So the past clubs DS has played for, there's been an upfront fee paid to the club, then, through the year, "assessments" based on tournament entry fees, coach travel, referee costs, league fees, etc. The new club he's at has a single fee (outside of uniform & personal travel). Talking to another parent who had played with us at the previous clubs (and was the treasurer of a team), he said he wondered which is better. Sure, it's nice knowing how much you'll pay, but the team that's going to larger tournaments/leagues (in theory) "benefits" more than the team that stays in the local league and nearby tournaments. So, which do you prefer? "Assessments" so you know what you pay (with the exception of the upfront fee) is actually going to team costs or "One time fee", which could be more than what is actually needed for your child?
I'm generally ok with either way, but it's hard to know what the total cost will be at the beginning of the season, since some tournaments (e.g. regionals, etc.) are unknown as to whether the team will even qualify for at the beginning of the season. Or if your player is asked to guest play, that cost needs to be factored in. Our club bills by session at the end of the session.
Current club requires an upfront fee that all pay, followed by additional fees for each tournament or other competition your player is part of and any extra practice sessions that come up (mainly winter stuff that has to be indoors -- they seem to try to pretty hard to find places to practice at no extra cost when they can). I prefer this, though, as soccerdad said, you don't know exactly what you're going to be spending. My son's previous club charged everyone a set, all-inclusive fee (uniforms and everything else). Of course, every player on a team went to every game, which isn't the case with the current club.
I preferred assessments--a base fee for uniform, league fee, coaches compensation, etc--and then extra payments for tournaments & lodging as needed.
I miss our old club (RIP). One fee for the year included Fall and Spring, 1.5 hour practices 3x/wk, and one tournament. Winter and uniform was separate. And we were there U6 to U9 (then COVID-19 hit). What we got there--good coaching, family atmosphere, focused on the kids--is all I ever want, but appears to be rare.
Our club gives two options for the payment plan, all up front or installments. That fee covers the coach, games, fields etc. Outside of that you pay for uniforms. Typically one tournament entrance fee is covered in that and any others have cost plus the coach room/board.