Fanatics could grow into a $30 billion to $50 billion revenue business within the next five to 10 years, Chief Executive Michael Rubin outlined, while stressing there is “zero point zero pressure” to take the privately held company public.
“We’re building this for the long term,” Rubin told an audience at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show, as reported by Forbes. “If we execute, this can be a $30 billion to $50 billion revenue company. I hope it’s the most important and valuable company in sports.”
Fanatics is currently valued at about $13 billion and operates across licensed merchandise, trading cards, and sports betting. The company generates roughly $7 billion in revenue from merchandise, $4 billion from collectibles and trading cards, and about $2 billion from gaming. Around three-quarters of sales come from direct-to-consumer channels, with the remainder wholesale.
The group runs official online shops for major sporting federations and multiple U.S. colleges, owns the Lids chain with about 1,400 stores, partners with Barnes & Noble on campus bookstores, and controls a growing portfolio of private-label brands.
Rubin pushed back against the notion that Fanatics dominates its sector, identifying competitors that include Amazon, Adidas, parts of Nike, and smaller specialist firms. He pegged the overall category at about $25 billion. “The biggest thing for us is to grow the category,” he noted.
Internationally, Fanatics remains smaller than in its home market, generating about $1 billion in revenue outside the United States and serving roughly 140 million customers out of an estimated 2 billion sports fans worldwide. The company opened a trading store in London last year.
Fanatics has also invested about $2 billion to build its online sports betting business, where it competes with DraftKings and FanDuel. The gaming unit remains loss-making but is expected to turn profitable, with Rubin projecting it could become the company’s biggest and most profitable segment by 2030. Customers earn “FanCash” from betting that can be redeemed across the platform, with about $1 billion issued so far and almost all redeemed.
The company is preparing to extend its ecosystem further with the launch of a branded credit card later this spring. The card will integrate rewards across merchandise, tickets, and betting, and Rubin forecasts it could become Fanatics’ fourth $1 billion business. “There’s never been a credit card that a sports fan can actually care about,” he said.
Fanatics is also testing prediction markets in 24 U.S. states, a product that has been live for only a few weeks and is currently focused mainly on sports, generating about $1 million in daily handle.
Despite the expansion into new categories, Rubin emphasised that the company’s strategy remains rooted in improving the fan experience. “A decade from now, we’ll be in multiple businesses that we don’t even know about yet,” he said. “I love what I do at Fanatics, I’m doing this until I die.”
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/01/12/117088-fanatics-ceo-projects-revenue-could-hit-50b-in-the-next-decade-with-sports-betting-playing-key-role
