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Fanatics, Inc.
Fanatics, Inc. is a global sports platform that consists of several businesses, including licensed sports merchandise, trading cards and collectibles, sports betting, special events, and live commerce. The company was founded in Jacksonville, Florida, by Michael Rubin in 2011 as an online retailer of licensed sportswear and merchandise for major collegiate and professional sports leagues and teams.
Since 2024, Fanatics is the exclusive ice hockey jersey supplier for all the NHL teams. The company also produces uniforms to professional football and basketball teams in Japan.
After an exclusive licensing deal signed with FIFA, Fanatics will become the exclusive licensor of collectible cards, stickers, and card games for the World Cup and other FIFA events. The agreement will be effective from 2031 onward replacing Panini after over five decades.
Football Fanatics, which later became Fanatics, Inc., was founded by brothers Alan and Mitchell Trager in Jacksonville, Florida. They initially started with a brick-and-mortar store in Orange Park Mall in 1995, focusing on local team merchandise, particularly Jacksonville Jaguars apparel. The company later expanded into e-commerce and was eventually acquired by Michael Rubin's GSI Commerce, which later became Fanatics, Inc. In 1998, Rubin created an apparel and logistics company, Global Sports Incorporated, which would later turn into GSI Commerce, a multibillion-dollar e-commerce company. Rubin sold GSI to eBay in 2011 for $2.4 billion and bought back the sports e-commerce business, which included online stores for all North American sports leagues along with hundreds of teams and colleges, keeping the name Fanatics, Inc. for the new company moving forward.
In April 2012, Fanatics raised $150 million from Insight Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz and acquired its Florida-based rival Dreams, Inc. for $158 million in cash and $25 million in debt. This move added the brands FansEdge and Mounted Memories, which were rebranded as the Fanatics Authentic division.
Rubin's vision was to differentiate Fanatics by serving the real-time expectations of global sports fans and partners. In 2014, Doug Mack was appointed CEO and Fanatics opened a Bay Area office to tap into the Silicon Valley tech talent pool. Mack helped Fanatics move from a domestic e-commerce business to a mobile-first, direct-to-consumer brand with its own manufacturing capabilities. Priorities such as real-time manufacturing, data, and technology would guide the company's vertical commerce (v-commerce) model.
In 2015, Fanatics raised $300 million from Silver Lake Partners. In early 2016, the company acquired UK-based internet retailer Kitbag to accelerate focus on international expansion and global soccer. In April 2017, Fanatics bought sportswear and merchandise manufacturer and MLB uniform provider Majestic Athletic from VF Corporation in an effort to add to the company's growing vertical manufacturing capabilities. Nike Inc. would eventually take over as MLB's official on-field uniform partner, with Fanatics using the existing facilities acquired during the Majestic acquisition to make Nike MLB uniforms.
In September 2017, Fanatics closed a $1 billion round of fundraising led by Softbank, with participation from the NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS and NFLPA. Fanatics was expected to produce $2.2 billion in annual revenue that year. The next month, Fanatics acquired Fermata Partners to transform the college licensed sports business and a new Fanatics College division was formed. In the following two years, Fanatics announced 10-year deals with Nike, the National Football League and Major League Baseball that granted Fanatics the rights to design, manufacture and distribute all Nike fan gear sold at retail for both leagues.
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Fanatics, Inc.
Fanatics, Inc. is a global sports platform that consists of several businesses, including licensed sports merchandise, trading cards and collectibles, sports betting, special events, and live commerce. The company was founded in Jacksonville, Florida, by Michael Rubin in 2011 as an online retailer of licensed sportswear and merchandise for major collegiate and professional sports leagues and teams.
Since 2024, Fanatics is the exclusive ice hockey jersey supplier for all the NHL teams. The company also produces uniforms to professional football and basketball teams in Japan.
After an exclusive licensing deal signed with FIFA, Fanatics will become the exclusive licensor of collectible cards, stickers, and card games for the World Cup and other FIFA events. The agreement will be effective from 2031 onward replacing Panini after over five decades.
Football Fanatics, which later became Fanatics, Inc., was founded by brothers Alan and Mitchell Trager in Jacksonville, Florida. They initially started with a brick-and-mortar store in Orange Park Mall in 1995, focusing on local team merchandise, particularly Jacksonville Jaguars apparel. The company later expanded into e-commerce and was eventually acquired by Michael Rubin's GSI Commerce, which later became Fanatics, Inc. In 1998, Rubin created an apparel and logistics company, Global Sports Incorporated, which would later turn into GSI Commerce, a multibillion-dollar e-commerce company. Rubin sold GSI to eBay in 2011 for $2.4 billion and bought back the sports e-commerce business, which included online stores for all North American sports leagues along with hundreds of teams and colleges, keeping the name Fanatics, Inc. for the new company moving forward.
In April 2012, Fanatics raised $150 million from Insight Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz and acquired its Florida-based rival Dreams, Inc. for $158 million in cash and $25 million in debt. This move added the brands FansEdge and Mounted Memories, which were rebranded as the Fanatics Authentic division.
Rubin's vision was to differentiate Fanatics by serving the real-time expectations of global sports fans and partners. In 2014, Doug Mack was appointed CEO and Fanatics opened a Bay Area office to tap into the Silicon Valley tech talent pool. Mack helped Fanatics move from a domestic e-commerce business to a mobile-first, direct-to-consumer brand with its own manufacturing capabilities. Priorities such as real-time manufacturing, data, and technology would guide the company's vertical commerce (v-commerce) model.
In 2015, Fanatics raised $300 million from Silver Lake Partners. In early 2016, the company acquired UK-based internet retailer Kitbag to accelerate focus on international expansion and global soccer. In April 2017, Fanatics bought sportswear and merchandise manufacturer and MLB uniform provider Majestic Athletic from VF Corporation in an effort to add to the company's growing vertical manufacturing capabilities. Nike Inc. would eventually take over as MLB's official on-field uniform partner, with Fanatics using the existing facilities acquired during the Majestic acquisition to make Nike MLB uniforms.
In September 2017, Fanatics closed a $1 billion round of fundraising led by Softbank, with participation from the NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS and NFLPA. Fanatics was expected to produce $2.2 billion in annual revenue that year. The next month, Fanatics acquired Fermata Partners to transform the college licensed sports business and a new Fanatics College division was formed. In the following two years, Fanatics announced 10-year deals with Nike, the National Football League and Major League Baseball that granted Fanatics the rights to design, manufacture and distribute all Nike fan gear sold at retail for both leagues.