Not to toot my own horn (toot, toot!), but I saw this all coming back in the mid-2000s before I got into college ball. I had neither the time nor the resources to keep up with it, so any team I would have coached the last five years would have been more in the same mode my old team was in (mostly Ohio tourneys, with an ASA Nationals, Colorado, Rising Starts or its equivalent mixed in here and there). But the year-round training, traveling out of state every other weekend or more, leasing out or buying indoor facilities, sponsorships, etc., was more than I could have handled.
Having said all of that, I think what has happened is much more positive than negative for the game. With the bigger amounts of money now involved, I think it's much more possible to subsidize a girl who does not have the means to play on the Bandits type of teams. My team certainly couldn't afford to pay for a girl who couldn't afford the costs and about every girl I had from 2000-2008 (or most other top teams for that matter, as I can recall) was middle class to upper-middle class. I imagine maybe now there are girls who stay with the Buckeye Heat, Stingrays, Classics, etc., because of cost, rather than go to the Bandits or one of the other national type of clubs. But I also would guess that if the Bandits really want someone, they will figure out a way to make it happen. I know that's how it worked with the top organizations in Washington/Oregon when I was there.
The next step I see is a move closer to so@@er where coaches are making a living as travel ball coaches and organizations are huge enterprises (I think Ohio Premier so@@er is/was like that, but I don't know for sure). Or even like slow-pitch softball where teams or organizations are completely sponsored by corporations. Once the corporate sponsorship occurs every traditional organization will be taking a back seat in terms of competitiveness. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet, where you have the Ohio Lasers/Easton/Ringor or some such combination and the corporations simply pay for everything permitted under NCAA rules.
For Ohio, the current situation seems to be yielding more girls signing with BCS schools. I think the Bandits have at least a half dozen girls committed to those schools and many of them would have been going to just Ohio State or the MAC just five years ago. Of course, the question becomes whether those same girls would have been as good of players in the old system and just unknown to the SEC or Pac 12. My hunch is that stepping up to play the Bandits type of schedule has made them at least somewhat better players and the schedule has given them exposure they wouldn't otherwise have had, so it's that combination that has resulted in bigger opportunities.
I think to open up more opportunity for the less fortunate girls, they have to be brought in before they are about 13 years old. After that, it's probably too late for most of them to develop into college prospects without a ton of work. So the problem that Billy identifies would have to be solved by organizations deciding to commit resources to younger teams and making an effort to find those families. Who is going to pay for that? It isn't going to be the typical travel ball family that is already squeezed just to pay for their own kid. It would have to be corporations as part of their sponsorship of teams.