Fanatics, the American retailer known for its American football jerseys, has outlined ambitions to sell more European soccer kits, highlighting the growing American interest in the world’s most popular sport.
“Football should be our number one business,” Michael Rubin, the billionaire CEO of the sports retailer, told the Financial Times. “We’re playing catch-up.”
Fanatics’ partners include the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and Nike, allowing the Florida-based group to manufacture and sell T-shirts and other merchandise.
The company expects to generate $8 billion in revenue this year and is already working with some of Europe’s leading clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Robben says he now wants to make acquisitions outside the home market to increase revenue for football fanatics.
Robben’s ambitions in sport show how there are more ways for companies to make money from the beautiful game than acquiring clubs. American investors were behind the £2.5 billion takeover of Chelsea FC, the €1.2 billion acquisition of Italian champions AC Milan and the €800 million purchase of French team Olympique Lyonnais.
Fanatics netted $31 billion in a $700 million fundraiser led by Clearlake Capital last December, the investment firm that also led the Chelsea deal. The National Football League, National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball are also contributors to fanatics.
Rubin’s comments come shortly after Fanatics’ acquisition of Italian sports retailer and e-commerce company EPI, which it expects will help push it towards European football.
EPI’s clients include Italian football clubs AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus as well as Atalanta BC, Bologna FC, ACF Fiorentina, SS Lazio and the Italian Football Federation, expanding the fanatic’s position in Europe.
The fanatics bought EPI, which employs 150 people, from a private equity fund run by the Quadrivio Group for an undisclosed sum. The EPI is Fanatics’ first acquisition in Europe since it bought UK-based online retailer Kitbag in 2016.
Fanatics have gone from being primarily a retailer of third-party products to a company that can also manufacture goods itself. The ability to produce and distribute specific merchandise means that it can respond quickly when a particular athlete is doing well and fans flock to buy their gear.
The company also strengthened its position in the holdings with the acquisition of Topps Trading Cards last year, and is building out its betting division.
Rubin, who sold everything from vegetable seeds to ski equipment and sporting goods, sold the e-commerce conglomerate GSI, which included the Fanatics, to auction site eBay in 2011 for $2.4 billion. He later bought back the Fanatics brand to focus on the sports market.
He added, “Today, the NFL is our biggest business, our second largest baseball business, the university is our third largest business, then the NBA and then world football.”