The selling stockholders named in this prospectus are offering      shares of common stock of Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of our common stock by the selling stockholders.

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “ASO.” On    , 2021, the closing sales price of our common stock as reported on the Nasdaq was $    per share.

To the extent that the underwriters sell more than     shares of our common stock, the underwriters have the option to purchase up to an additional     shares from the selling stockholders at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions, within 30 days of the date of this prospectus. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of our common stock by the selling stockholders pursuant to any exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares.

Investing in our common stock involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 19 to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

You should rely only on the information contained, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus we may authorize to be delivered or made available to you. None of us, the selling stockholders or the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with different information. The information contained, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus or any free writing prospectus prepared by us or on our behalf is accurate only as of their respective dates, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus, or any free writing prospectus, as the case may be, or any sale of shares of our common stock.

For investors outside the United States: the selling stockholders and the underwriters are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of our common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. None of us, the selling stockholders or the underwriters have done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States.

Within this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein, we reference information and statistics regarding the sporting goods and outdoor recreation retail industries. We have obtained this information and statistics from various independent third-party sources, including independent industry publications, reports by market research firms and other independent sources. Some data and other information contained, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus are also based on management’s estimates and calculations, which are derived from our review and interpretation of internal company research, surveys and independent sources. Data regarding the industries in which we compete and our market position and market share within these industries are inherently imprecise and are subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties beyond our control, but we believe they generally indicate size, position and market share within these industries. While we believe such information is reliable, we have not independently verified any third-party information. While we believe our internal company research, surveys and estimates are reliable, such research, surveys and estimates have not been verified by any independent source. In addition, assumptions and estimates of our and our industries’ future performance are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors” in this prospectus and “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report (as defined herein) incorporated by reference in this prospectus. These and other factors could cause our future performance to differ materially from our assumptions and estimates. See “Forward-Looking Statements.” As a result, you should be aware that market, ranking, and other similar industry data included, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus, and estimates and beliefs based on that data may not be reliable. None of us, the selling stockholders and the underwriters can guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any such information contained, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus.

We own and license a number of registered and common law trademarks and pending applications for trademark registrations in the United States, primarily through our subsidiaries, including, for example: Academy Sports + Outdoors®, Magellan Outdoors®, BCG®, O’rageous® and Outdoor Gourmet®. Unless otherwise indicated, all trademarks appearing in this prospectus are proprietary to us, our affiliates and/or licensors. This prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein also contain trademarks, tradenames, service marks and copyrights of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, certain trademarks, tradenames, service marks and copyrights referred to in this prospectus (or in documents incorporated by reference herein) may appear without the ©, ® and ™ symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensors to these trademarks, tradenames, service marks and copyrights. We do not intend our use or display of other parties’ trademarks, tradenames, service marks or copyrights to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply, a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.

The following terms are used in this prospectus unless otherwise noted or indicated by the context:

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. conducts its operations through its subsidiaries, including its indirect subsidiary, Academy, Ltd., an operating company which is doing business as “Academy Sports + Outdoors.”

We operate on a retail fiscal calendar pursuant to which our fiscal year consists of 52 or 53 weeks, ending on the Saturday closest to January 31 (which such Saturday may occur on a date following January 31) each year. References to any “year,” “quarter,” “half” or “month” mean “fiscal year,” “fiscal quarter,” “fiscal half year” and “fiscal month,” respectively, unless the context requires otherwise. References to “2017,” “2018,” “2019,” “2020” and “2021” relate to our fiscal years ended February 3, 2018, February 2, 2019, February 1, 2020, January 30, 2021 and January 29, 2022, respectively, unless the context requires otherwise.

Numerical figures included, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in various tables may not be arithmetic aggregations of the figures that precede them.

This prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein contain “non-GAAP financial measures,” which are financial measures that either exclude or include amounts that are not excluded or included in the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP. Specifically, we make use of the non-GAAP financial measures “Adjusted EBITDA,” “Adjusted Net Income” and “Adjusted Free Cash Flow.”

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Free Cash Flow have been presented in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein as supplemental measures of financial performance that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, GAAP. We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income assist investors and analysts in comparing our operating performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income are useful to investors in highlighting trends in our operating performance, while other measures can differ significantly depending on long-term strategic decisions regarding capital structure, the tax jurisdictions in which we operate and capital investments. Management believes Adjusted Free Cash Flow is a useful measure of liquidity and an additional basis for assessing our ability to generate cash. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Free Cash Flow to supplement GAAP measures of performance in the evaluation of the effectiveness of our business strategies, to make budgeting decisions and to compare our performance against that of other peer companies using similar measures.

Management supplements GAAP results with non-GAAP financial measures to provide a more complete understanding of the factors and trends affecting the business than GAAP results alone. Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Free Cash Flow are not recognized terms under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income as a measure of financial performance or net cash provided by operating activities as a measure of liquidity, or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP. Additionally, these measures are not intended to be a measure of free cash flow available for management’s discretionary use as they do not consider certain cash requirements such as interest payments, tax payments and debt service requirements. The presentations of these measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of, our results as reported under GAAP. Because not all companies use identical calculations, the presentations of these measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and can differ significantly from company to company. For a discussion of the use of these measures and a reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP measures, see “Summary—Summary Historical Consolidated Financial and Other Data.”

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below and the information contained in our Annual Report, including under “Risk Factors,” together with the other information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus before deciding to invest in shares of our common stock. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment.

After completion of the April 2021 Sale, KKR Stockholders ceased to control a majority of the voting power of our common stock. As a result, we are no longer a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of Nasdaq and we will be required to comply with certain corporate governance requirements within one year or less of the completion of the April 2021 Sale, including the requirements that:

Currently, we do not have a majority of independent directors and our compensation committee and nominating and governance committee do not consist entirely of independent directors. Accordingly, until we satisfy these requirements during this one-year transition period, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq.

Immediately following this offering, KKR Stockholders will collectively beneficially own approximately   % of the voting power of our common stock (or approximately   % if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares). As a result, KKR Stockholders will be able to exert substantial influence on our corporate and management policies, including potential mergers or acquisitions, payment of dividends, asset sales, amendment of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws and other significant corporate transactions for so long as KKR Stockholders and their affiliates retain significant ownership of us. KKR Stockholders and their affiliates may also direct us to make significant changes to our business operations and strategy, including with respect to, among other things, store openings and closings, new product and service offerings, team member headcount levels and initiatives to reduce costs and expenses. This concentration of our ownership may delay or deter possible changes in control of the Company, which may reduce the value of an investment in our common stock. So long as KKR Stockholders continue to own a significant amount of our voting power, even if such amount is less than 50%, KKR Stockholders will continue to be able to strongly influence or effectively control our decisions and, so long as KKR Stockholders and their affiliates collectively own at least 5% of all outstanding shares of our stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, KKR Stockholders will be able to nominate individuals to our board of directors under the stockholders agreement. See the section entitled “Transactions with Related Persons” in our Proxy Statement, which section is incorporated by reference herein. The interests of KKR Stockholders may not coincide with the interests of other holders of our common stock.

In the ordinary course of their business activities, KKR Stockholders and their affiliates may engage in activities where their interests conflict with our interests or those of our stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of KKR Stockholders, any of their affiliates or any director who is not employed by us (including any non-employee director who serves as one of our officers in both his or her

director and officer capacities) or his or her affiliates do not have any duty to refrain from engaging, directly or indirectly, in the same business activities or similar business activities or lines of business in which we operate. KKR Stockholders and their affiliates also may pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us. In addition, KKR Stockholders may have an interest in pursuing acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions that, in their judgment, could enhance their investment, even though such transactions might involve risks to you.

In addition, KKR Stockholders and their affiliates will be able to significantly influence the outcome of all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of our board of directors and potential acquisition of the Company. This concentration of voting control could deprive you of an opportunity to receive a premium for your shares of common stock as part of a sale of the Company and ultimately might affect the market price of our common stock.

The trading price of our common stock may be highly volatile and may be adversely affected due to a number of factors, most of which we cannot control, including those listed elsewhere under this “Risk Factors” section, and the following:

Furthermore, the stock market may experience extreme volatility that, in some cases, may be unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, price volatility may be greater if the public float and trading volume of our common stock is low.

In the past, following periods of market volatility, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation against various issuers. If we were to become involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from our business regardless of the outcome of such litigation, which may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

After this offering, we will have approximately    shares of common stock authorized but unissued. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue these shares of common stock, options and other equity awards relating to common stock for the consideration and on the terms and conditions established by our board of directors in its sole discretion, whether in connection with acquisitions or otherwise. We have reserved shares for issuance under our 2011 Equity Plan, our 2020 Equity Plan, and our ESPP. Any common stock that we issue, including under our 2011 Equity Plan, 2020 Equity Plan, ESPP or other equity incentive plans that we may adopt in the future, would dilute the percentage ownership held by the investors who purchase common stock in this offering. In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of our common stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of our common stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to you.

In addition, the completion of this offering will result in a Change of Control (as defined under the 2011 Equity Plan) that will cause all equity awards granted under the 2011 Equity Plan (other than performance-based awards granted in 2018) to vest in full, permitting the holders of such awards to sell the underlying shares of our common stock they receive upon exercise of any options or settlement of any restricted stock units that will vest as a result of such Change of Control, and all performance-based awards granted in 2018 under the 2011 Equity Plan to be forfeited due to the Company’s failure to meet certain performance targets prior to such Change of Control. In addition, as result of such vesting events, we will owe certain cash payments to the holders of vesting equity awards granted under the 2011 Equity Plan that were outstanding as of the date of the distribution made by us to our members of record as of August 25, 2020 (see “Distribution” in Note 9 to our audited consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report incorporated by reference herein). We anticipate that, as a result of such vesting events, during the second quarter of 2021, we will recognize (i) non-cash expenses related to equity-based compensation of $26.4 million, (ii) cash expenses related to taxes on equity-based compensation of $13.7 million and (iii) cash payments related to equity-based compensation distributions of $8.2 million.

We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends will be at the sole discretion of our board of directors, and will depend on, among other things, general and economic conditions, our results of operations and financial condition, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiaries to us,

including restrictions under our credit agreements, our indenture and other indebtedness we may incur, and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant. See “Dividend Policy.” As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in our common stock unless you sell our common stock for a price greater than your purchase price.

Our operations are conducted through our wholly owned subsidiaries and our ability to generate cash to meet our debt service obligations or to make future dividend payments, if any, is highly dependent on the earnings of, and the receipt of funds from, our subsidiaries via dividends or intercompany loans. We do not currently expect to declare or pay dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future; however, to the extent that we determine in the future to pay dividends on our common stock, the agreements governing our indebtedness may restrict the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or otherwise transfer assets to us. In addition, Delaware law may impose requirements that may restrict our ability to pay dividends to holders of our common stock.

The sale of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, including sales by our existing stockholders, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of our common stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.

Upon the completion of this offering, we will have a total of    shares of our common stock outstanding. Of the outstanding shares, the    shares sold in the IPO, the secondary offering we completed in February 2021 (the “February 2021 Secondary Offering”) and this offering (or    shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares) will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except that any shares held by our affiliates, as that term is defined under Rule 144 of the Securities Act, or Rule 144, including our directors, executive officers and other affiliates (including our existing stockholders), may be sold only in compliance with the limitations described in “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.”

The remaining outstanding    shares of common stock held by our existing stockholders after this offering (or approximately    shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares), representing approximately    % of the total outstanding shares of our common stock following this offering (or approximately    % if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares), will be “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144 and subject to certain restrictions on resale. Restricted securities may be sold in the public market only if they are registered under the Securities Act or are sold pursuant to an exemption from registration such as Rule 144, as described in “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.”

We, our executive officers, directors and the selling stockholders will sign lock-up agreements with the underwriters that will, subject to certain customary exceptions, restrict the sale of the shares of our common stock and certain other securities held by them for    days following the date of this prospectus.    and    may, in their sole discretion and at any time without notice, release all or any portion of the shares or securities subject to any such lock-up agreements. See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)” for a description of these lock-up agreements.

Upon the expiration of the lock-up agreements described above, all of such shares will be eligible for resale in a public market pursuant to Rule 144, subject to our compliance with the public information requirement and, in the case of shares held by our affiliates, to volume, manner of sale and other limitations under Rule 144. We expect that certain of our existing stockholders will be considered an affiliate upon the expiration of the lock-up period based on their expected share ownership, as well as their board nomination rights (if applicable). Certain other of our stockholders may also be considered affiliates at that time.

In addition, pursuant to a registration rights agreement, KKR Stockholders and the Gochman Investors will each have the right, subject to certain conditions, to require us to register the sale of their shares of our common

stock under the Securities Act. See the section entitled “Transactions with Related Persons—Certain Related Person Transactions—Registration Rights Agreement” in our Proxy Statement, which section is incorporated by reference herein. By exercising their registration rights and selling a large number of shares, KKR Stockholders and/or the Gochman Investors could cause the prevailing market price of our common stock to decline. Certain of our existing stockholders have “piggyback” registration rights with respect to future registered offerings of our common stock. Following completion of this offering, the shares covered by registration rights would represent approximately   % of our total common stock outstanding (or approximately   % if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares). Registration of any of these outstanding shares of common stock would result in such shares becoming freely tradable without compliance with Rule 144 upon effectiveness of the registration statement. See “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.”

We have filed a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock issued pursuant to our 2011 Equity Plan, our 2020 Equity Plan and the ESPP. Such Form S-8 registration statements automatically became effective upon filing. Accordingly, shares registered under such registration statements are available for sale in the open market. The initial registration statement on Form S-8 covered 15,983,311 shares of our common stock.

As restrictions on resale end, or if the existing stockholders exercise their registration rights, the market price of our shares of common stock could drop significantly if the holders of these restricted shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds through future offerings of our shares of common stock or other securities.

The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not control these analysts. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or our industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, or if our operating results do not meet their expectations, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of the Company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, defer or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt, or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by our stockholders.

These provisions provide for, among other things:

These anti-takeover provisions could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if the third party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares. See “Description of Capital Stock.”

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors, without the approval of our stockholders, to issue 50 million shares of our preferred stock, subject to limitations prescribed by applicable law, rules and regulations and the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as shares of preferred stock in series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each such series and to fix the designation, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each such series and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof. The powers, preferences and rights of these additional series of preferred stock may be senior to or on parity with our common stock, which may reduce its value.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, subject to limited exceptions, that unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (ii) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, or other employee or stockholder of our company to the Company or our stockholders, creditors or other constituents, (iii) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or (iv) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine; provided that, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act, which already provides that such claims must be bought exclusively in the federal courts. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the U.S. federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any actions or proceedings asserting claims arising under the Securities Act. While the Delaware Supreme Court has upheld the validity of similar provisions under the DGCL, there is uncertainty as to whether a court in another state would enforce such a forum selection provision. Our exclusive forum provision does not relieve us of our duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and our stockholders are not be deemed to have waived our compliance with these laws, rules and regulations.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other team members or stockholders. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial conditions.

This prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein includes forward-looking statements that reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, our operations and financial performance. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are included throughout this prospectus, including in the sections entitled “Summary” and “Risk Factors,” and the documents incorporated by reference herein and relate to matters such as our industry, business strategy, goals and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, capital expenditures, liquidity and capital resources and other financial and operating information. We have used the words “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “future,” “will,” “seek,” “foreseeable,” the negative version of these words or similar terms and phrases to identify forward-looking statements in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein.

The forward-looking statements contained, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus are based on management’s current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. The forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties, assumptions or changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict or quantify. Our expectations, beliefs, and projections are expressed in good faith and we believe there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that management’s expectations, beliefs and projections will result or be achieved. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global, regional or local economic, business, competitive, market, regulatory and other factors, many of which are beyond our control. We believe that these factors include but are not limited to those described under “Risk Factors” in this prospectus and “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report incorporated by reference herein, including the following:

These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statement made by us in this prospectus or the documents incorporated by reference herein speaks only as of the date of this prospectus or in the documents incorporated by reference herein, as applicable, and are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements included, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, investments or other strategic transactions we may make. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by any applicable securities laws.

The selling stockholders will receive all of the net proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock offered pursuant to this prospectus. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares being sold in this offering, including from any exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares. The selling stockholders will bear the underwriting commissions and discounts, if any, attributable to their sale of our common stock, and expenses incurred by the selling stockholders for brokerage, accounting, tax or legal services or any other expenses incurred by the selling stockholders. We will bear all other costs, fees and expenses incurred in effecting the registration of the shares covered by this prospectus, including, without limitation, all registration and filing fees, and fees and expenses of our counsel and one counsel for the selling stockholders and our independent registered public accountants. See “Principal and Selling Stockholders.”

We currently expect to retain all future earnings for use in the operation and expansion of our business and have no current plans to pay dividends on our common stock. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends will be at the sole discretion of our board of directors, and will depend on, among other things, general and economic conditions, our results of operations and financial condition, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiaries to us, including restrictions under our credit agreements, the indenture governing the 2027 Notes and other indebtedness we may incur, and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant. If we elect to pay such dividends in the future, we may reduce or discontinue entirely the payment of such dividends at any time. Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. is a holding company and its operations are conducted through its wholly owned subsidiaries. In the event that we do pay a dividend, we intend to cause our operating subsidiaries to make distributions to us in an amount sufficient to cover such dividend. Our operating subsidiary, Academy, Ltd. and its subsidiaries are currently subject to certain restrictions and covenants under the indenture governing the 2027 Notes and the credit agreements governing the ABL Facility and the Term Loan Facility, including limits on amounts of leverage, interest charges and capital expenditures. These restrictions and covenants may restrict the ability of those entities to make distributions to Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. See Note 4 to our audited consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report incorporated by reference herein. Any additional financing arrangement we enter into in the future may include restrictive covenants that limit our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, Delaware law may impose requirements that may restrict our ability to pay dividends to holders of our common stock.

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock by the selling stockholders, the number of shares of our common stock offered hereby by the selling stockholders and information with respect to shares to be beneficially owned by the selling stockholders after completion of this offering.

The number of shares of common stock outstanding and percentages of beneficial ownership provided in the table below are based on the beneficial ownership as of April 12, 2021 and are based on 93,800,559 shares of our common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding as of April 12, 2021. As of April 12, 2021, we had 30 holders of record of our common stock.

Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the SEC. In accordance with the rules of the SEC, beneficial ownership includes voting or investment power with respect to securities and includes shares issuable pursuant to exchange or conversion rights that are exercisable within 60 days of the date of this prospectus.

To our knowledge, except as indicated in the footnotes to this table and pursuant to applicable community property laws, the persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock.

The following is a description of the material terms of, and is qualified in its entirety by, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, each as in effect as of the date of this prospectus, copies of which are filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

Our purpose is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which corporations may now or hereafter be organized under the DGCL. Our authorized capital stock consists of 300 million shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, and 50 million shares of preferred stock.

Holders of shares of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders. The holders of our common stock vote to elect our directors by a plurality of the votes cast. On all other matters other than those specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws, where a 66²⁄₃% vote of the then outstanding shares of our common stock is required, the affirmative vote of a majority in voting power of shares present at a meeting of the holders of our common stock is required.

Holders of shares of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends when and if declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available therefor, subject to any statutory or contractual restrictions on the payment of dividends and to any restrictions on the payment of dividends imposed by the terms of any outstanding preferred stock.

Upon our dissolution or liquidation or the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, after payment in full of all amounts required to be paid to creditors and to the holders of preferred stock having liquidation preferences, if any, the holders of shares of our common stock will be entitled to receive our remaining assets available for distribution.

Holders of shares of our common stock do not have preemptive, subscription or conversion rights. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to our common stock.

We do not currently have any preferred stock outstanding. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors to establish one or more series of preferred stock (including convertible preferred stock). Unless required by law or by Nasdaq, the authorized shares of preferred stock are available for issuance without further action by you. Our board of directors will be able to determine, with respect to any series of preferred stock, the terms and rights of that series, including:

We could issue a series of preferred stock that could, depending on the terms of the series, impede or discourage an acquisition attempt or other transaction that some, or a majority, of the holders of our common stock might believe to be in their best interests or in which the holders of our common stock might receive a premium for their common stock over the market price of the common stock. In addition, the issuance of preferred stock may adversely affect the holders of our common stock by restricting dividends on the common stock, diluting the voting power of the common stock or subordinating the liquidation rights of the common stock. As a result of these or other factors, the issuance of preferred stock may have an adverse impact on the market price of our common stock.

The DGCL permits a corporation to declare and pay dividends out of “surplus” or, if there is no “surplus,” out of its net profits for the fiscal year in which the dividend is declared and/or the preceding fiscal year. “Surplus” is defined as the excess of the net assets of the corporation over the amount determined to be the capital of the corporation by the board of directors. The capital of the corporation is typically calculated to be (and cannot be less than) the aggregate par value of all issued shares of capital stock. Net assets equal the fair value of the total assets minus total liabilities. The DGCL also provides that dividends may not be paid out of net profits if, after the payment of the dividend, capital is less than the capital represented by the outstanding stock of all classes having a preference upon the distribution of assets.

Declaration and payment of any dividend will be subject to the discretion of our board of directors. The time and amount of dividends will be dependent upon our financial condition, operations, cash requirements and availability, debt repayment obligations, capital expenditure needs and restrictions in our debt instruments, industry trends, the provisions of Delaware law affecting the payment of dividends to stockholders and any other factors our board of directors may consider relevant.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and the DGCL, which are summarized in the following paragraphs, contain provisions that are intended to enhance the likelihood of continuity and stability in the composition of our board of directors. These provisions are intended to avoid costly takeover battles, reduce our vulnerability to a hostile change of control and enhance the ability of our board of directors to maximize stockholder value in connection with any unsolicited offer to acquire us. However, these provisions may have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, deter or prevent a merger or acquisition of the Company by means of a tender offer, a proxy contest or other takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider is in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the prevailing market price for the shares of common stock held by stockholders.

Delaware law does not require stockholder approval for any issuance of authorized shares. However, the listing requirements of Nasdaq, which would apply if and so long as our common stock remains listed on Nasdaq, require stockholder approval of certain issuances equal to or exceeding 20% of the then-outstanding voting power or then-outstanding number of shares of common stock. These additional shares may be used for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital or to facilitate acquisitions.

Our board of directors may issue shares of preferred stock on terms calculated to discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of the Company or the removal of our management. Moreover, our authorized but unissued shares of preferred stock will be available for future issuances without stockholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions or employee benefit plans.

One of the effects of the existence of unissued and unreserved common stock or preferred stock may be to enable our board of directors to issue shares to persons friendly to current management, which issuance could

render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of the Company by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise, and thereby protect the continuity of our management and possibly deprive our stockholders of opportunities to sell their shares of common stock at prices higher than prevailing market prices.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors be divided into three classes of directors, with the classes to be as nearly equal in number as possible, and with the directors serving three-year terms. As a result, approximately one-third of our board of directors is elected each year. The classification of directors has the effect of making it more difficult for stockholders to change the composition of our board of directors. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that, subject to any rights of holders of preferred stock to elect additional directors under specified circumstances, the number of directors will be fixed from time to time exclusively pursuant to a resolution adopted by the board of directors.

We have opted out of Section 203 of the DGCL; however, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains similar provisions providing that we may not engage in certain “business combinations” with any “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:

Generally, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset or stock sale or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. Subject to certain exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with that person’s affiliates and associates, owns, or within the previous three years owned, 15% or more of our voting stock. For purposes of this section only, “voting stock” has the meaning given to it in Section 203 of the DGCL.

Under certain circumstances, this provision makes it more difficult for a person who would be an “interested stockholder” to effect various business combinations with a corporation for a three-year period. This provision may encourage companies interested in acquiring the Company to negotiate in advance with our board of directors because the stockholder approval requirement would be avoided if our board of directors approves either the business combination or the transaction which results in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder. These provisions also may have the effect of preventing changes in our board of directors and may make it more difficult to accomplish transactions which stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of KKR Stockholders and their affiliates and any of their respective direct or indirect transferees and any group as to which such persons are a party do not constitute “interested stockholders” for purposes of this provision.

Under the DGCL, unless otherwise provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, directors serving on a classified board may be removed by the stockholders only for cause. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provides that directors may be removed with or without cause upon the affirmative vote of a majority in voting power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class; provided, however, at any time when KKR Stockholders and their affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, less than 40% of the voting

power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, directors may only be removed for cause and only by the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66²⁄₃% in voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws also provide that, subject to the rights granted to one or more series of preferred stock then outstanding or the rights granted to KKR Stockholders under the stockholders agreement, any vacancies on our board of directors will be filled only by the affirmative vote of a majority of the remaining directors, even if less than a quorum, by a sole remaining director or by the stockholders; provided, however, at any time when KKR Stockholders and their affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, less than 40% of the voting power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, any newly created directorship on the board of directors that results from an increase in the number of directors and any vacancy occurring on the board of directors may only be filled by a majority of the directors then in office, even if less than a quorum, or by a sole remaining director (and not by the stockholders).

Under Delaware law, the right to vote cumulatively does not exist unless the certificate of incorporation specifically authorizes cumulative voting. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not authorize cumulative voting. Therefore, stockholders holding a majority in voting power of the shares of our stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors are able to elect all our directors.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that special meetings of our stockholders may be called at any time only by or at the direction of the board of directors or the chairman of the board of directors; provided, however, that KKR Stockholders and their affiliates are permitted to call special meetings of our stockholders for so long as they hold, in the aggregate, at least 40% of the voting power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors. Our amended and restated bylaws will prohibit the conduct of any business at a special meeting other than as specified in the notice for such meeting. These provisions may have the effect of deferring, delaying or discouraging hostile takeovers, or changes in control or management of the Company.

Our amended and restated bylaws establishes advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals and the nomination of candidates for election as directors, other than nominations made by or at the direction of the board of directors or a committee of the board of directors. In order for any matter to be “properly brought” before a meeting, a stockholder has to comply with advance notice requirements and provide us with certain information. Generally, to be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be received at our principal executive offices not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders. Our amended and restated bylaws also specifies requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder’s notice. Our amended and restated bylaws allows the chairman of the meeting at a meeting of the stockholders to adopt rules and regulations for the conduct of meetings which may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the rules and regulations are not followed. These notice requirements do not apply to KKR Stockholders and their affiliates for as long as the stockholders agreement remains in effect. These provisions may defer, delay or discourage a potential acquiror from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquiror’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to influence or obtain control of the Company.

Pursuant to Section 228 of the DGCL, any action required to be taken at any annual or special meeting of the stockholders may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote if a consent or consents in writing, setting forth the action so taken, is signed by the holders of outstanding stock having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all shares of our stock entitled to vote thereon were present and voted, unless our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation precludes stockholder action by written consent once KKR Stockholders and their affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, less than 40% of the voting power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that the board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter, amend, change, add to, rescind or repeal, in whole or in part, our amended and restated bylaws without a stockholder vote in any matter not inconsistent with the laws of the State of Delaware or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. For as long as KKR Stockholders and their affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, at least 40% of the voting power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, any amendment, alteration, change, addition, rescission or repeal of our amended and restated bylaws by our stockholders will require the affirmative vote of a majority in voting power of the outstanding shares of our stock present in person or represented by proxy at the meeting of stockholders and entitled to vote on such amendment, alteration, change, addition, rescission or repeal. At any time when KKR Stockholders and their affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, less than 40% of the voting power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, any amendment, alteration, change, addition, rescission or repeal of our amended and restated bylaws by our stockholders will require the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66²⁄₃% in voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class.

The DGCL provides generally that the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote thereon, voting together as a single class, is required to amend a corporation’s certificate of incorporation, unless the certificate of incorporation requires a greater percentage.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that once KKR Stockholders and their affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, less than 40% of the voting power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, the following provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended, altered, repealed or rescinded only by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66²⁄₃% in the voting power of all outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class:

The combination of the classification of our board of directors, the lack of cumulative voting and the supermajority voting requirements makes it more difficult for our existing stockholders to replace our board of directors as well as for another party to obtain control of us by replacing our board of directors. Because our board of directors has the power to retain and discharge our officers, these provisions could also make it more difficult for existing stockholders or another party to effect a change in management.

These supermajority provisions may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers, delaying or preventing changes in control of our management or the Company, such as a merger, reorganization or tender offer. These supermajority provisions are intended to enhance the likelihood of continued stability in the composition of our board of directors and its policies and to discourage certain types of transactions that may involve an actual or threatened acquisition of the Company. These supermajority provisions are designed to reduce our vulnerability to an unsolicited acquisition proposal. The supermajority provisions are also intended to discourage certain tactics

that may be used in proxy fights. However, such supermajority provisions could have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for our shares and, as a consequence, they also may inhibit fluctuations in the market price of our shares that could result from actual or rumored takeover attempts. Such supermajority provisions may also have the effect of preventing changes in management.

Under the DGCL, with certain exceptions, our stockholders have appraisal rights in connection with a merger or consolidation of us. Pursuant to the DGCL, stockholders who properly request and perfect appraisal rights in connection with such merger or consolidation have the right to receive payment of the fair value of their shares as determined by the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Under the DGCL, any of our stockholders may bring an action in our name to procure a judgment in our favor, also known as a derivative action, provided that the stockholder bringing the action is a holder of our shares at the time of the transaction to which the action relates or such stockholder’s stock thereafter devolved by operation of law.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, subject to limited exceptions, that unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee or stockholder of the Company to the Company or our stockholders, creditors or other constituents, (iii) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or (iv) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine; provided that, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act, which already provides that such claims must be brought exclusively in the federal courts. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the U.S. federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any actions or proceedings asserting claims arising under the Securities Act. While the Delaware Supreme Court has upheld the validity of similar provisions under the DGCL, there is uncertainty as to whether a court in another state would enforce such a forum selection provision. Our exclusive forum provision will not relieve us of our duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with these laws, rules and regulations. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of capital stock of the Company will be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.

Delaware law permits corporations to adopt provisions renouncing any interest or expectancy in certain opportunities that are presented to the corporation or its officers, directors or stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, to the maximum extent permitted from time to time by Delaware law, renounces any interest or expectancy that we have in, or right to be offered an opportunity to participate in, specified business opportunities that are from time to time presented to our officers, directors or stockholders or their respective affiliates, other than those officers, directors, stockholders or affiliates who are our or our subsidiaries’ employees. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any of KKR Stockholders or any of their affiliates or any director who is not employed by us (including any non-employee director who serves as one of our officers in both his or her director and officer capacities) or his or her affiliates will not have any duty to refrain from (1) engaging in a corporate opportunity in the same or similar lines of business in which we or our affiliates now engage or propose to engage or (2) otherwise competing with us or our affiliates. In addition, to the fullest extent permitted by law, in the event that any of KKR Stockholders or any of their affiliates or any non-employee director acquires knowledge of a

potential transaction or other business opportunity which may be a corporate opportunity for itself or himself or its or his affiliates or for us or our affiliates, such person will have no duty to communicate or offer such transaction or business opportunity to us or any of our affiliates and they may take any such opportunity for themselves or offer it to another person or entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not renounce our interest in any business opportunity that is expressly offered to a non-employee director solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the Company. To the fullest extent permitted by law, no business opportunity will be deemed to be a potential corporate opportunity for us unless we would be permitted to undertake the opportunity under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we have sufficient financial resources to undertake the opportunity and the opportunity would be in line with our business.

The DGCL authorizes corporations to limit or eliminate the personal liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary damages for breaches of directors’ fiduciary duties, subject to certain exceptions. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation includes a provision that eliminates the personal liability of directors for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except to the extent such exemption from liability or limitation thereof is not permitted under the DGCL. The effect of these provisions will be to eliminate the rights of us and our stockholders, through stockholders’ derivative suits on our behalf, to recover monetary damages from a director for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, including breaches resulting from grossly negligent behavior. However, exculpation will not apply to any director if the director has acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized illegal dividends or redemptions or derived an improper benefit from his or her actions as a director.

Our amended and restated bylaws provides that we must generally indemnify, and advance expenses to, our directors and officers to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL. We also are expressly authorized to carry directors’ and officers’ liability insurance providing indemnification for our directors, officers and certain employees for some liabilities. We have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors, which agreements require us to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law against liabilities that may arise by reason of their service to us, and to advance expenses incurred as a result of any proceeding against them as to which they could be indemnified. We believe that these indemnification and advancement provisions and insurance will be useful to attract and retain qualified directors and officers.

The limitation of liability, indemnification and advancement provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. In addition, your investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

There is currently no pending material litigation or proceeding involving any of our directors, officers or employees for which indemnification is sought.

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, Inc.

Our common stock is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “ASO.”

Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market or the perception that such sales might occur may adversely affect market prices of our common stock prevailing from time to time and could impair our future ability to raise capital through the sale of our equity or equity-related securities at a time and price that we deem appropriate. Furthermore, there may be sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market after the existing legal and contractual restrictions lapse. This may adversely affect the prevailing market price and our ability to raise equity capital in the future. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock—Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our existing stockholders in the public market following this offering could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.”

Upon the completion of this offering, we will have a total of     shares of our common stock outstanding. Of the outstanding shares, the     shares sold in the IPO, the February 2021 Secondary Offering and this offering (or     shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares) will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except that any shares held by our affiliates, as that term is defined under Rule 144, including our directors, executive officers and other affiliates (including our existing stockholders), may be sold only in compliance with the limitations described below.

The remaining outstanding     shares of common stock held by our existing stockholders after this offering (or approximately     shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares), representing approximately   % of the total outstanding shares of our common stock following this offering (or approximately   % if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares), will be “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144 and subject to certain restrictions on resale. Restricted securities may be sold in the public market only if they are registered under the Securities Act or are sold pursuant to an exemption from registration such as Rule 144, as described below.

In connection with this offering, we, our executive officers, directors and the selling stockholders will agree, subject to certain exceptions, not to sell, dispose of or hedge any shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock, without, in each case, the prior written consent of     and    , for a period of    days after the date of this prospectus. See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest).”

In general, under Rule 144, as currently in effect, a person (or persons whose shares are aggregated) who is not deemed to be or have been one of our affiliates for purposes of the Securities Act at any time during 90 days preceding a sale and who has beneficially owned the shares proposed to be sold for at least six months, including the holding period of any prior owner other than an affiliate, is entitled to sell such shares without complying with the manner of sale, volume limitation or notice provisions of Rule 144, subject to compliance with the public information requirements of Rule 144. If such a person has beneficially owned the shares proposed to be sold for at least one year, including the holding period of a prior owner other than an affiliate, then such person is entitled to sell such shares without complying with any of the requirements of Rule 144.

In general, under Rule 144, as currently in effect, our affiliates or persons selling shares of our common stock on behalf of our affiliates, who have met the six month holding period for beneficial ownership of “restricted shares” of our common stock, are entitled to sell upon the expiration of the lock-up agreements described above, within any three-month period, a number of shares that does not exceed the greater of:

Sales under Rule 144 by our affiliates or persons selling shares on behalf of our affiliates are also subject to certain manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information

about us. The sale of these shares, or the perception that sales will be made, could adversely affect the price of our common stock after this offering because a great supply of shares would be, or would be perceived to be, available for sale in the public market.

We are unable to estimate the number of shares that will be sold under Rule 144 since this will depend on the market price for our common stock, the personal circumstances of the stockholder and other factors.

In general, under Rule 701 as currently in effect, any of our employees, directors, officers, consultants or advisors who received shares of our common stock from us in connection with a compensatory stock or option plan or other written agreement before the effective date of the registration statement on form S-1 for the IPO are entitled to sell such shares 90 days after the effective date of the registration statement on form S-1 for the IPO in reliance on Rule 144, in the case of affiliates, without having to comply with the holding period requirements of Rule 144 and, in the case of non-affiliates, without having to comply with the public information, holding period, volume limitation or notice filing requirements of Rule 144.

We have filed a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock issued pursuant to our 2011 Equity Plan, our 2020 Equity Plan and the ESPP. Such Form S-8 registration statements automatically became effective upon filing. Accordingly, shares registered under such registration statement are available for sale in the open market. The initial registration statement on Form S-8 covered 15,983,311 shares of our common stock.

For a description of rights some holders of common stock have to require us to register the shares of common stock they own, see the section entitled “Transactions with Related Persons—Certain Related Person Transactions—Registration Rights Agreement” in our Proxy Statement, which section is incorporated by reference herein. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in these shares becoming freely tradable immediately upon effectiveness of such registration.

Following completion of this offering, the shares of our common stock covered by registration rights would represent approximately   % of our outstanding common stock (or approximately   %, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares). These shares of common stock also may be sold under Rule 144, depending on their holding period and subject to restrictions in the case of shares held by persons deemed to be our affiliates.

The following is a summary of certain U.S. federal income and estate tax consequences to a non-U.S. holder (as defined below) of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common stock as of the date hereof. Except where noted, this summary deals only with common stock that is held as a capital asset.

A “non-U.S. holder” means a beneficial owner of our common stock (other than an entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) that is not, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, any of the following:

This summary is based upon provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, and the Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, rulings and judicial decisions as of the date hereof. Those authorities may be changed, perhaps retroactively, so as to result in U.S. federal income and estate tax consequences different from those summarized below. We cannot assure you that such a change in law will not alter significantly the tax considerations we describe in this summary. This summary does not address all aspects of U.S. federal income and estate taxes and does not deal with foreign, state, local or other tax considerations that may be relevant to non-U.S. holders in light of their particular circumstances. In addition, it does not represent a detailed description of the U.S. federal income and estate tax consequences applicable to you if you are subject to special treatment under the U.S. federal income tax laws (including if you are a U.S. expatriate, foreign pension fund, financial institution, insurance company, tax-exempt organization, trader, broker or dealer in securities “controlled foreign corporation,” “passive foreign investment company,” a partnership or other pass-through entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes (or an investor in such a pass-through entity), a person who acquired shares of our common stock as compensation or otherwise in connection with the performance of services, or a person who has acquired shares of our common stock as part of a straddle, hedge, conversion transaction or other integrated investment).

If a partnership (or other entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds our common stock, the tax treatment of a partner will generally depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. If you are a partner of a partnership holding our common stock, you should consult your tax advisors.

If you are considering the purchase of our common stock, you should consult your own tax advisors concerning the particular U.S. federal income and estate tax consequences to you of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common stock, as well as the consequences to you arising under other U.S. federal tax laws and the laws of any other taxing jurisdiction.

As discussed above under “Dividend Policy,” we do not currently anticipate paying cash dividends on shares of our common stock in the foreseeable future. If we make distributions of cash or other property (other than certain pro rata distributions of our stock) in respect of our common stock, the distribution will generally be treated as a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent it is paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. Any portion of a distribution that exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits generally will be treated first as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of the non-U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in our common stock, causing a reduction in the adjusted tax basis of a non-U.S. holder’s common stock, but not below zero. To the extent the amount of the distribution exceeds a non-U.S. holder’s adjusted basis in our common stock, the excess will be treated as described below under “—Gain on Disposition of Common Stock.”

Dividends paid to a non-U.S. holder of our common stock generally will be subject to withholding of U.S. federal income tax at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty. However, dividends that are effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business by the non-U.S. holder within the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, are attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment of the non-U.S. holder) are not subject to such withholding tax, provided certain certification and disclosure requirements are satisfied. Instead, such dividends are subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis in the same manner as if the non-U.S. holder were a U.S. person as defined under the Code. Any such effectively connected dividends received by a foreign corporation may be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty.

A non-U.S. holder of our common stock who wishes to claim the benefit of an applicable treaty rate and avoid backup withholding, as discussed below, for dividends will be required (a) to provide the applicable withholding agent with a properly executed Internal Revenue Service Form W-8BEN or Form W-8BEN-E (or other applicable form) certifying under penalty of perjury that such holder is not a U.S. person as defined under the Code and is eligible for treaty benefits or (b) if our common stock is held through certain foreign intermediaries, to satisfy the relevant certification requirements of applicable U.S. Treasury regulations. Special certification and other requirements apply to certain non-U.S. holders that are pass-through entities rather than corporations or individuals.

A non-U.S. holder of our common stock eligible for a reduced rate of U.S. federal withholding tax pursuant to an income tax treaty may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld by timely filing an appropriate claim for refund with the Internal Revenue Service. Non-U.S. holders are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding their entitlement to the benefits under any applicable income tax treaty.

Subject to the discussion of backup withholding below, any gain realized by a non-U.S. holder on the sale or other taxable disposition of our common stock generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax unless:

A non-U.S. holder described in the first bullet point immediately above will be subject to tax on the gain derived from the sale under regular graduated U.S. federal income tax rates. In addition, if any non-U.S. holder described in the first bullet point immediately above is a foreign corporation, the gain realized by such non-U.S. holder may be subject to the branch profits at a 30% rate (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty). An individual non-U.S. holder described in the second bullet point immediately above will be subject to a tax equal to 30% (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty) on the gain derived from the sale, which may be offset by U.S. source capital losses, even though the individual is not considered a resident of the United States, provided that the individual has timely filed U.S. federal income tax returns with respect to such losses.

We believe we are not and do not anticipate becoming a “U.S. real property holding corporation” for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Common stock held by an individual non-U.S. holder at the time of death will be included in such holder’s gross estate for U.S. federal estate tax purposes, unless an applicable estate tax treaty provides otherwise.

We must report annually to the Internal Revenue Service and to each non-U.S. holder the amount of distributions paid to such holder and the tax withheld with respect to such distributions, regardless of whether

withholding was required. Copies of the information returns reporting such distributions and any withholding may also be made available to the tax authorities in the country in which the non-U.S. holder resides under the provisions of an applicable income tax treaty.

A non-U.S. holder will not be subject to backup withholding on dividends received if such holder certifies under penalty of perjury that it is a non-U.S. holder (and the payor does not have actual knowledge or reason to know that such holder is a U.S. person as defined under the Code), or such holder otherwise establishes an exemption.

Information reporting and, depending on the circumstances, backup withholding will apply to the proceeds of a sale or other disposition of our common stock made within the United States or conducted through certain U.S.-related financial intermediaries, unless the beneficial owner certifies under penalty of perjury that it is a non-U.S. holder (and the payor does not have actual knowledge or reason to know that the beneficial owner is a U.S. person as defined under the Code), or such owner otherwise establishes an exemption.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules may be allowed as a refund or a credit against a non-U.S. holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability provided the required information is timely furnished to the Internal Revenue Service.

Under Sections 1471 through 1474 of the Code (such Sections commonly referred to as “FATCA”), a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax may apply to any dividends paid on our common stock to (i) a “foreign financial institution” (as specifically defined in the Code) which does not provide sufficient documentation, typically on IRS Form W-8BEN-E, evidencing either (x) an exemption from FATCA, or (y) its compliance (or deemed compliance) with FATCA (which may alternatively be in the form of compliance with an intergovernmental agreement with the United States) in a manner which avoids withholding, or (ii) a “non-financial foreign entity” (as specifically defined in the Code) which does not provide sufficient documentation, typically on IRS Form W-8BEN-E, evidencing either (x) an exemption from FATCA, or (y) adequate information regarding certain substantial U.S. beneficial owners of such entity (if any). If a dividend payment is both subject to withholding under FATCA and subject to the withholding tax discussed above under “—Distributions,” the withholding under FATCA may be credited against, and therefore reduce, such other withholding tax. You should consult your own tax advisors regarding these requirements and whether they may be relevant to your ownership and disposition of our common stock.

Under the terms and subject to the conditions contained in an underwriting agreement, dated    , 2021, the selling stockholders have agreed to sell to the underwriters named below, for whom     and     are acting as representatives, the following respective numbers of shares of common stock:

The underwriting agreement provides that the underwriters are obligated to purchase all the shares of common stock in the offering if any are purchased, other than those shares covered by the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares described below. The underwriting agreement also provides that if an underwriter defaults the purchase commitments of non-defaulting underwriters may be increased or the offering may be terminated.

We and the selling stockholders have agreed to indemnify the underwriters and certain of their controlling persons against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, and to contribute to payments that the underwriters may be required to make in respect of those liabilities.

The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase on a pro rata basis up to     additional shares at the public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions from the selling stockholders.

The underwriters propose to offer the shares of common stock initially at the public offering price on the cover page of this prospectus and to selling group members at that price less a selling concession of up to $    per share. After the public offering, the representatives may change the public offering price and concession.

The following table shows the public offering price, underwriting discounts and commissions and proceeds to the selling stockholders.

The expenses of the offering, not including the underwriting discounts and commissions for which the selling stockholders are responsible, are estimated at $   million and are payable by us. We have also agreed to reimburse the underwriters for up to       of expenses related to the review of this offering by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., or FINRA. In accordance with FINRA Rule 5110, this reimbursed fee is deemed underwriting compensation for this offering.

We have agreed that we will not offer, sell, contract to sell, pledge or otherwise dispose of, directly or indirectly, or file with the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement under the Securities Act relating to, any shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for any shares of our common stock, or publicly disclose the intention to make any offer, sale, pledge, disposition or filing, without the prior written consent of     and     for a period of    days after the date of this prospectus.

Our executive officers, directors and the selling stockholders have agreed that they will not offer, sell, contract to sell, pledge or otherwise dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for any shares of our common stock, enter into a transaction that would have the same effect, or enter into any swap, hedge or other arrangement that transfers, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of our common stock, whether any of these

transactions are to be settled by delivery of our common stock or other securities, in cash or otherwise, or publicly disclose the intention to make any such offer, sale, pledge or disposition, or to enter into any such transaction, swap, hedge or other arrangement, without, in each case, the prior written consent of      and      for a period of      days after the date of this prospectus, subject to certain exceptions.

Our common stock is listed on Nasdaq, under the symbol “ASO.”

In connection with the offering the underwriters may engage in stabilizing transactions, over-allotment transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act.

These stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of our common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock. As a result the price of our common stock may be higher than the price that might otherwise exist in the open market. These transactions may be effected on Nasdaq or otherwise and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.

A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the web sites maintained by one or more of the underwriters, or selling group members, if any, participating in this offering and one or more of the underwriters participating in this offering may distribute prospectuses electronically. The representatives may agree to allocate a number of shares to underwriters and selling group members for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the underwriters and selling group members that will make internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations.

The underwriters and their respective affiliates are full-service financial institutions engaged in various activities, which may include securities trading, commercial and investment banking, financial advisory, investment management, investment research, principal investment, hedging, financing and brokerage activities. Certain of the underwriters and their respective affiliates have, from time to time, performed, and may in the future perform, various financial advisory and investment banking services for us, for which they received or will receive customary fees and expenses.

The KKR Stockholders beneficially own in excess of 10% of our issued and outstanding common stock and will be selling stockholders in this offering and, as such, will receive in excess of 5% of the net proceeds of this offering. Because KKR Capital Markets LLC, an affiliate of the KKR Stockholders, is an underwriter in this offering, KKR Capital Markets LLC is deemed to have a “conflict of interest” under FINRA Rule 5121. Accordingly, this offering is being made in compliance with the requirements of FINRA Rule 5121. Pursuant to that rule, the appointment of a “qualified independent underwriter” is not required in connection with this offering, because a bona fide public market exists in the shares, as that term is defined in FINRA Rule 5121. KKR Capital Markets LLC will not confirm any sales to any account over which it exercises discretionary authority without the specific written approval of the account holder.

Other than in the United States, no action has been taken by us or the underwriters that would permit a public offering of the securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. The securities offered by this prospectus may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, nor may this prospectus or any other offering material or advertisements in connection with the offer and sale of any such securities be distributed or published in any jurisdiction, except under circumstances that will result in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of that jurisdiction. Persons into whose possession this prospectus comes are advised to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to the offering and the distribution of this prospectus. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or a solicitation is unlawful.

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area, each a Member State, no securities have been offered or will be offered to the public in that Member State prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the securities which has been approved by the competent authority in that Member State or, where appropriate, approved in another Member State and notified to the competent authority in that Member State, all in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation, except that offers of securities may be made to the public in that Member State at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Regulation:

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” in relation to any securities in any Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and any securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for any securities, and the expression “Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129.

Each of the underwriters severally represents, warrants and agrees as follows:

The securities may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the securities must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.

Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.

Pursuant to section 3A.3 of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the underwriters are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.

The securities have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (Law No. 25 of 1948, as amended) and accordingly, will not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Japan, or for the benefit of any Japanese Person or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to any Japanese Person, except in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines promulgated by relevant Japanese governmental or regulatory authorities in effect at the relevant time. For the purposes of this paragraph, “Japanese Person” shall mean any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan.

The securities may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, or SIX, or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the securities or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.

Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, the Company or the securities have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of securities will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, or FINMA, and the offer of securities has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes, or CISA. The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of shares.

The securities may not be offered or sold in Hong Kong by means of any document other than (i) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap.571) of Hong Kong and any rules made under that Ordinance, or (ii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies Ordinance (Cap.32) of Hong Kong or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of that Ordinance. No advertisement, invitation or document relating to the depositary securities may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public of Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to depositary securities which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance and any rules made under that Ordinance.

This prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of securities may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the securities be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than:

Where the securities are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

This prospectus is not a formal disclosure document and has not been, nor will be, lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. It does not purport to contain all information that an investor or their professional advisers would expect to find in a prospectus or other disclosure document (as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)) for the purposes of Part 6D.2 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or in a product disclosure statement for the purposes of Part 7.9 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), in either case, in relation to the securities. The securities are not being offered in Australia to “retail clients” as defined in sections 761G and 761GA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). This offering is being made in Australia solely to “wholesale clients” for the purposes of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and, as such, no prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document in relation to the securities has been, or will be, prepared.

This prospectus does not constitute an offer in Australia other than to persons who do not require disclosure under Part 6D.2 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and who are wholesale clients for the purposes of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). By submitting an application for the securities, you represent and warrant to us that you are a person who does not require disclosure under Part 6D.2 and who is a wholesale client for the purposes of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). If any recipient of this prospectus is not a wholesale client, no offer of, or invitation to apply for, the securities shall be deemed to be made to such recipient and no applications for such securities will be accepted from such recipient. Any offer to a recipient in Australia, and any agreement arising from acceptance of such offer, is personal and may only be accepted by the recipient. In addition, by applying for the securities you undertake to us that, for a period of twelve months from the date of issue of the securities, you will not transfer any interest in the securities to any person in Australia other than to a person who does not require disclosure under Part 6D.2 and who is a wholesale client.

The validity of the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus will be passed upon for us by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, New York, New York. Certain legal matters relating to this offering will be passed upon for the underwriters by Latham & Watkins LLP, New York, New York.

The consolidated financial statements of Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. and subsidiaries as of January 30, 2021 and February 1, 2020, and for each of the three fiscal years in the period ended January 30, 2021, incorporated in this prospectus by reference from the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 30, 2021, have been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report, which is incorporated herein by reference (which report expresses an unqualified opinion on the consolidated financial statements and includes an explanatory paragraph referring to a critical audit matter). Such consolidated financial statements have been so incorporated in reliance upon the report of such firm given upon their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.

We have filed a registration statement on Form S-1 under the Securities Act with respect to the common stock offered by this prospectus with the SEC. This prospectus is a part of the registration statement and does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement and its exhibits and schedules, portions of which have been omitted as permitted by the rules and regulations of the SEC. For further information about us and our common stock, you should refer to the registration statement and its exhibits and schedules. Statements contained, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus regarding the contents of any contract or other document referred to in those documents are not necessarily complete, and in each instance we refer you to the copy of the contract or other document filed as an exhibit to the registration statement or other document. Each of these statements is qualified in all respects by this reference.

We are subject to the informational reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and, in accordance with the Exchange Act, we file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our filings with the SEC are available to the public on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Those filings are available to the public on, or accessible through, our website (www.academy.com) under the heading “Investor Relations.” The information we file with the SEC or contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not part of this prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

The rules of the SEC allow us to incorporate by reference into this prospectus the information we file with the SEC. This means that we are disclosing important information to you by referring to other documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus, except for any information superseded by information contained directly in this prospectus. We incorporate by reference the documents listed below (other than any portions thereof, which under the Exchange Act, and applicable SEC rules, are not deemed “filed” under the Exchange Act):

If we have incorporated by reference any statement or information in this prospectus and we subsequently modify that statement or information with information contained in this prospectus, the statement or information previously incorporated in this prospectus is also modified or superseded in the same manner.

We will provide without charge to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom a copy of this prospectus is delivered, upon written or oral request of such person, a copy of any or all of the documents referred to above which have been incorporated by reference in this prospectus. You should direct requests for those documents to Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc., 1800 North Mason Road, Katy, Texas 77449; Attention: Corporate Secretary (telephone: 281-646-5200).

Exhibits to any documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus will not be sent, however, unless those exhibits have been specifically referenced in this prospectus.

The following table sets forth the expenses payable by the Registrant expected to be incurred in connection with the distribution of common stock being registered hereby (other than the underwriting discounts and commissions). All of such expenses are estimates, except for the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, registration fee and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., or FINRA, filing fee.

Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL, allows a corporation to provide in its certificate of incorporation that a director of the corporation will not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except where the director breached the duty of loyalty, failed to act in good faith, engaged in intentional misconduct or knowingly violated a law, authorized the payment of a dividend or approved a stock repurchase in violation of Delaware corporate law or obtained an improper personal benefit. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for this limitation of liability.

Section 145 of the DGCL, or Section 145, provides, among other things, that a Delaware corporation may indemnify any person who was, is or is threatened to be made, party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of such corporation), by reason of the fact that such person is or was an officer, director, employee or agent of such corporation or is or was serving at the request of such corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was unlawful. A Delaware corporation may indemnify any persons who were or are a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests, provided further that no indemnification is permitted without judicial approval if the officer, director, employee or agent is adjudged to be liable to the corporation. Where an officer or director is successful on the merits or otherwise in the defense of any action referred to above, the corporation must indemnify him or her against the expenses (including attorneys’ fees) which such officer or director has actually and reasonably incurred.

Section 145 further authorizes a corporation to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation or is or was serving at the request of the

corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise, against any liability asserted against such person and incurred by such person in any such capacity, or arising out of his or her status as such, whether or not the corporation would otherwise have the power to indemnify such person under Section 145.

We maintain standard policies of insurance that provide coverage (1) to our directors and officers against loss rising from claims made by reason of breach of duty or other wrongful act and (2) to us with respect to indemnification payments that we may make to such directors and officers.

Our amended and restated bylaws provides that we must indemnify, and advance expenses to, our directors and officers to the full extent authorized by the DGCL. We have also entered into indemnification agreements with our directors, which agreements require us to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law against liabilities that may arise by reason of their service to us, and to advance expenses incurred as a result of any proceeding against them as to which they could be indemnified.

The indemnification rights set forth above shall not be exclusive of any other right which an indemnified person may have or hereafter acquire under any statute, provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws, agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we shall not be obligated to indemnify a director or officer in respect of a proceeding (or part thereof) instituted by such director or officer, unless such proceeding (or part thereof) has been authorized by our board of directors pursuant to the applicable procedure outlined in the amended and restated bylaws.

Section 174 of the DGCL provides, among other things, that a director, who willfully or negligently approves of an unlawful payment of dividends or an unlawful stock purchase or redemption, may be held jointly and severally liable for such actions. A director who was either absent when the unlawful actions were approved or dissented at the time may avoid liability by causing his or her dissent to such actions to be entered in the books containing the minutes of the meetings of the board of directors at the time such action occurred or immediately after such absent director receives notice of the unlawful acts.

The underwriting agreement provides for indemnification by the underwriters of us and our officers and directors, and by us of the underwriters, for certain liabilities arising under the Securities Act or otherwise in connection with this offering.

Within the past three years, the Registrant has granted or issued the following securities of the Registrant which were not registered under the Securities Act.

On June 30, 2020, the Registrant issued 100 shares of the Registrant’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share, to New Academy Holding Company, LLC for $1.00. The issuance of such shares of common stock was not registered under the Securities Act, because the shares were offered and sold in a transaction by the issuer not involving any public offering exempt from registration under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.

From October 1, 2020 to April 23, 2021, we issued 887,084 shares of our common stock upon settlement of certain vested restricted stock units that were granted under the 2011 Equity Plan.

The issuances of restricted stock units and the shares of common stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units described in this Item 15 were issued pursuant to written compensatory plans or arrangements with our employees and directors, in reliance on the exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act provided by Rule 701 promulgated under the Securities Act or the exemption set forth in Section 4(2) under the Securities Act and Regulation D promulgated thereunder relative to transactions by an issuer not involving any public offering, to the extent an exemption from such registration was required.

All of the foregoing securities are deemed restricted securities for purposes of the Securities Act.

See the Exhibit Index immediately preceding the signature pages hereto, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

None

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in Katy, Texas, on    , 2021.

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Ken C. Hicks, Michael P. Mullican and Rene G. Casares and each of them, the true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents of the undersigned, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for and in the name, place and stead of the undersigned, to sign in any and all capacities (including, without limitation, the capacities listed below), the registration statement, any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to the registration statement and any and all successor registration statements of the Registrant, including any filings pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and hereby grants to such attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and anything necessary to be done to enable the Registrant to comply with the provisions of the Securities Act and all the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as fully to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, or their or his or her substitute, or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities indicated on    , 2021: