It's as simple as this:
If I am the owner/operator (which I'm not) of a club that is percieved as successful, people will want to join my club. If the teams that are in my organization are made up talented players, then likely only a few kids trying out are likely to be offered roster spots. The spots on the roster are sought after and in demand and therefore worth something. There are costs involved to run these try out, but there also seems to be some club making money on top of that, so long as they draw in players at try outs the system works. If the club is not that desireable and the price of try outs is too high, no one will show up and the club will be put out of bussiness. People remember, these teams your kids play on are businesses. If they are good business people they will make money wherever they can. They have to be careful not to turn off players with high tryout costs or it all comes crashing down. The only thing we can do to reduce try out fees is to not show up to them in numbers. By the turn out at some club you might expect even higher fees next year. I doubt complaining about high fees on an internet message board will have any effect on driving down the fees. | 
