Just to let you know how bad we have it - we pay $11.00 per match here in Maine. How bad are we getting ripped off? Smh...
I don't know anybody getting rich off of running leagues. I'm not saying such people don't exist. I'm just saying I don't know them.
And besides, if, for example, a person took a city/region that had 50 teams playing league and turned it into a city/region that had 500 teams playing league, maybe that person getting a little rich is not such a bad thing... And maybe that person should be encouraged to go to the next city...
Regardless, when many people give information about league cost, it is a little like giving the score of the Yankees/Red Sox game as Yankees 6. It may be accurate and important information, but it is screaming for other information to give it more value.
I run leagues on well maintained Diamond tables spaced 7-feet apart. The matches are on two tables. The players pay $15 a night. For each division of about 10 teams, the top team gets about $2000 at the end of the 26 or so week season and all teams get paid. Any player who goes to Vegas gets $300 to help defray expenses.
All players get a complimentary drink each night
Players may play all day on their league day at no cost. Show up at lunch time. Come early to league for practice. Stay late and match up.
There are league tournaments with added $$ and a player appreciation night with a few kegs of beer and a nice spread of food.
If someone asked for an "accounting" of where their $15 league fee went, I would invite them to go jump in a lake.
When you pay $10 to see a movie at a theater, do you expect to know what of your $10 went to renting the movie itself? what went to insurance? what went to fixing the broken popcorn machine? what went to cleaning vomit in the bathroom? what went to a lease or mortgage payment on the building? No. Your decision is $10 in your pocket or Harry Potter in a Dream Lounger. And once you choose the dream lounger, it's not your $10 any more.
My communication to league players is, essentially, here is the way the league works and here is the cost to you.
Some leagues are run as private enterprises; some leagues are run as more-or-less player cooperatives. Some leagues are run by Vending companies who lease coin-operated machine to bars. The variety of situations is huge. And the finances might be complex. If league is run in a series of bars where drinking is prevalent and encouraged, the "apparent" cost for league might be low or even negative. But just like the comped room at the casino, there is a bigger picture view.