Would Walter Gretzky, as a member the working class, will be able to afford hockey today?

[WarriorofTime]

Companies routinely forget the exchange rate when offering salaries. They of course remember it when selling goods and services. Canadian salaries with American prices have finally caught up to most workers as the cost of living rises. This has been going on for decades. Companies who pay 100k USD for role X, expand to Canada and then try to offer 100k CDN for the same role when our dollar is worth less. For the price of goods and services, they of course just convert the USD price directly into CDN dollars.

They don't "forget". They just get away with offering lower.

 

[WayTooCold]

No, hockey is now rich white brats sport.

 

[Warh1ppy]

If your kid is good. If they get invited to team select camps and tryouts. If they then get accepted on to a team. If you then biller them.

The costs can be as high as $40k a year or more from living out, equipment, travel, food, studies and more.

If people genuinely think that's affordable good for them and their high earnings.

For the majority though, it's absolutely not affordable.

Ironically, in Canada we are seeing a sizeable amount of US born players entering camps and the pike as for them it is 40% cheaper to send their kids to Canada than it is to keep them at home with the exchange rates.

 

[RandV]

I'm not in touch with youth hockey but looking at it from the outside I wonder about the question of nature vs nurture. How much can you spend on an average athletic kid to push him above his peers getting him on better teams against better competition and maybe a chance at using it to get into a good college program. I feel like this is the 'nurture' angle which is fueled by $$$ creating a big industry to suck money out of wealthier parents, and the bigger the city the worse it is.

In terms of the thread topic though I on one hand I would like to clarify the cost of playing hockey in Brantford vs the general GTA, but a Walter Gretzky today should certainly be able to put young Wayne Gretzky in general youth hockey. And from their by matter of nature I don't think there isn't going to be anyone or anything holding the future Great One back. Like do people really think because Gretzky can't afford to play against the best competition with all the wealthy kids at age 14 that would hold him back from going pro? If he didn't get granted some sort of scholarship he'd just need to tear up his local league for another season or two then get drafted into the CHL.

 

[MDCSL]

Not all working class jobs are created equal. Especially if you get into a trades that represented by Unions. Benefits, healthcare, insurance. I know many appliance repairmen, plumbers and Electricians making 40 dollars an hour or more. Its not a field where you usually struggle financially.

Working class people that have a good knowledge of investing and budgeting for the future will not struggle financially. Sure you might have to put in some more overtime hours to pay for your kids equipment, but this stereotype that someone working class people can't get into hockey in 2021 is over exaggerated. People of blue collar communities have representation in the hockey community. The cool thing about Canada and the hockey culture is if you live in a small town its even easier as there are a lot of community based drives and support in terms of local rinks and small town attitudes about communities helping each other out. Its why in Sask there is a huge boom of aboriginal hockey players and the numbers will keep increasing.

Its not all doom and gloom. Yes it is expensive, as maintaining indoor ice rinks are not cheap, but its not out of reach for most people.

Almost my entire family is electricians, including me - my parents made ~42$/hr as electricians in the late 90’s in Calgary. Average journeyman electrician wage in Calgary is 34-36&/hr now, which doesn’t buy shit and it’s only getting worse. 50+% of your wages gone in taxes and you certainly can’t afford AA+ hockey on a blue collar salary anymore.

 

[MuckOG]

Nah, blue collar wages have been stagnant and inequality has grown since the late 80's. You have to spend crazy money just for pre-school these days never mind hockey. There is a reason why millennials such as myself don't plan on having kids and I work in finance.

By "blue collar", do you mean unskilled labor? Because skilled labor in the trades pays pretty damn good. My 29 year old son is a welder who makes over $45/hour with excellent benefits. And it didn't require him take out tens of thousands in student loans to get that job.

I didn't make that much when my kids were young and played hockey. It was a real grind to pay for the ice time and equipment, but we managed. Just need to have a budget and stick to it.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Organized youth sports are increasingly for the privileged: Study finds generational shifts in who plays

A sweeping study of U.S. youth sports participation over the past 60 years has found that there has been a significant increase over time in kids playing organized sports—but particularly among more privileged, educated families.

phys.org

 

[Enga Olly]

No, hockey is now rich white brats sport.

Pretty much there are always exceptions but yeah

 

[Waterbuf]

Assuming his father didn't take one look at the cost and say "lets try another sport first". He might have never even stepped foot on the ice to figure that out. That is what is happening today. Soccer, Basketball and other sports that are much more accessible are growing in popularity.

There's no way I'm letting my son play hockey. We can't even comprehend being able to afford it.

 

[Jumptheshark]

No, hockey is now rich white brats sport.

As a player in the 1980s? I was only able to play a few years because I worked in a sporting shop. During that era I played in Edmonton? Nobody who did not come from a well off family played.