Why the Brooklyn Fanatics team store at the Barclays Center reaps profits: it's part of a monopoly.

Less than three years ago, in August 2021, I noted (link) how the Barclays Center team store--most recently Brooklyn Style, after stints as the Nets Shop by Adidas and the Swag Shop--had become the larger Brooklyn Fanatics, part of Fanatics, a sports merchandising and marketing company that had become the official e-commerce partner of both the NBA and WNBA.

It was part of what the press release called "an exclusive, multi-year omnichannel retail partnership with BSE Global," which owns the teams, and--as I wrote--is surely about the Benjamins. After all, you can pay seventy bucks for a t-shirt these days.

Photo: Norman Oder

Well, yesterday the American Prospect published Big Business Has Come for Your Baseball Cards, explaining how "Fanatics, the self-described Amazon of sports, has used long-term exclusive deals to monopolize apparel and memorabilia markets, and make its products unavoidable."

The article is part of a Prospect series, Rollups, which looks at "obscure markets that have been rolled up by under-the-radar monopolies." Hey, Jay-Z's an investor.

How it works

Luke Goldstein's article describes "a network of exclusive arrangements," include with leagues, teams, and player associations, with no competition. Though Fanatics' recent uniforms for Major League Baseball were terrible, the National Hockey League still signed with the company.

Fanatics has been buying out or pushing out apparel companies, and its memorabilia arm Fanatics Authentic has locked up various superstars. It aspires to move into ticketing, which--who knows--could happen if the feds ensure Ticketmaster faces more competition.

Today, the biggest controversy involves "a monopoly over most major sports leagues’ trading cards," which includes Fanatics' ability to influence all sellers to set minimum prices.

It's all a reminder that sports entertainment is a business first.