Fanatics is building one of the largest commercial ecosystems in sport.
When fans buy, collect, bet, attend or spend around their favourite sports team, Fanatics is involved in almost every transaction.
The company now reaches more than 100 million+ fans and works with over 900 sports properties and 22,000 employees. Merchandise was the starting point, but the larger strategy now is to connect commerce, collectibles, gaming, events, loyalty and payments around the same customer.
A jersey purchase tells Fanatics which team a fan follows. A trading card reveals what they collect and value. Betting creates a more frequent relationship with live sport. Fanatics Fest adds tickets, in-person marketing, athlete access and experiences.
FanCash links that activity across the platform, while the forthcoming Fanatics American Express card will extend the system into everyday spending.
The goal is bigger than selling more products.
Fanatics wants to turn separate sports purchases into one connected customer account, increasing how often fans return, how much of their spending stays inside the company and how valuable that relationship becomes over time.
What began as a merchandise retailer is becoming the commercial layer around global sport.
365247 breaks down the Fanatics ecosystem and goes inside the business of one of the most fascinating sports businesses in the world right now