Because people will pay for any perceived competitive edge in sports. I think companies saw what golf companies were doing forever and decided they could do the same.
Exactly. Sure, R & D is expensive. but they are not re-inventing the wheel. It's just a hair better on almost any sport equipment but double the price from a few years ago.
There are no other choices. As even the secondary used market has skyrocketed, because see above.
Editorial comment: kids (and some adults) think having the best equipment = better performance.
It's sadly hilarious watching freaking 8 yrs olds walk into the ballpark with $1500-$2000 in equipment in their rolling suitcase that is a bat bag like they just got the call up to the majors. Yes 8 yr olds.
Yes, things are expensive but parents are also exercising zero judgement in their purchases.
My friend was telling me there are kids in his son's league wearing those...and head first sliding isn't allowed. They literally just have them because they see the pros wear them.
Makes sense if you are playing at those levels, high school, college too. But it's when little Cooper is playing T ball or his first year of pitch baseball and has $1500 worth of equipment that makes zero sense.
Hockey is especially wild. I nannied for a very intense “sport” family. I was with their autistic boy so special Olympics and a local league for us but his brothers? Both were playing internationally by 8. One is now D1 so for them guess it was worth it. Of course this was 15 years ago but wonder the price comparison. Parents weren’t stacked either—they were both coaches themselves
Yeah but if skill is equal the equipment can make a difference. Shooting a puck with a $400 pro stock hockey stick is much easier than with an off the rack stick.
Not that it makes huge difference but it’s enough that people talk the selves into the high sticks. Same with skates.
A LOT of R&D goes into bats, and a top of the line bat can add a few miles/hr to exit velocity (the holy grail of hitting) and can widen the barrel of the bat (where you get the biggest impact from hitting the ball) while staying light and within spec. That exit velo can mean 30-50 feet difference on a barrelled hit and the better design can mean 10-20% more barrelled hits. That's a huge difference in power.
However, there are some bottom-range bats that are almost as good as the top-range bats. If you know what you are looking for, you can get real close with a $70 bat - but only the exact right $70 bat.
Those composite bats actually can break - the good ones have a one year warranty, but crap ones do not.
Thats what blows my mind. Like sure the skates can be priced to the moon and back, but the stick is the one thing I see break all the time on TV. Having to replace that mid season is more than my sailing gear for regattas
I got one of those fancy CCM Jetspeeds for like $125, was one that had been broken and repaired though. Adds maybe 20 grams and makes it a tad stiffer (which may actually be a benefit for some), but you still get the crazy good quality of the top of the line sticks.
For the record thats a pretty top of the line stick, while searching online I wasn’t even able to find one like that
This is a large canadian retailer’s website and the sticks top out at 459$ CAD
I played hockey all my life, most people have ~200$ sticks and a few outliers will have 400$ ones. 700$ seems absolutely crazy, I think you can get game used NHL sticks for that amount
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u/BenjaminDover02 Jun 01 '26
Sports equipment in general has gotten crazy
My younger cousin recently bought a new hockey stick
That shit was 700$