If everyone is happy with the images you got using the P1000, the P950 will do just as well, and be a bit smaller and lighter, too. Of course it won't have quite the "reach" of the P1000, but I can't imagine anyone was actually using that extra reach beyond the 2000mm "Full Frame equivalent" handheld and getting anything that wasn't a blurry mess.

To do what you want, a super zoom is about the most economical way to get there if you're happy with the quality of the images. The telephoto "reach" of such cameras is accomplished by using fairly small sensors. They do pretty well in bright daylight, which it sounds like is when you'll be using it. They tend to struggle in dimmer light.

The problem with using cameras with larger sensors is that lenses must be much larger, heavier, and prohibitively expensive to get the same narrow angles of view (what some folks call "zoom") with a larger sensor. For interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs) with an APS-C or full frame size sensor, to go beyond about 600mm can get pretty expensive. And if you also want to shoot some of your subjects at closer range you'd have to change to a wider angle lens with an ILC. Most of the lenses that go past 280-300mm on the telephoto end can't shoot past 100mm on the wide end. Any of those kinds of lenses for Micro Four-Thirds, APS-C, or FF are going to cost at least twice for just a lens than a super zoom camera like the Nikon P950 costs.

Here's an example: I shot this from a little less than 90 meters away (about 95 yards). These are senior high school boys (14-18 years old). I used a 200mm lens on a 1.6X APS-C body for an "equivalent" focal length of 320mm. I then cropped the resulting image from 5472x3648 pixels to 3968x2645 pixels. This has the same effect of using a lens with 440mm "equivalent" focal length. As you can see, the image is still wide enough to show almost all 22 players on the field and most of the officials.

The camera I used was a Canon EOS 7D Mark II which cost me $1,499 USD when I bought it in 2015 and the lens, an EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II, was $2,298 USD when I bought it in 2010. Granted, the cost of the lens reflects the wide f/2.8 aperture that allows me to shoot sports under artificial lights at night. But a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens that would be usable in sunlight will cost around $500-600 USD, and it's still nowhere near that 2000mm equivalent of the P950. To get the same field of view as the P950 at full zoom I would need to crop another 3/4 of the horizontal width and 3/4 of the vertical height of the image above, leaving me with only about one-half megapixel (876x584). Here's what that looks like:

There are a few other super zoom bridge cameras on the market that don't have quite the reach of the P950, but they're not any cheaper, at least not here in the United States. Some of them, such as the Sony RX-10 IV cost considerably more because they use a slightly larger sensor and a wider aperture to give better low light performance at the expense of less telephoto "reach". If you can still find a Panasonic FZ1000 II it will cost about the same as a Nikon P950. Like the Sony, it gives up telephoto "reach " for a wider maximum aperture out to 400mm "equivalent". There's also the newer Panasonic FZ2500, but it's also listed for a little more than the P950. There's not much between the really high telephoto zoom P950 (and P1100 that has superseded the P1000), and those with shorter reach but better low light performance and higher price tags.

If you want to be able to stand in one spot and get photos of children 200 meters away I don't see any options that cost less than the Nikon P950. Everything else either has less reach but better low light performance and other features for more money, or way less reach. The dedicated camera market has definitely moved upscale, as most folks are happy to use their phones to take photos. You can still get entry level DSLRs a lot cheaper with a cheap kit lens, but any lens which will allow you to take photos of children from even 100 meters will dwarf the price of the camera and kit lens.

Here's a round-up from Digital Photography Review of some of the best compact cameras on the market today. They update it every so often as new models come and old models go.