How much would you pay for a basketball camp? Maybe a few hundred dollars at most? Possibly even go over a thousand if there was an elite name attached? Well, next week the IMG Academy in Florida is hosting a basketball camp August 6-12 with a price tag of $2899. And the elite basketball talent behind this camp is... ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.
That's right, broadcast veteran Stephen A. Smith is hosting a $3000 basketball camp. Smith, who averaged 1.5 points per game as a combo guard at Winston-Salem and has played exactly 0 games of high-level basketball since graduating college in 1991 is ready to take your child's game to the next level. But what does your $3000 get you? Well, according to IMG's website. "IMG Academy is getting loud and providing a once-in-a-lifetime camp opportunity for young athletes with its Stephen A. Smith Basketball Camp at IMG Academy taking place Aug. 6-12. As part of the camp package, Smith will participate in several engaging opportunities with camp participants, including sharing an inspiring message to the young athletes and hosting a Q&A-format discussion. All camp participants will receive exclusively branded Stephen A. Smith Basketball Camp at IMG Academy apparel to wear for the week of camp."
Explaining Stephen A.'s Basketball Camp
Based on the description, it sounds like the $3000 price tag is mostly for IMG to cover Smith's speaking engagement fee. Aside from a few structured speaking events provided by Smith, along with some photography moments, it's likely that the rest of the event is just a regular basketball camp. Of course, Smith makes no mention of the price tag in his tweet promoting the event. Instead, Smith chooses to focus on the 10 children that they are getting in for free from the local Boys and Girls Club.
Also, this camp has a massive age range of 10-18 and also offers both a boy's and girl's camp. However, nothing on the website changes aside from the images when you switch between the girl's and boy's camps. In short, you are paying $3000 for your kid to be able to tell their friends that they met Stephen A. Smith. Unless your child is allowed to humiliate Smith on the court, there are so many better ways to spend that kind of money.
[via]