Millions of kids in the U.S. have more places to play soccer compared to a decade ago, but the sport’s popularity masks a divide that can leave children from lower-income neighborhoods shut out.
Disparities in Soccer Field Distribution
Although more than 1,000 new soccer fields have been created in the Greater Los Angeles area since 2014, they aren’t distributed evenly among neighborhoods. Some children must still scramble to find a field. According to Lex Chalat, the executive director at U.S. Soccer’s Soccer Forward Foundation, roughly 28 million children in the U.S. don’t have a place to play within walking distance of them.
Soccer in the United States operates largely on a pay-to-play model. The average U.S. family spends $1,016 on their child’s primary sport, up nearly 50% in five years. Outdoor soccer participation for all ages in the United States was at an all-time high in 2025 at nearly 16 million.
Barriers to Access
By the time they reach age 14, however, 70% of them quit, especially those from underserved communities, U.S. Soccer found. The high cost of playing soccer is a significant barrier, with expenses including travel, equipment, and tournament fees. Other sports are expensive as well, but soccer is especially expensive at a certain level, according to Tyler Adams, the captain of the U.S. soccer team.
Research by McKinsey & Company and the U.S. Soccer Federation found that Latino and Black children are three times more likely than white children to stop playing soccer because they feel unwelcome. In the 100 largest U.S. cities, park acreage in neighborhoods of color is on average only about half that in predominantly white neighborhoods.
In one zip code in Boyle Heights, as many as 7,344 kids share one soccer field. The existence of a field doesn’t mean that it’s usable, as it might not be maintained or be in a setting that makes some would-be players feel that they belong.
Efforts to Increase Access
Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the U.S. Soccer Foundation built mini-pitches in the Greater Los Angeles area to provide more spaces for children to play in their neighborhoods. Other groups, such as the nonprofit Street Soccer USA, aim to provide an alternative to the pay-to-play model, especially in neighborhoods where over a third of residents live below the poverty line.
Original reporting: NBC4 Los Angeles — read the source article.
