So that thing they called a mid-term convention down in Dalas (not a misspelling - see link) is over. I think we all have TES (Trump Exhaustion Syndrome) so I’m just going to point out a few things and then move on to another topic.
Trump lied. A lot. Like, every time he opened his mouth.
Trump said the U.S. was taking in $40 trillion in foreign investments, and he would balance the budget (fyi, our entire debt is $38 trillion and the fed gov’t spends about $7 trillion/yr).
Trump said he would give every U.S. citizen $5,000 if Republicans won and he didn’t need Congress’ approval to do it and it would be paid with tariff revenue (tariff revenue is a fraction of the $1.23 trillion+ the $5,000 check for each citizen would cost, and, yes, Congress would have to pass a law)
Trump said the arena was packed and there were thousands standing outside
Trump says he ended the Russia - Ukraine war (WTF?!)
Trump said the Iran war had no negative economic effects on the U.S. or its citizens (WTF?!)
______________________________
Ok - enough of that. Let’s move on to a subject I posted about previously: how private equity (“PE”) is destroying youth sports.
It seems Black Bear Sports is back in the news. They’re being sued in a class action lawsuit by parents of youth hockey players.
From the article (bold emphasis mine):
Four hockey parents filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Black Bear Sports Group, alleging that the youth hockey behemoth misled families by requiring them to book rooms at specific hotels and inflated prices during their children’s competitions.
The parents say they were charged "junk fees" and could usually find cheaper rates at the same hotels without using Black Bear’s booking platform. But they said that Black Bear coerced them into paying steep room prices by threatening to disqualify their kids and teams from playing if they did not comply.
…
“It’s just a money grab from parents,” Karen Dahlberg O’Connell, the consumer protection attorney for Almeida Law Group who filed the case, told USA TODAY. “People should be able to choose where they want to stay.”
“Stay-to-play” rules have become increasingly commonplace in youth sports. They are one focus of the “Let Kids Play Act,” a federal bill that aims to end “vulture practices” in the youth sports industry, which generates an estimated $40 billion annually.
…
The lawsuit’s plaintiffs – Gary Oliver, Brendan Kane, and Scott and Jennifer Wachterhauser – are parents of youth hockey players in Delaware, New York and New Jersey. Each has kids who have played in multiple Defender hockey tournaments, a Black Bear subsidiary brand.
Defender requires all teams based at least 60 or 75 miles from its events’ host rinks to book rooms at specific hotels from which it receives kickbacks – even when players have family members they could stay with in the area or would prefer to commute, use their own hotel points or book an AirBnb.
…
The parent plaintiffs each paid higher room rates by booking through Defender than they could have paid by booking through Expedia, Hotels.com or the hotel’s own website, as screenshots attached to the lawsuit show.
Additionally, Defender charged each of the parents unexplained fees when they made the reservations, the lawsuit says, while providing little or nothing of value in return. Some of the fees Defender charged are listed on receipts as simply, “Non-refundable fee” or “Charged Now.”
Are you f*^king kidding me? Families/kids can’t stay where they choose? Even if they have family they can stay with or don’t want to spend the night at all?
Full disclosure: I’m a sports dad who coached our two boys in multiple sports (including hockey) and was just a proud parent in other extracurricular activities in which they engaged (speech and debate, model UN).
This isn’t just “running a youth sports league in a financially viable way”. It’s price gouging and late-stage capitalism and preying on families so Black Bear investors and executives can live the life of luxury they believe they deserve and so desperately need.
All on the backs of kids.
For those who say, “well, parents have choices and should just not participate in a Black Bear Sports league”. That is not an option. In many areas, Black Bear Sports has pushed out old-fashioned local leagues/teams and cornered the “market”.
And that’s the problem, isn’t it. Private equity viewing youth sports solely as an economic “market” and not the community activity we all thought it was when we enrolled our 5- or 6-year-olds in sports programs.
I’ll say it again. Private equity does not add value in any meaningful economic way; what it does is extract value from organizations in order to transfer it to investors/executives. It’s only able to do that because our elected officials have made choices to favor private equity over the financial viability of those organizations and the people who participate in those organizations.
Here’s what PE does (from Dean Baker): “One of the big games for private equity (PE) firms is to strip assets from the companies they buy. They have the companies pay big dividends to the PE partners, often taking on debt for the companies (not the PE firm) to make the payment. They also sell off real estate or other assets and pocket the money themselves.”
It does not have to be this way. As I write in my previous Black Bear Sports post, there are potential laws that can rein in PE and stop private equity from its predatory behaviors.
Limits on debt loading
Repealing deductibility of PE debt
Making PE ownership entities and individuals responsible for liabilities in the event of bankruptcies
Stronger anti-trust scrutiny
Getting rid of the carried interest loophole
Should Democrats take back control of Congress, they’ll have a lot on their plate, including structural reforms to our entire governance system. And that should be Priority 1. However, in my view, Priority 2 should be reducing inequality, and a big part of that is reining in the predatory practices of private equity.
John Fogerty - Centerfield
