With the outdoor market undergoing change, the sporting goods sector has become a focus for mergers and acquisitions activity.

Recent deals include Varsity Brands acquiring Sports Endeavors — the holding company that owns Soccer.com, World Soccer Shop and 431 Sports — and Lax.com, an online lacrosse retailer, this month. Varsity is the team sports uniform and sports apparel firm that was acquired by KKR in June 2024 from Bain Capital for $4.75 million. Both are expected to help Varsity, known for its specialty in cheerleading, grow its presence in team sports and within the area of youth sports programs.

This past January, Paramount Apparel International acquired Winston Collection. Paramount’s Imperial brand is a leader in embellished golf headwear and apparel, while Winston is a manufacturer of headcovers, towels and leather goods in the golf sector. Paramount was acquired by investment firm CPC Management.

Last July, threads manufacturer Coats Group plc acquired premium insole leader OrthoLite Holdings LLC for $770 million. The deal, completed in October 2025, includes the OrthoLite and Cirql operations. OrthoLite is the global market leader in open-cell foam insoles with a 36 percent market share. Cirql has newly developed proprietary foam technology targeting the midsole market, using a biodegradable or fully recyclable offering.

Other deals in the sporting goods sector thus far include Malibu Boats acquiring Saxdor Yachts for $259.3 million, and two pending deals in the recreation sector. Private equity firm Donerail Group is set to acquire recreational watercrafts manufacturer and retailer MarineMax for $1.9 billion and MasterCraft Boating has a deal in place to acquire Marine Products, a manufacturer of recreation and sport fishing powerboats, for $229.3 million.

The outdoor retail sector has been undergoing a boom and bust cycle, due to overexpansion, too much inventory, shifts in consumer sports participation and tariff impact in sourcing. Many, including REI and Orvis, closed stores last year. And those changes in consumer participation have helped to spur some deals among brands and manufacturers of sporting goods. Meanwhile, trade show organizations have had to rethink how to adapt to the ongoing trends, as well as how to reimagine their trade shows.

A report from investment banking firm Capstone Partners indicates that the outdoor recreation market saw “sustained dealmaking momentum in 2025 as operators accelerated sourcing diversification strategies and strengthened operational resilience as a buffer against macroeconomic disruptions.” It noted the the sector has “benefited from robust growth in the sporting goods segment,” as well as the boating and watercraft category. The report also contrasted the outdoor recreation market to the broader consumer market, which has seen more uneven discretionary spending and softer M&A activity.

As for M&A pricing, the average EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) multiple has stay flat between 2024 and year-to-date from 9.5x in 2022 to 2023. In contrast, the broader consumer industry saw its average M&A multiple fall to 9.6x between 2024 and year-to-date from 11.8x in 2022 to 2023, Capstone noted.

Acquirer interest in the sporting goods industry is focused on targets with “strong brand reputation, product diversification, and accessibility to low- and mid-income consumers.”

“Sporting goods continues to be an active sector for M&A in the outdoor recreation market as youth sports, rapid development of sports facilities, parent spending and evolution in sports technology continue to be catalysts for growth,” noted Capstone Partners’ senior director Pete Bailey.

Capstone said that consumer demand for outdoor recreation products remained robust in 2025, with public firms in the sector average the last 12-month revenue growth of 4.8 percent year-over-year versus 2024 levels — reflecting revenue growth that has outpaced the 3.7 percent year-over-year gain in 2025 in the broader retail and food service category sales, excluding motor vehicles and parts, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The investment banking firm expects that resilient consumer demand for outdoor recreation activities and equipment will continue through 2026.

The Capstone report noted that strategic buyers represented 83.5 percent of outdoor recreation market acquisitions last year, a trend that has continued into 2026. It said that most financial buyers have focused on “opportunistic tuck-ins for existing platforms.” However, with the amount of dry powder available for deployment reaching $1.9 trillion in 2025, Capstone concluded that these financial sponsors have the wherewithal to spend if they choose to re-enter the M&A market in 2026.