NFL: League acquires 3% of the licensing company Fanatics for $95m (press)

The NFL has acquired a 3% stake in Fanatics, an online sports retailer in America, for $95m (€85.5m as of 17/05/2017), reported American specialised media on 08/05/2017. Fanatics became the distributor of official merchandise of the NFL on 22/10/2016. The contract begins in 2017-18.

The NFL Players Association, the union for the league's players, could have also acquired a stake of a less than 1% in Fanatics, for $5m (€4.5m). MLB could have acquired a 1.5% in Fanatics for $50m (€45m), according to American specialised media. Under Armour (sports equipment manufacturer), Fanatics, and MLB have entered into a 10-year tri-partite partnership (2020-2030), on 05/12/2016.

Neither the NFL, the NFL Players Association, MLB nor Fanatics have formalised these transactions as of 18/05/2017.

• "A 3% stake at $95m would give Fanatics a valuation of $3.17bn, more than twice its revenue and easily making it the biggest 'pure pla'” in sports licensing," reported US media on 08/05/2017.

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