Circuit President Brandon Igudalski with media as NASCAR debuts the new Fanatics Fan Shopping Experience at Pocono Raceway Friday morning ahead of its Windows 10 400 driving weekend event in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. I made a speech to the fans.
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Sports platform Fanatics and competitor Panini have been embroiled in a legal battle in recent days after filing two lawsuits between trading card rivals.
Panini filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fanatics last week, alleging it engaged in “calculated, willful and anti-competitive conduct” to establish a monopoly in the trading card industry. Fanatics filed a counterclaim on Monday, alleging interference in business relationships and breach of its duty to negotiate in good faith.
The controversy comes down to professional sports leagues and their associated trading card licensing rights. Panini currently holds league and players union licenses to manufacture NBA and NFL trading cards. The company has held these exclusive rights since 2009 and 2016 respectively.
But Fanatics has signed long-term deals with both leagues and their associations to assume exclusivity after existing contracts expire in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
In its antitrust lawsuit against Fanatics, Panini argued that “Fanatics was in a position to push Panini and other potential competitors out of the market, creating a barrier to entry that prevented them from returning.”
Panini also claimed that he had not been given “an opportunity to compete, such as to bid for licenses obtained by Fanatics.”
Fanatics denied the antitrust law in its counterclaim, claiming it won the rights because it had a better offer and Panini “failed to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Fanatics said that Panini “used unfair trade practices, heavy-handed tactics, embarked on a lengthy illegal and deceptive campaign of illegal activity.” Panini terminates license early. “
Fanatics declined to comment further on the lawsuit. Panini America was not immediately available for comment.
Starting as an e-commerce platform in 2011, Fanatics has grown rapidly to own exclusive merchandise rights for everything from the NFL and NBA to the International Olympic Committee.
In recent years, the company has turned to trading cards, collectibles and sports betting to deepen the connections it has already made with the millions of sports fans it has built through its apparel business.
In 2021, Fanatics signed an agreement with MLB and its players union to become the exclusive licensee of the Baseball Card, ending a 70-year relationship between the Tops and MLB. The move also helped the Tops cancel the SPAC merger after they lost their MLB rights. Tops was eventually acquired by Fanatics in January 2022.
The company has spent the last few months developing its trading card and collectibles business, adding things like game-worn jersey patches to its rookie cards, as well as livestreams where card collectors can participate in live card “breaking”. You are starting your shopping experience.
According to multiple media reports, the company’s specific trading card business is in a $350 million Series A round that includes Silverlake, Endeavor Group Holdings and private equity firm Insight Partners, as of September 2021. was valued at $10.4 billion. The NBA and MLB, and their players’ unions, also have stakes in the company as part of licensing agreements.
In December, the three-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company raised $700 million and was valued at $31 billion.
