Sports gear and collectibles giant Fanatics said its revenue grew 15 % in 2024 to$ 8. 1 billion as financial and trading cards showed distinct power for the company. Fans Commerce, the device that includes its core clothing and merchandise income, represented about$ 6. 2 billion, or 77 % of the total, according to chief financial officer Glenn Schiffman. Fans Collectibles, the trading cards system, brought in about$ 1. 6 billion, he said. Profit at Fanatics Betting & Game was about$ 300 million. “It’s been a jump since 2021,” Schiffman said on a video phone with Sportico, the firm ’s first in-depth discourse of its topline finances with the internet. “Our revenues have grown from$ 3. 5 billion in 2021 … and over that three years we’ve raised likely$ 3 billion in capital, we made about 10 acquisitions spending about a billion-five, and onboarded perhaps 5,000 staff to implement the vision of going from a business business to a global electronic sports platform. ” That shift is the essence of CEO Michael Rubin’s multibillion-dollar bargain. Three years ago, Fanatics had a successful e-commerce organization that was prevalent in sports and appeared on the cusp of Investor. Instead of staying on that lessons, Rubin violently expanded into buying tickets, sports betting and, for a short time, NFTs. Fans now wants to be a one-stop software for whatever sports fans might want to purchase. To do that, the company has invested free cash flow from its successful areas—mainly trading accounts and retail—into new companies and customer experience like the casino, a new game and a growing activities vertical. Schiffman said the overall business projects to be EBITDA profitable this year. The spending has occasionally drawn the concern of ratings agencies. Fanatics ’ “heavy investments in [its ] various subsidiaries, such as its gaming subsidiary Fanatics Betting & Gaming … will lead to leverage being sustained at higher levels than previously expected, ” said Fitch Ratings in an October report discussing Fanatics ’ debt rating, which it earlier had dropped to B+, four notches below investment grade in its 23-level scale. That same month another corporate debt rating service, Moody’s, dinged the rating of Fanatics ’ Commerce subsidiary out of investment grade to B1, four slots into its non-investment grade zone. Moody’s cited “a higher reliance on its revolving credit facility and the challenges it faces to demonstrate that it can achieve the appropriate level of returns on investment and sustainably improve earnings, margins, free cash flow and credit metrics. ” “Debt is a non-story, ” Schiffman said. “We could pay off our debt tonight, if we wanted to, with a stroke of the pen. We like having debt on the balance sheet. We like diversifying our sources of capital. ” Schiffman said the e-commerce business recently paid off$ 50 million of debt, bringing its total outstanding to about$ 150 million. The collectibles business also has about$ 100 million of debt, with smaller liabilities on Fanatics-owned Lids and the betting business. The company ’s overall debt is about$ 400 million total, he said, and it ended 2024 with about$ 1 billion in cash on its balance sheet. The company has access to$ 1. 5 billion in additional debt, including an untapped$ 600 million revolver for its collectibles unit. One the company ’s biggest recent acquisitions—Topps—is proving especially fruitful, according to Schiffman. In 2020, the last full year disclosed before Fanatics bought the business, Topps trading card and entertainment division had sales of$ 368 million ( Topps ‘ candy business was retained by the seller ). Sales have more than quadrupled since, to$ 1. 6 billion last year ( a 40 % jump from 2023 ), featuring an EBITDA—a measure of core business profitability—of greater than 20 %. It’s the highest-margin business at Fanatics, according to the executive. By comparison, the publicly traded Funko, maker of mass market and collectible Pop! figurines, has an EBITDA margin of 4. 5 %, according to data compiled by S& P Global Market Intelligence. Fanatics purchased Topps for nearly$ 500 million three years ago from long-time owner Michael Eisner after outflanking the Disney chairman for MLB and player trading card rights. As it did with its merchandise and apparel arm, Fanatics was quick to secure rights deals with a number of major leagues and sports properties, with a few more—WWE, Premier League, Disney IP, and the NBA—set to launch later this year. It’s on track to launch NFL in 2026. Commerce, by far the largest of Fanatics ’ business arms, encompasses physical retail via Lids and the company ’s licensed e-commerce sale. That includes Fanatics-branded product and product made by others—including partnerships with Nike, Lululemon and fashion brands like Cactus Jack and Todd Snyder. The division also rolled out its first Fanatics-branded pro uniform with the NHL this season. “We do north of 40 million transactions [annually ] in the e-commerce business, direct-to-consumer, and we do north of 25 million transactions in our Lids stores, ” said Schiffman. Like collectibles, the commerce business arms, both online and physical, are profitable, he added. Fanatics ’ third business line, sports betting, is the smallest and is not yet profitable. “It’s a startup, it ’s an exciting place to be. Profits from our commerce business, retail and collectibles businesses are funding that investment in gaming, ” the CFO said. “We’re investing our free cash flow into areas of increasing returns. ” Fanatics Sportsbook, which launched in late 2023 and is now based on tech from its$ 225 million PointsBet acquisition, is in 23 states, plus another four for iGaming. The app has about 5 % sports betting market share—almost all gathered the past year—albeit well behind FanDuel, DraftKings and No. 3 BetMGM. Those three have about 85 % market share, leaving the U. S. sports betting market challenging for other participants, with Super Group’s Betway abandoning the country last year while competitors like Penn Entertainment have yet to see efforts to jump into partnership with big brands like Barstool Sports and more recently ESPN gain much traction. Schiffman said Fanatics has more betting customers than it projected to have at this point, and believes its customer acquisition costs are lower than many of its competitors, though he declined to provide specific numbers. Overall, Fanatics ’$ 8. 1 billion in revenue is nearly double DraftKings sales over the past 12 months ($ 4. 6 billion ). Those sales are roughly$ 1 billion greater than Endeavor Group Holdings, the sports and entertainment focused conglomerate that ’s going private in a deal valuing it at$ 25 billion. Schiffman also shed some light on the company ’s structure and reporting lines. In addition to the three main units, there’s a fourth, internally referred to as “platform services, ” that houses the company ’s app, the Fanatics events vertical, and the company ’s back-end data and tech stack. Each of the three main units have their own balance sheet, and separate cap tables—many major leagues and unions are partners in the commerce or collectibles business in connection to their rights deals. The collectibles business encompasses just trading cards—meaning a signed helmet or photo from a Fanatics-run store is actually a sale on the commerce side. Fanatics works with dozens of athletes on various collectibles, so deals often cover both units. As for any future IPO, it ’s not in the cards in the near term, Schiffman said. The IPO market in 2024 was tepid relative to stock gains, but Schiffman said Fanatics is n’t closely watching those metrics. “ When we decide to go public, it will be at our choosing, there’s no gates or there’s to condition precedence, ” he said. “ But we are heads down now, building our business. ”