Former NFL legend J.J. Watt is an avid fan of hockey and even played for the majority of his childhood while growing up Wisconsin. But the future Hall of Famer knows that the game of hockey isn't perfect and acknowledged one key issue on Twitter earlier on Saturday.
A Twitter user by the name of @tkay_killa responded to another post to tell J.J that his great uncle coached him at hockey when he was younger and that they could have gone pro but thought football was safer.
J.J responded to @tkay_killa's tweet by discussing that football is not safer, but is cheaper than hockey and went on to say that the expenses related to hockey is the biggest barrier as to why parents are hesitant to sign up their kids.
"Safer? No.
Cheaper? Yes.
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Biggest barrier to entry for hockey is the expense associated with it.
Soccer is the world's most popular sport in large part because all you need is a ball.
Hockey equipment is expensive, kids constantly grow out of sizes, ice time is scarce, etc." Watt said.
Watt is absolutely spot on here. Hockey has become a sport that only the wealthy can afford to play. Once you account league fees and equipment (skates, helmet, gloves, stick(s), mouthguard, shinpads, pants, etc.), the cost could be upwards of $1,500-2,000. And that's likely just for house league. If you want to play rep hockey or on a travel team, the cost is extremely higher.
In
this 2021 report from the Ontario Minor Hockey Association, they said they lost just over 3,000 players between 2015 and 2019, which forced them to take action to try and get more people to come play their sport.
We all love the game of hockey, but some major work needs to be done at the grassroots level in order to lower costs and retain players for years to come.
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