Key Takeaways
- Nike’s Peach Jam turns 30 this year and is expected to deliver more than $11 million in economic impact to the Augusta area in July, per Destination Augusta and the Augusta Sports Council
- Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Puma, and New Balance all operate their own grassroots basketball circuits, a model that began with Nike’s EYBL in 2010
- Track and field now has five brand-run national championships, including the Under Armour Track and Field Nationals that debuted in May 2026
- GameChanger launched its own tournament series in January 2026, drawing more than 500 teams with free entry and $5,000 prizes per division
The biggest brands in sports have spent decades building something alongside their sponsorship portfolios: event properties they created and own outright. Brand-owned youth sports events now span basketball circuits, national track meets, football showcases, and tournament series, and the category added new entrants in all three sports over the past year. The oldest property in the group just showed what thirty years of ownership produces.
Thirty Years In, Peach Jam Is an $11 Million Event
Nike EYBL Peach Jam, running July 14-19 in North Augusta, South Carolina, marks its 30th anniversary this year. The event began in 1996 as the Nike Peach Basket Summer Hoop Classic and has grown into North America’s biggest grassroots amateur basketball tournament, drawing the top teenage prospects from the United States and Canada to the Riverview Park Activities Center, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
The economics have compounded with the event. Destination Augusta and the Augusta Sports Council project more than $11 million in economic impact for the Augusta area in July, split between the Nike Junior EYBL Championship for middle-school-aged players, which ran July 7-12 with an estimated $5.4 million impact, and Peach Jam itself at an expected $6.1 million. Together the two Nike tournaments account for more than 96 percent of the region’s estimated July economic impact from travel and tourism events. The recruiting draw scaled the same way: more than 250 Division I and pro coaches attended the first tournament in 1996, and attendance in recent years has typically doubled that figure, per the Chronicle.
A single owned event now anchors an entire region’s tourism month. That is the end state the rest of the category is building toward.
Basketball Circuits Set the Template
Peach Jam sits atop a circuit structure Nike formalized when it created the Elite Youth Basketball League in 2010. Adidas, Under Armour, Puma, and New Balance followed with circuits of their own: 3SSB, the Under Armour Association, Pro16, and P32. Each brand has since added a development tier below its flagship, from 3SSB Gold and Nike’s EYCL to UA Rise, Puma’s NXTPRO, and New Balance’s E32.
These leagues have become the main stage for elite player development. Of the 512 players currently on NBA rosters or two-way contracts, nearly every American-born player came up through a grassroots club, and the overwhelming majority played on a shoe circuit, according to The Circuit’s alumni analysis. About 27 percent of American-born players in the post-2010 era developed through independent programs.
The newer circuits are experimenting with format. Puma runs the only promotion and relegation system among the majors, where independent NXTPRO teams can earn a full Pro16 sponsorship based on results. New Balance’s E32 tier lets independent programs compete in the same venues on the same weekends as its sponsored P32 teams, with call-ups available to top performers. The 2026 P32 season wraps with finals in Memphis on July 16-17, the same week as Peach Jam.
Track and Field Now Has Five Brand-Run Nationals
Track shows how the owned-event category grew over time. The National Scholastic Athletic Foundation has organized a national invitational meet since 1990, with title sponsors over the years including Foot Locker, Adidas, Nike, and New Balance. After New Balance and NSAF parted ways during the pandemic, New Balance began hosting its own national meets while NSAF partnered with Nike on its championships, per CITIUS Mag. Adidas launched its own outdoor nationals in Greensboro, and the Brooks PR Invitational has run as an invite-only meet in Seattle for over a decade.
New Balance built the deepest version of the model. Its outdoor championship has run at Franklin Field in Philadelphia since 2022, and its indoor championship takes place at The TRACK at New Balance in Boston, a venue the company owns. The 2026 indoor meet ran March 12-15 at that facility.
Under Armour became the fifth brand in the category this spring. UA and IMG Academy created the inaugural 2026 Under Armour Track and Field Nationals, the first national track and field event held in Florida. The three-day meet ran May 29-31 with high school and middle school divisions on a newly installed Rekortan track surface. The calendar is now crowded enough that the Nike, New Balance, and Adidas outdoor nationals all ran during the same week this June.
Football Showcases Built Over Two Decades
Under Armour’s football properties show how long some of this IP has been in place. The company just completed the 17th annual UA Next All-America Game Week in Orlando, which gathered more than 170 of the nation’s top high school and middle school football players, with the game broadcast on ESPN. Feeding into it, the UA Next Camp Series runs regional camps with NFL combine-style testing, and top underclassmen advance to the Future 50 at IMG Academy. Under Armour also supports competition across women’s flag, elite 7v7, and high school football.
New Media Value on Old Properties
Much of this IP predates the current attention on it. What changed is the media and athlete economics attached to owning an event.
Streaming turned owned events into distributable content. GameChanger holds the exclusive live streaming partnership for the Nike EYBL 7th and 8th grade circuit, covering 12 events with multi-camera coverage, live replays, and on-site commentary. The inaugural UA Track and Field Nationals aired free on Runnerspace. In September 2025, GameChanger and Dick’s Sporting Goods released TRANSITION, a six-episode Instagram documentary following a high school team through Nike Pro City.
NIL lets brands connect athlete partnerships to their own events. New Balance signed Bullis School sprinter Quincy Wilson to an NIL deal in 2023, when he was a sophomore. Wilson went on to set the U.S. high school indoor 400-meter record of 45.76 at New Balance Nationals Indoor, giving the brand a record-setting moment at its own meet, in its own building.
GameChanger Brings the Model Outside Apparel
The newest owned event comes from a technology platform. GameChanger, owned by Dick’s Sporting Goods, launched its inaugural Challenge Series in January 2026: free-entry basketball tournaments with $5,000 cash prizes per division and more than 500 teams across four U.S. regions in 32-team brackets.
The series has a clear commercial engine. All teams need an active GameChanger account to qualify, tying participation directly to platform adoption. A report last year placed GameChanger at roughly 9 percent of the specialized youth sports streaming market, against about 60 percent combined for Facebook and YouTube, per Buying Sandlot.
From a Renamed Hoop Classic to 96 Percent of a Region’s Tourism Month
Thirty years separate the Nike Peach Basket Summer Hoop Classic from an event that now drives over 96 percent of its host region’s July tourism impact. In between, the owned-event category grew to five basketball circuits, five track nationals, a two-decade football showcase pipeline, and a tournament series from a streaming platform, with UA’s track nationals and GameChanger’s Challenge Series both launching in the past eight months. For operators, facility owners, and rights sellers, the practical read is that brands now sit on both sides of the market: still among the industry’s biggest sponsors, and increasingly event owners themselves. Peach Jam’s $11 million July is the proof of concept the newest entrants are chasing.
Brand Owned Youth IP
| Brand | Event Property | Sport | Verified Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nike | EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) | Basketball | Launched 2010; flagship grassroots circuit; culminates at Peach Jam | The Circuit, Pro Skills Basketball |
| Nike | EYCL (Elite Youth Circuit League) | Basketball | Development circuit below EYBL; includes 7th-8th grade divisions | Taking The Charge, YSBR |
| Nike | Nike Outdoor Nationals | Track and field | HS/MS championship at Hayward Field, Eugene, OR; organized with NSAF, which has run a national invitational since 1990; USATF sanctioned | Wikipedia, CITIUS Mag |
| Nike | Nike Indoor Nationals | Track and field | Indoor nationals with NSAF at Ocean Breeze, New York | CITIUS Mag |
| Adidas | 3SSB (3 Stripes Select Basketball) | Basketball | Flagship grassroots circuit | Pro Skills Basketball |
| Adidas | 3SSB Gold / Gold Gauntlet | Basketball | Development tier below 3SSB | Taking The Charge, Hoops World Elite |
| Adidas | Adidas Outdoor Nationals | Track and field | Outdoor nationals in Greensboro, NC; ran same week as Nike and New Balance outdoor meets in June 2026 | LetsRun |
| Under Armour | UA Association (UAA) | Basketball | Flagship grassroots circuit | Pro Skills Basketball |
| Under Armour | UA Rise | Basketball | Development circuit below UAA | Taking The Charge |
| Under Armour | UA Next Elite 24 | Basketball | 48 elite HS players; held in Brooklyn Aug 10; UA’s first NYC return since 2016 | UA Newsroom |
| Under Armour | UA Next All-America Game | Football | 17th annual edition; Orlando; 170+ top HS/MS football players plus 24 volleyball players; broadcast on ESPN; produced with 3STEP Sports | UA Newsroom, UA Next |
| Under Armour | UA Next Camp Series | Football | Regional HS camps plus public MS camps and combines; NFL combine-style testing (40, vertical, pro agility); feeds All-America Game invites | UA Next |
| Under Armour | UA Next Future 50 | Football | Underclassmen showcase at IMG Academy, Bradenton, FL; June 27-28 | High School Football America |
| Under Armour | UA Track and Field Nationals | Track and field | Inaugural edition May 29-31, 2026 at IMG Academy; first national T&F event held in Florida; HS and MS divisions; new Rekortan Gel Series surface; streamed free on Runnerspace | IMG Academy, YSBR, Watch Athletics |
| New Balance | P32 League | Basketball | Flagship circuit; 2026 schedule: four regional events April-early May, two live-period sessions, finals in Memphis July 16-17 | Taking The Charge |
| New Balance | E32 | Basketball | Emerging tier; independent teams compete at same venues/weekends as P32 with call-up pathway | Ballerstatus |
| New Balance | New Balance Nationals Indoor | Track and field | March 12-15, 2026 at The TRACK at New Balance, Boston; brand owns the venue | Ticket Signup (official) |
| New Balance | New Balance Nationals Outdoor | Track and field | Franklin Field, Philadelphia; third weekend of June; NB-owned meet since 2022 after NSAF split | Wikipedia, CITIUS Mag |
| Puma | Pro16 | Basketball | Flagship circuit; 2026 sessions May 15-17 and July 9-12; Puma Finals in Florida July 23-26 | Taking The Charge |
| Puma | NXTPRO | Basketball | Development tier; only major circuit with promotion/relegation, where NXTPRO teams can earn Pro16 sponsorship on performance | Ballerstatus |
| Brooks | Brooks PR Invitational | Track and field | Invite-only meet in Seattle; top 8-16 US HS/MS athletes per event | Wikipedia |
| GameChanger (Dick’s Sporting Goods) | Challenge Series | Basketball | Inaugural series January 2026; free entry; $5,000 cash prize per division; 500+ teams; four US regions; 32-team brackets; active GameChanger account required; presented by Dick’s | YSBR |
| GameChanger | Nike EYBL streaming partnership* | Basketball | Exclusive live streaming partner for 2025 EYBL 7th-8th grade circuit; 12 events; multi-camera, live replays, on-site commentary | YSBR |
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- Source: The Circuit, February 19, 2026, https://www.thecircuithoops.com/news_article/show/1355804
- Source: CITIUS Mag, https://citiusmag.com/articles/new-balance-nationals-nike-nationals-explained
- Source: Pro Skills Basketball, April 1, 2025, https://proskillsbasketball.com/your-complete-guide-to-aau-basketball-shoe-circuits/
- Source: Ballerstatus, March 19, 2026, https://ballerstatus.com/sports/understanding-youth-basketball-shoe-circuits-nike-eybl-adidas-3ssb-under-armour-uaa-puma-pro16-independent-circuits/
- Source: Taking The Charge, May 21, 2026, https://takingthecharge.substack.com/p/what-is-3ssb-here-some-answers-about
- Source: LetsRun, June 2026, https://www.letsrun.com/news/2026/06/nike-outdoor-nationals-vs-new-balance-nationals-which-meet-is-better/
- Source: Wikipedia, New Balance Nationals Outdoor, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Balance_Nationals_Outdoor
- Source: IMG Academy, December 3, 2025, https://www.imgacademy.com/news/img-academy-set-host-inaugural-2026-under-armour-track-and-field-nationals
- Source: Youth Sports Business Report, December 4, 2025, https://youthsportsbusinessreport.com/img-academy-and-under-armour-launch-first-national-track-and-field-championship/
- Source: Under Armour Newsroom, https://about.underarmour.com/en/stories/2025/12/img-academy-set-to-host-inaugural-2026-under-armour-track-and-fi.html
- Source: Youth Sports Business Report, January 6, 2026, https://youthsportsbusinessreport.com/gamechanger-tips-off-challenge-series-with-free-entry-cash-prize-youth-basketball-tournaments-presented-by-dicks-sporting-goods/
- Source: Buying Sandlot, January 8, 2026, https://www.buyingsandlot.com/p/gamechanger-makes-major-youth-basketball-move
- Source: Sportskeeda, https://sportskeeda.com/us/olympics/news-bullis-track-field-s-quincy-wilson-sets-new-u-s-high-school-record-new-balance-nationals-indoor-track-field-championships
- Source: Watch Athletics, https://www.watchathletics.com/schedule/watchlive/11801
- Source: EYBL 30, https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/more-11-million-reasons-why-080405095.html
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