The Business & Fun of Summer Camps
Friday, June 09, 2006LINDA O`BRYON:It`s that time of year again. The school year is coming to a close and one of the country`s biggest seasonal industries is about to start up. We`re talking about summer camps. They`re a big business, with all kinds of specialty camps now available for kids. As Jeff Yastine reports, some of them even reflect the sounds of the season.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: How do you become a play-by-play announcer in the NBA? Practice, practice, practice. Welcome to play-by-play sports broadcasting camp, where the dreams of many a girl or boy to be behind the microphone or in front of the camera become reality for a week. For that, their parents pay $400 and up.
Jeremy Treatman and Steve Goldstein started the camp five years ago in Philadelphia. It now tours seven other cities on a summer schedule that lasts through mid-August.
JEREMY TREATMAN, FOUNDER AND CO-OWNER, PLAYBYPLAYCAMPS.COM: I had this idea to do a sports broadcasting camp, because I`ve been a sportscaster for most of life, an aspiring sportscaster, and I just knew that there were a lot of kids in that 10 to 15, 15 to 18 range that were probably a lot like me, always dreamed about being a sportscaster. And one year I decided, you know, I`m going to give this thing a shot and try to run this camp for kids.
STEVE GOLDSTEIN, CO-OWNER, PLAYBYPLAYCAMPS.COM: A lot of the parents are sending their kids to specialty camps, and that`s helped us tremendously because a lot of kids now are not going to these seven- or eight-week camps. They`re going to a one-week basketball camp, a one-week lacrosse camp and now a one- week sports broadcasting camp.
YASTINE: Summer camps are a big business. Each season, parents spend hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars to send their kids away. It could be a day camp, where the kids return back to their parents` home at night or a sleep-away camp. But either way, summer camps are a growth industry. Researchers say it`s a $20-billion-a-year business. The 9/11 attacks caused camp enrollments to decline for two years, but they have since rebounded, growing by 1 to 3 percent annually. Of course, it`s the business of sports broadcasting, not summer camps, that matters to these kids.
GAVIN GOOD, BOCA RATON, FL: Sometimes my dad will ask me why I listen to those post-game and pre-game interviews and waste my time, but I`m just interested in it. It just seems like a fun thing to do.
LEE PARIS, BOCA RATON, FL: There`s advisors for us to help us and just techniques, really, like how to call the game-winning shot. Do you be this emotional? Are you just relaxed? It`s just your style really.
YASTINE: Finding that broadcasting style is a lot of work and a lot of fun. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Boca Raton.
KANGAS: Monday, the secret to the success of the U.S. economy.
O`BRYON: Looks like the NASDAQ stock market is a buy and hold investor, at least when it comes to shares of the London Stock Exchange. NASDAQ CEO Robert Greifeld said today his exchange is very happy with its 25.1 percent stake in the LSE and a sale of that stake is not in the works. The LSE rebuffed a buyout bid by the NASDAQ back in March.
KANGAS: The nation`s big satellite TV companies are getting into the high-speed Internet business themselves. EchoStar Communications and DirecTV group today signed exclusive deals with web provider Wild Blue to provide high-speed service for the next five years. The new service is aimed at rural customers, who have few other choices for broadband web access.
O`BRYON: Here`s a look at what`s happening next week. Our Friday market monitor is Eugene Peroni, senior managing director of Claymore Advisors. On the economic calendar, Tuesday we`ll see May`s producer price index and retail sales numbers and earnings from Goldman Sachs; Wednesday, May`s consumer price index; Thursday, earnings from Bear Stearns and KB Homes; And then on Friday, the first look at consumer sentiment for June from the University of Michigan.
KANGAS: My guest market monitor this week is Chris Orndorff, head of equity strategy for Payden & Rygel, a firm which manages over $50 billion. And Chris, welcome back to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.
