Key Takeaways
- 3STEP Sports acquired Premier 1 Events, a mid-Atlantic basketball operator serving more than 55,000 athletes across 27 tournaments and events each year.
- The deal expands 3STEP Basketball, which already serves over 815,000 athletes through 630-plus events and leagues and supports 560-plus club teams nationwide.
- Premier 1, founded by Vinny Lasorsa, keeps its regional brand and staff while gaining access to 3STEP’s national platform and operational resources.
- The acquisition arrives roughly six months after 3STEP hired Goldman Sachs to explore a potential sale or capital raise, first reported by Sportico in January 2026.
- 3STEP now reaches more than 2 million athlete participants across seven sports in over 40 states, built in part through 50-plus acquisitions since 2016.
What Premier 1 Brings to 3STEP Basketball
Premier 1 Events runs boys and girls grassroots and high school basketball across the mid-Atlantic, serving more than 55,000 athletes through 27 tournaments and events annually. Founded by Vinny Lasorsa, the organization has built its reputation on competitive events and long-standing relationships with coaches, players, and families in the region.
Those athletes now feed into 3STEP Basketball, which 3STEP calls the nation’s largest grassroots basketball platform. The division already serves more than 815,000 athletes through 630-plus events and leagues and backs over 560 club teams. Its brand portfolio includes Zero Gravity Basketball, Select Events Basketball, Hoop Group, BigFoot Hoops, Ohio Basketball, and Run 4 Roses, along with the Under Armour Association and Girls Under Armour Association circuits.
CEO Chad Gruen framed the appeal in terms of trust, saying Premier 1 has “built something special in the mid-Atlantic” and citing its “real credibility with coaches, players, and families.” For a platform assembled from dozens of regional operators, that local equity is the asset being purchased as much as the event calendar itself.
A Rollup That Keeps Rolling During a Sale Process
The Premier 1 deal continues an acquisition pace that has defined 3STEP for years. The company, backed by Juggernaut Capital Partners, has made more than 50 acquisitions since its 2016 founding, according to public reporting. Recent basketball additions alone include One Day Shootouts, HoopSeen, North Bay Basketball Academy, and Hoop Group.
What makes the timing notable is the corporate backdrop. In January 2026, Sportico reported that 3STEP had hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale or capital raise, with the company generating roughly $40 million in EBITDA and owning about 30 facilities nationwide. Buying Premier 1 while a sale process is underway suggests 3STEP is still adding scale and regional density rather than pausing to await a transaction. For potential buyers evaluating the platform, each tuck-in acquisition adds athlete volume and market coverage to the story.
Continuity for Coaches and Families
For the families who register for Premier 1 events, the near-term experience is designed to stay the same. Premier 1 will keep operating under its regional brand and retain its staff, with fall registration already open. That continuity is a recurring feature of 3STEP’s approach: preserve the local name and the people behind it, then layer in national infrastructure underneath.
Lasorsa said 3STEP’s backing lets Premier 1 “keep building without losing what makes Premier 1, Premier 1,” pointing to shared operational resources as the practical upside. Whether that promise holds through integration is the standard question for any acquired grassroots brand, but the stated model keeps the athlete-facing product stable while consolidating the back office.
Filling In the Mid-Atlantic Map
3STEP’s basketball footprint already ran deep in the Northeast, Midwest, and South through brands like Hoop Group and Ohio Basketball. Premier 1 slots into a mid-Atlantic gap between those strongholds, giving 3STEP a credible regional operator in a corridor dense with club teams and travel families.
The larger takeaway is directional. A youth sports platform exploring a sale is still writing checks, and the most efficient way to grow athlete counts in a fragmented market remains buying the operators families already trust. Expect that pattern to hold, whether 3STEP stays independent or lands a new owner, until the supply of well-run regional event businesses starts to thin.
Source: 3STEP Sports Acquires Premier 1 Events, Press Release, July 7, 2026
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