While Fanatics has avoided scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators even as multiple lawsuits have portrayed the sports e-commerce giant as a monopoly, fans haven\u2019t held back. Days before the Super Bowl, it became clear that the person most responsible for #EndFanatics to trend on X caught the attention of Fanatics founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Rubin \u2014 and the visibility led to more than just an apology.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael messaged me and asked if I had time for a quick call,\u201d said Patriots megafan Brian Babikian, whose persistent posts inspired both the #EndFanatics hashtag and the account, @End_Fanatics.<\/p>\n
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The Seattle Seahawks wear Fanatics T-shirts while celebrate beating the Patriots to win the Super Bowl on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara.<\/p>\n
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Babikian and Rubin FaceTimed and a meeting at Fanatics\u2019 New York headquarters was set up for this week. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t wanna be bought off,\u201d Babikian said. \u201cI am not going to stop talking bad about Fanatics because they gave me free stuff. I told Michael on the call that I don\u2019t want to blame everything on him. I want to learn where I should be pointing the finger because there needs to be accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fanatics has held hundreds of meetings in recent years with some of their most vociferous critics, so it came to no shock to insiders when Babikian took to X last week to announce<\/a> the meeting. Fanatics uses these gatherings not to bribe or threaten their detractors into silence, but to educate them on the business.<\/p>\n \u201cWe live in a relatively divided world, but sports brings everyone together \u2014 and we sit at the epicenter of a lot of things in sports,\u201d Rubin told The Times. \u201cWe have a big responsibility to the fans. They have high expectations and we appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n Dodgers stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pose for a photo that highlighted sheer uniforms on Feb. 21<\/p>\n (Ashley Landis \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Under Rubin, Fanatics has gone from a mom-and-pop operation into a company that employs 22,000 people and is valued between $25 billion and $30 billion. As Fanatics\u2019 scale and valuation grew, so did Rubin\u2019s estimated wealth that Forbes<\/a> currently pins at $9.6 billion, and his property holdings include Ronald Reagan\u2019s former home in the Hollywood Hills he purchased<\/a> for $70 million in 2022.<\/p>\n And during Fanatics\u2019 growth spurt with exclusive deals with every major sports league in North America, criticism of the company swelled. That included blame for issues ranging from pricing to workmanship \u2014 even when Fanatics wasn\u2019t the cause.<\/p>\n Weeks after the Super Bowl, during which Fanatics got heat for prices at the NFL\u2019s on-site stores that were set and run by an entirely different company (Legends), the Boston Red Sox gave the haters more fodder on Wednesday after fans voiced dissatisfaction over the new home white jerseys. Initially, the Red Sox attempted to avoid blame in its original statement. As the backlash against Fanatics picked up steam, the Red Sox deleted its original statement from X<\/a> and posted multiple clarifications.<\/p>\n \u201cFanatics executed to our specifications and has been an outstanding partner throughout,\u201d the Red Sox\u2019s final statement on the matter read. \u201cThey deserve no blame and we are grateful to them for making the new jerseys in time for Opening Day.\u201d<\/p>\n The Red Sox picked the design of the new home jerseys from multiple options before they were made at Fanatics\u2019 Pennsylvania plant that has produced MLB jerseys for decades. Those involved in turning the mockup into a finished product informed the Red Sox on multiple occasions that the piping down the middle of the jerseys was too close to the \u201cRed Sox\u201d lettering, a person familiar with the conversations who is not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times.<\/p>\n The Red Sox\u2019s jersey situation played out much quicker than the MLB\u2019s see-through pants controversy<\/a> two years ago. For several weeks, Fanatics took blame for the construction of the new uniforms before MLB and Nike took responsibility for the design and specs of the uniform. Fanatics, just as it did with the Red Sox jersey, also flagged the paper-thin look of uniforms during the design and manufacturing process.<\/p>\n Boston pitcher Garrett Crochet\u2019s jersey features the Red Sox logo running into red piping on his uniform.<\/p>\n (Julio Aguilar \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cIt really hits Michael deeply, particularly in the world of social media when he gets blamed for things that are out of his control,\u201dsaid a longtime e-commerce executive familiar with Fanatics\u2019 inner workings who is not authorized to speak publicly.<\/p>\n Like with MLB, Fanatics became not only the exclusive online retailer for the leagues, but also the exclusive manufacturer of uniforms in some cases. To secure the long-term deals, Fanatics offered equity in the company to both leagues and player unions. The NFL has invested more than $400 million in Fanatics over the last decade to become the largest league investor and holds about 3% of the company. Combined with the NFL\u2019s stake, MLB, the NBA, NHL, MLS and multiple player unions own roughly 10% of Fanatics.<\/p>\n Critics allege that the leagues\u2019 close financial ties to Fanatics have blunted their criticism, but there\u2019s another explanation: Overall, they are satisfied with the Fanatics both in its responsiveness and, the much bigger part, the revenues generated by Fanatics\u2019 platform. There\u2019s an understanding among the leagues that given Fanatics ships around 100-million items per year, an error or defect rate of just 1% would result in hundreds of thousands of upset customers.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have done a great job building cultural capital and financial relationships at the league level across these leagues,\u201d said a former NFL team executive who was granted anonymity to discuss the club-level dealings with Fanatics. \u201cAnd while there may be a customer service issue here and there, when you look at the scale of Fanatics, consumers have acclimated to the level of service.\u201d<\/p>\n And as Fanatics has grown in licensed team merchandise space \u2014 including stores run by the company at several venues, including LAFC and the upcoming LA28 Summer Olympics \u2014 it has entered new markets, including online sports betting, experiences and collectibles. Panini America alleged<\/a> in a 2023 lawsuit that Fanatics used its \u201cmonopoly power\u201d to jeopardize its trading card business. The case remains ongoing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just that Fanatics\u2019 deals run up to 20 years with the leagues and unions, but those leagues and unions own part of Fanatics,\u201d said Katherine Van Dyck, a senior legal fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonpartisan think tank. \u201cThat\u2019s even more problematic and has an adverse impact on Fanatics\u2019 competitors and fans. I think [the lawsuits brought by Panini and others] raise legitimate and serious questions as to whether Fanatics is using anti-competitive and illegal tactics to build a monopoly that violates the Sherman Act.\u201d<\/p>\n Marc Edelman, a law professor at Baruch College, wrote in a submission<\/a> to the Federal Trade Commission in 2022 that Fanatics\u2019 $500-million acquisition of The Topps Company earlier that year meant Fanatics \u201cpossesses monopoly power\u201d over the card industry.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom my perspective, these Fanatics deals as well as the agreements between the teams to exclusively licensed rights to Fanatics are so problematic because they\u2019re anti-free markets and against the natural progression of capitalism,\u201d Edelman said. \u201cInstead of having various companies competing to make the best products for the lowest price, there is one company that has secured all of these rights from all of the major leagues and most major players association for a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n Fanatics has countered that its $8 billion in revenue in 2025 comprises only a small fraction of the global licensed sports merchandise market estimated to be around $37.5 billion, according to Straits Research<\/a>. In the U.S., Fanatics share<\/a> of the same market is around 35% \u2014 roughly the same size as Amazon\u2019s share of the total e-commerce market in the U.S.<\/p>\n But, so far, Fanatics hasn\u2019t faced much scrutiny either by federal regulators or in Congress, and the company hasn\u2019t hit any major setbacks in the cases in which it\u2019s accused of monopolistic practices. On social media, however, Fanatics and Rubin remain targets of fans\u2019 ire.<\/p>\n![\"Dodgers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771765509_494_.jpeg\")
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