Fanatics has been an incredibly busy brand over the last several years, finding any way possible to get in on all of the biggest and most popular sports in the world. At this point, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they started to creep in on the broadcast side of things.
In one of their most recent moves, their purchased card-making brand Topps has evolved its offering in the ever-growing MLS merchandising market. Soon, fans will be able to get coveted debut patch autograph cards of debutants from recent MLS seasons in their Topps packs, further expanding Fanatics’ impression on sports.
Constantly Expanding Throughout 2024
Fanatics have swiftly won over a whole host of merchandising options in sports that connect directly to fans. One of their most ambitious efforts in 2024 was to expand into new US markets of online sports betting. To achieve this and power up sports betting with Fanatics Sportsbook, the brand pumped in a $1,000 Bet & Get promo.
It followed an initial launch of the sportsbook in four states in August 2023, furthering their still-growing grip on so many other points of fan interactions with teams and competitions. For the 2024/25 season, Fanatics began their jersey deal with the NHL, unveiling four tiers of jersey, ranging from $120 to $230 each.
While the US remains the main market for Fanatics, the company hasn’t been able to resist the potential of the European soccer market. As noted, they took over Topps and then took on perpetual sticker supplier Panini to split the tournament’s collection. From there, they’ve won the England National Team’s eCommerce rights and the UEFA Euro store rights.
Towards the end of 2024, Fanatics even doubled down on a live shopping service by acquiring European platform Voggt. With another strong expansion via Topps in MLS trading cards is just their latest move, 2024 showed that there might not be any stopping Fanatics at this point.
Expanding the MLS Offering
Fanatics taking over Topps hasn’t always produced particularly favorable results for fans, such as in the battle for player and team rights for the UEFA Euros in 2024. In this case, most were stripped from Panini, but not quite all, meaning that neither collection of stickers could ever be as official or complete as before.
Still, in more localized and zoomed-in parts of the business and its attempts to merchandise more items to fans, there has been success. One such success looks primed to be the release of MLS debut patch autograph cards via the Topps range.
In 2024, players making their debut would wear a distinct Debut Patch on their shirts, with these patches being taken from their debut shirts and placed in collectible trading cards to then be autographed by the player. On December 6, 35 of these cards were released into new MLS Chrome packs.
Given the prominence of rookie cards as well as cards that feature patches and autographs in the secondary sports trading card market of the US, this was a big move that’ll be coveted by fans. This even goes for greats of the game who aren’t rookies, like Luis Suárez, who made his MLS debut on February 21, 2024, for Inter Miami CF.
