Fanatics is a leader in sports merchandise. The company has signed exclusive licensing deals with top sports leagues, like the NFL and NBA. That gives it the right to sell branded merchandise to fans through its e-commerce site and retail stores.
The company wants to become a leader in everything related to sports. It's expanding into digital collectibles, sports betting, and trading cards. It has accelerated that bold vision through acquisitions. It bought trading card leader Topps for $500 million after beating that company out for trading card rights with the MLB. It also bought clothing brands Mitchell and Ness and European live-commerce platform Voggt and has expanded its sports betting.
Fanatics is trying to "build a company that's beloved by billions of sports fans globally," according to founder and CEO Michael Rubin. He envisions the company becoming a leading global digital sports platform. He has bold ambitions for his company, including growing its profits significantly in the coming years.
That growth potential has many investors eagerly anticipating its initial public offering (IPO). Here's a look at how to invest in the stock when it goes public and other sports stocks to consider while waiting for its IPO.
Is Fanatics publicly traded?
Fanatics was not a publicly traded company as of mid-2025. It had yet to file for its initial public offering (IPO).
IPO
When will Fanatics launch an IPO?
Fanatics didn't have an upcoming IPO on the calendar as of mid-2025. However, the company was taking steps toward an IPO. It hired Andrew Low Ah Kee as the CEO of its merchandise business in September 2023. The company also hired the former head of Meta's (META +0.64%) investor relations, Deborah Crawford, earlier that year to be its first head of investors.
Fanatics' Chief Financial Officer Glenn Schiffman highlighted the hiring of a head of investor relations as a key step toward its eventual IPO. Crawford will help the company "share the story, shape the narrative, and be involved from the first minute of the first day of drafting the roadshow presentation and drafting the S-1," according to Schiffman.
The CFO didn't comment on the exact timing of an IPO. He said back in 2023 that it would be in the medium term, possibly within 12 to 24 months, based on the state of its business, the markets, and its goals. However, given that the company wasn't actively preparing to go public in mid-2025, it could be a while before we see a Fanatics IPO.
How to buy Fanatics alternatives
Since Fanatics isn't public yet, you can't buy shares in your brokerage account. However, investors interested in the sports apparel and betting company do have alternative options to consider. Here are three alternatives to investing in Fanatics that anyone can buy while they await its IPO:
1. Nike
NYSE: NKE
Key Data Points
Nike (NKE -0.82%) is the world's leading designer, marketer, and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories. Nike is an iconic sports brand. It's steadily growing its sales and profits as more customers use its products to play sports or engage in fitness activities.
2. Dick's Sporting Goods
NYSE: DKS
Key Data Points
Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS -1.09%) is the country's biggest sporting goods retailer. It had more than 885 stores across the country as of mid-2025. In addition to its physical locations, Dick's has a meaningful e-commerce business, with 80% of those sales fulfilled by its stores. The company enjoys a growing market share across the footwear, athletic apparel, team sport, and golf categories.
3. DraftKings
NASDAQ: DKNG
Key Data Points
DraftKings (DKNG -4.90%) is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company. It's the official sports betting partner for the NFL, NHL, PGA Tour, NBA, and UFC. It's also an authorized gaming operator of MLB. Additionally, the company has a marketplace of digital collectibles, including curated non-fungible tokens ( NFTs).
Investors interested in one of these alternatives to Fanatics can buy shares in any brokerage account. Here's a step-by-step guide to investing in these sports stocks:
- Open your brokerage app: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments.
- Search for the stock: Enter the ticker or company name into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
- Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
- Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
- Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
- Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.
Is Fanatics profitable?
Diving into a company's profitability is a crucial aspect of investment research. Unfortunately, since it's a private company, there isn't a lot of publicly available financial data on Fanatics, so it's unclear if the company is consistently profitable.
However, according to an article by Sportico in early 2025, the company as a whole wasn't profitable. That was due to reinvesting the profits from its e-commerce and collectible businesses into building a betting and gaming platform and other new businesses.
Those investments are driving robust revenue growth. Fanatics' sales shot up from $3.5 billion in 2021 to $8.1 billion in 2024. It has also spent around $1.5 billion on roughly 10 acquisitions to execute its vision of expanding from a commerce business to a global digital sports platform.
Fanatics believes its investments will eventually pay off. It expects to produce positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in 2025.
Investors interested in Fanatics should closely examine its profitability when the company releases its financial data before it launches its IPO. They should see if it's on track with its profit targets.
Should I invest in Fanatics?
While Fanatics isn't public yet, the company aims to complete an IPO in the future. That gives investors lots of time to research the company. This process could confirm your thesis that it's an attractive investment opportunity or turn you off from buying shares.
Here are a few things to consider that might lead you to buy shares when the company goes public:
- You want to invest in a company capitalizing on the fast-growing sports entertainment industry.
- You're a fan of the company's products and sports betting service.
- You think Fanatics can grow its revenue and profits at a fast pace following its IPO.
- You believe the company's move into sports betting will have a big payoff.
- You're comfortable investing in newly public companies.
- You like to invest in founder-led companies.
On the other hand, here are some factors that might lead you to decide not to buy shares:
- You're not very interested in sports.
- You don't like to invest in volatile stocks, which is typically par for the course for newly public companies.
- You're concerned the company's acquisitions might not grow value for shareholders.
- Given all the competition in the space, you're not sure if the company's move into sports betting will pay off.
Related investing topics
ETFs with exposure to Fanatics
Because Fanatics hasn't completed its IPO, it's not part of any passive investment funds like exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
However, investors interested in the company have some ETFs they could consider to gain upside to the company's markets, like the growth in sports betting and consumer discretionary spending.
Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)
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