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The Fanatics Monopoly: Why Your Team Gear Costs More and Feels Cheaper

Business of sports

The Fanatics Monopoly: Why Your Team Gear Costs More and Feels Cheaper

11 min

Fanatics now controls almost every touchpoint of licensed sports apparel through long-term exclusivity deals. This episode traces how the vertical integration of manufacturing and retail is driving up prices while shrinking the variety of gear available to fans.

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Show notes

Analysis of Fanatics' 'V-commerce' vertical integration model.

Details on the 10-20 year exclusive licensing deals with MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL.

Case study of the 2024 MLB jersey quality controversy.

Financial growth metrics: From $3.5B in 2021 to a projected $13B in 2026.

Impact of the Topps acquisition on the trading card and collectibles market.

In this episode

  1. 1Intro1 min
  2. 2The Rise of V-Commerce2 min
  3. 3The Exclusivity Moat2 min
  4. 4The Quality Crisis and 'Enshittification'3 min
  5. 5The Price of Monopoly2 min
  6. 6Outro1 min

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The Fanatics Monopoly: Why Your Team Gear Costs More and Feels Cheaper — Fylom