Fastbreak AI is all-in on sports travel.
The sports operations firm further bolstered its emerging Fastbreak Travel vertical by acquiring a pair of housing firms — Competition Travel and Groupbook.
CT specializes in cheerleading and dance competitions; over 500 annual events
Groupbook works with over 2.5K clubs and tournament organizers; over 30K hotels in network
Competition Travel founder Susan Tucker will become Fastbreak’s VP of concierge travel, helm Fastbreak Travel expansion
Groupbook founder and CEO Doug Freeman will join Fastbreak as a GM, oversee new club travel offering
The additions come a few months after Fastbreak bought GroupHousing. The company now has about 650K-750K annual hotel nights on its platform, co-founder and CEO John Stewart told Buying Sandlot. Stewart added he expects to make more acquisitions that could push that figure into the 1.5M-2M range.
But lodging is just one component.
Fastbreak is emphasizing concierge services and experiences, which is a strength of Competition Travel. Stewart said Fastbreak will also handle ground (and eventually air) transportation, parking spots for buses, dining, finding practice space and arranging medical coverage, logistics and anything else clients need.
The packages will be similar to the ones utilized by professional teams, which Stewart said Fastbreak is already providing travel solutions for. He also believes the all-encompassing approach — and Fastbreak’s ongoing expansion — can make youth sports more affordable.
“In many cases we can help cut down the cost,” Stewart said. "You have to get to a certain scale if you want to be able to negotiate bulk pricing.
“If you want to be able to save your clients and customers money and still give them a good experience, you have to get to a certain size so we can have negotiations with the brands. It gives us leverage with the brands to negotiate the best price, and that can be passed along to the parents in a very real way."
Stewart said Fastbreak’s “stay to save” model includes contractual guarantees with hotels for the lowest possible rate up to 10 days before an event. Further savings are found in bundling other needs. Fastbreak also works with clubs and teams to backstop and validate costs at stay-to-play events outside its platform.
"We're going to get them the best price and the best rate,” Stewart said. “And if that rate happens to be significantly cheaper than the tournament operator is offering through their housing partner -- quite frankly, that's something the tournament operator or housing partner is going to have to come to terms with that client. They shouldn't be doing that. This is part of the problem."
Stewart said he expects Fastbreak will move into airfare and airline ticketing in late 2027/early 2028, including potential charter flights. He gave the example of a slew of Miami-area clients traveling to a tournament in Lexington, Kentucky, without any direct commercial flight options.
“As ridiculous as that sounds, the economics actually work in your favor if you're filling up an entire 737 or 757 or 777," he said. "You can give the athletes on the plane a better experience. You can go door to door when it's sometimes really difficult to get to."
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