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I've never seen a high school game charge admission in these parts, so don't really have anything to compare with that observation. It might be a hard-sell to get folks to pay to come freeze their butts off in Ohio spring weather!
Our rec leagues don't start for another month and sign-ups are still in progress. I am curious to see if the number of kids playing (ie: the number of parents paying for their kids to play) is affected this year.
Also wonder if the economy will affect the number of travel players, since travel ball does represent a significant investment. So far, my very unscientific observation is that it has not had a significant impact. At our last ASA meeting, our director said that he has more tournaments than than he has umpires! That might be an exageration, but he was talking about borrowing umpires from other areas to fill all the spots.
Others have commented that they have seen an increase in new umpires in their area, and speculated that it is due to people looking to pick up some extra cash during rough economic times. Our local group had about 20 first year umpires at our last meeting, along with about 80 returnees.
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