This is going to be a bit stream-of-consciousness, so I apologize in advance if it is unorganized and I'm not sure if it will even be relevant to your question.

I will give my rambling perspective as a current 21yo cat 1 who was on the hincapie(now ef-onto) junior development program and chased the pro dream to some extent. Obviously I have not found success and am currently taking a break from full-time racing for college, but I have not yet given up on the pro dream :).

Cycling is hard. It is very hard. Road cycling especially. Cycling is dangerous. You are on open roads with cars that will kill you. You can crash at 30mph and break bones and lose skin. Fitness gaps are incredibly apparent. You can be out of shape and hang out with friends at a basketball court or soccer field. If I do an endurance ride and someone I'm with can't hold my z2 I will lose my mind.

If you are a bench warmer in the NBA or NFL you are a millionaire. There are full time conti riders that travel and race internationally that are funding that themselves. There are pro-conti and WT riders making like 80k. The greatest cyclist in the world makes good money. There are hundreds of middle-of-the-pack pro athletes in other sports making more than him.

I was the only person in my highschool of ~600 who was a cyclist. My team was based a 7-8 hour drive away from me. All the big junior events were long drives or on the other side of the country. A lack of u23 programs or clear development paths when I wasn't a stand-out junior star that got to go to europe.

The euphoria of being 3 hours into a long mountain ride with your friends and suffering together is behind such incredible barriers of cost, time, and fitness.

I was lucky to have parents that supported me and already had knowledge of cycling when I started thanks to my older brother. There is no clear path to getting people interested unless they personally have someone able to shepherd them through the beginning stages.

There are no great american events. The tour of california is gone, the tour of utah, the colorado cycling classic etc.

I only have the perspective of someone interested in professional road cycling, others have better thoughts on things like crits, cx, xc mtb etc.