Youth Sports Policy and Governance

The best-performing sport systems in the world prioritize mass participation and recognize the rights of children. Ecosystems are interconnected from the grassroots to the treetops. Access gaps are identified and incentives are created for stakeholders to close them. These are key findings from Aspen Institute research on the World’s Leading Sport Systems.

The United States is programs-rich and systems-poor. More than 100,000 organizations offer youth sports and families alone spend north of $30 billion a year keeping their kids in the game. But churn rates are high, with many kids quitting sports before middle school. Easily pushed aside are low-income youth and other vulnerable populations. In our comparative global analysis, the U.S. gets a C grade for Youth Sport Participation rate (51% play on a team), and a D for Government Support as judged by youth sports providers. 

How to improve those grades? How to help club, school and other sport providers collaborate more effectively? How to help families find programs that will best serve their child? How to balance the competing interests of stakeholders the next time a pandemic, recession, or other crisis hits? How to build a more sustainable model for youth sports, one that unlocks new opportunities to build healthier communities?

In 2024, the Aspen Institute will inform and facilitate public conversation on how to develop better systems at the local, state and national levels. Our contribution will include virtual and in-person events including the Project Play Summit, informed by analyses that explore what good could look like in sport governance and policy. What to expect from us:

NATIONAL

In March 2024, the Commission on the State of United States Olympics and Paralympics delivered a report to Congress on its study on the function of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and more than 50 affiliated National Governing Bodies of sports. The review represents the first assessment of sports policy impacting young athletes in a half century, since the President’s Commission on Olympic Sports that led to the creation of what is now called the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.

“The success of this movement does not only affect America’s high-performance Olympic and Paralympic competitors; it impacts the millions of people, including so many of our nation’s children, who participate or seek to participate in movement sports in communities across the country,” Commission co-chairs Dionne Koller and Han Xiao announced in September 2023 before its lone public hearing. “America’s athletes at all levels deserve to engage in sports safely and access sports equitably, with the institutions that oversee these sports governed with transparency and accountability.”

Read our analysis of the commission’s report, with five ideas to explore and five questions to answer. Later in the spring, our program will produce a white paper, informed by a blue-ribbon advisory group convened by Aspen, on how the federal government can better support and coordinate the development of youth sport programs — and the social return on investment if participation targets are hit.

Related materials

• Olympic and Paralympic reform commission hearing: The 14-member commission was created in response to the Larry Nassar scandal. The commission hosted its lone public hearing on September 6, 2023 on Capitol Hill where U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland, U.S. Center for Safe Sport CEO Ju’Riese Colón, the Aspen Institute’s Tom Farrey and Vince Minjares, US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart and other speakers offered testimony. Transcript of hearing | CSPAN replay | Aspen Institute recap.

• Amateur Sports Act: The original 1978 Act can be found here. The latest amendment to the Act can be found here. A description of the duties of NGBs can be found here.

• Legal analysis: In the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, Fordham law professor Mark Conrad proposes a path forward for the Commission and ways to support improved sport governance.

• Global comparative analysis: Learn how the U.S. sport system is structured in our two-page summary, and explore how 11 other countries organize their systems to support youth sport participation and elite athlete performance.

• Commission survey: On Americans’ perceptions of youth sports and the Olympic and Paralympic movement.

STATE

Some states are now regulating or proposing the regulation of non-school sport programs. Others are allocating new funding to support programs that serve vulnerable populations, and some legislatures have created sports commissions to recruit events and engage with youth sports stakeholders. What’s working? Aspen will analyze the models and produce an exclusive report on how state governments can help build sport cultures that address the needs of their citizens.

CITY/COUNTY

Even at the local level, youth sports is a messy, siloed space. Club and school coaches don’t communicate well with each other. Programs fight for facilities space. Efforts to reach underserved populations are scattershot. Some municipal and county governments have created boards to work through such issues. Aspen will share findings in an exclusive report.

What ideas do you have to improve sports system design? Write us at sportsandsociety@aspeninstitute.org.

The 2024 Summit presented by Under Armour (May 14-15 in Baltimore) will explore findings and recommendations on the above topics. The Summit always sells out so to ensure your spot, sign up here. Past conversations on Olympic and youth sports policy can be found below.

REWIND: Conversations from Project Play Summit