000 per year. If you are under $10k, you are probably playing a split season, in MN, younger, or are extremely lucky. If you are over $20k…you are probably traveling way too much.

I would say that a majority of families fall within this range. But still…ten to twenty grand per-player, per-year. For kids to play a youth sport. Really?

Take a step back and think about that. Seriously, it’s insane.

There's much more in the article about why the costs are so high. The biggest costs are Ice Costs, Coaching/Administrative Fees and Travel Costs.

Sure, someone can simply pay youth hockey without it being outrageously expensive. But to compete at an elite level and have any hope of ever making the Olympic team costs tens of thousands of dolars minimum.