Would the cost of a sport affect your decision to play it? Fees to play a sport at South have gone up but the hockey fees have increased the most, going up from $90 to $240. The district determined that it was time to raise the fees in fall of 2018. Hockey is the most expensive sport at South which is why the fee has gone up the most compared to the other sports.

“[The fees] have gone up, they went up this year for most sports. Most sports went from $60 to $75, football went from $70 to $90 and hockey went from $90 to $240. [The fees went up] because they cost a lot of money,” said Amy Cardarelle, the athletics director at South high school.

Another reason for the hockey fees raising is some kids not even paying the fees at all. So in order to make up for the unpaid fees they had to raise the current fees.

“Personally, it’s not that big of a deal because the people who play hockey can usually afford [to pay the fees] and also a lot of the fees were not completely fully paid and nothing was really done about it,” said Sam Cooper a sophomore on the hockey team.

“We also have kids who don’t pay anything and so to help make up for some of the lost money. [The school board] looked at doing something to help offset those costs,” said Cardarelle.

Although the fees have raised for South sports, the fee is still much lower than it is at other schools in the district and even the state.

“We are one of the cheapest districts in the state to play anything. Most schools… Lakeville, Minnetonka… what they charge for a sports participation fee and it’s probably somewhere, depending on the sports, somewhere between $250 to $500,” said Cardarelle.

“So far [the fees raising] hasn’t been a problem because you still get, if your on free and reduced lunch, you only pay a third of that fee. The last few years you pay $20 now you pay $25, so far I haven’t heard a complaint about [the fees raising] because it’s been such a nominal increase,” said Cardarelle.

Although it seems that the fees raising doesn’t have consequences, it might have some drawbacks for the team. Some students might choose not to play hockey just because it costs more than the other sports at South.

“[Hockey fees going up are] definitely not good because I know it will deter a lot of people away who would play if [the fees] weren’t that high. I know that other kids would rather play other sports like basketball or football where the fees are lower instead of hockey,” said Ben Murray a South junior and player for South’s hockey team.

“[Some consequences are] definitely… less kids at the tryouts, less competition. I know this year we didn’t make any cuts from the JV team so that means this year everybody who tried out made the team, and in winning and in good programs there are a lot of kids who don’t make any teams,” continued Murray.

Hockey is an expensive sport to play in general, you have to pay for the ice time and all of the hockey equipment that you need for playing the sport.

“Hockey is an expensive sport period… ice time generally ranges between $220 to $250 an hour and we don’t get ice for free, so we pay what the ice rinks charge… So that’s why hockey is so expensive. There is [also] more equipment and things like that,” said Cardarelle.

“[Hockey is] one of those sports where you don’t decide as a freshmen…  I’m going to decide to go out for hockey never having skated. It just doesn’t work that way. Most of our kids playing hockey know that they need their skates and their sticks and all their equipment associated with hockey so they come in with knowing that…  If I could play hockey for $240 I would be thrilled… most clubs growing up, you know for my son, I payed about $250 until it goes up… when you start 4th grade you move up a level and its over $2000 for youth hockey leagues and then it goes up from there… So if you grow up playing and you go to high school and make the district team $240 is nothing compared to what you’ve been paying for for youth hockey.”  said Cardarelle

Although it may seem like everyone can afford to pay for the hockey fees we can’t overlook students that might struggle with paying the fee.

“[This is an important topic] because I feel like the way that the athletic director handle it was as if everyone that played hockey has a lot of money, you can just pay the fee. But I know that’s not true for a lot of kids that want to play hockey so I just think that it kinda goes unnoticed sometimes,” explained Murray.