As the multibillion-dollar college football season gets set to start in a few weeks, Scott Hodges, the president emeritus of the Tax Foundation, writes at the Washington Post that’s it’s time to strip the NCAA of its nonprofit, tax-exempt status and call it what it is: a money-making machine. … He’s right. College sports long ago became big business, wrecked by overpaid college administrators, coaches, athletic directors, NCAA honchos, TV executives, athletic-apparel merchants, and, lately, private-equity firms. Amateur athletics at the top collegiate levels is dead. … And now greedy grown-ups are increasingly turning their for-profit eyes to youth sports.  From a recent NYT piece: “Youth Sports Are a $40 Billion Business. Private Equity Is Taking Notice.” …

Among local investor-backed companies mining the youth-sports bonanza: 3 Step Sports. … They’re all making a buck off kids who aren’t paid a dime. You can’t get cheaper labor than youth athletes, right? … Think about this next time you see a Little League tournament playing on ESPN. It’s not NCCA Division 1 level sports. But, hey, if grown-ups can squeeze a buck or two out of these kids, why not?