I am the Softball Director over at Bo Jackson's and I understand that our fees are not cheap. Jeff hit it right on the head with everything this group gets with being a part of our organization. Just like Matt mentioned too, everyone THINKS our team fees are high until they look at what they actually receive with their team fees.
For example ALL of the players in our org. get access to the BJES facility as much as we are open. Come and get some swings in in the cages and then hop onto one of our turf fields for your defensive practice. Depending on the group, they get anywhere from 8-20 sessions with our staff of former college players. This training is something that sets us apart from all of the other organizations. During these training sessions we have 4-6 former college players running them through a 'mini college practice'. This allows us to make sure our athletes are learning things the correct way and can actually demonstrate the drills rather than a dad who really likes the internet and has never played the game until their DD wants to throw around a ball. Im not going to go in depth about our org because thats not what its about, but see Jeffs post for all the things our athletes receive.
There are several teams who have lower fees, $800 for example, but require so much outside spending to be made. The team may have to pay out of pocket for training space in the winter, pay for their own DDs uniforms, pay for them to go to an instructor because they DON'T have access to a staff or facility like The Dome. Insurance needs paid, umpires paid, etc. There are so many team costs that families don't think about when they are trying to break down the fees.
When I was younger, I played with the Slammers (for those of you who are old enough to remember them
), Lasers, and Bandits (back when we only had ONE Chicago based team). Our team fees ranged anywhere from $1,200 - $2,000 with these groups. This included our tournament fees and uniforms, but our family still had to pay for everything else. This was SOOOOOOOO high for the time it was (around 2007-2012) and I have even watched the Bandits fees increase since then.
Travel ball is not cheap. A good travel program is definitely not cheap. Just because we are in Ohio doesn't mean that the teams are bad or we automatically have lowered fees? These teams are still traveling to other states to play, going to larger showcase events (which are more expensive and also could make team fees higher), and competing at a national level. I think its silly to say that just because its an Ohio based team the fees shouldn't be as high??
Do your research before picking a program. Know where the money is going: training, tournaments, insurance, whatever it is.
That was all my long winded response, but heres the shorter answer... DO. YOUR. RESEARCH.