Sky Sports have struck a deal with the merchandise retailers Fanatics to set up an online shop.
Fanatics has been backed by Chelsea co-owner Clearlake Capital, who led a $700 million funding round for the firm last year. Fanatics is best known in the United States of America for selling NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL merchandise.
It has also branched out into selling Premier League gear as soccer continues to grow in the US and recently launched a website for the United Kingdom. The firm has its UK headquarters in Manchester and is said to be worth a whopping $31 billion.
Clearlake led a $700m funding round in December with the Lion Tree, Silver Lake, Fidelity and Softbank investment firms also involved. Fanatics also raised $1.5bn in March last year in a raise led by Fidelity and MSD Partners, the latter of whom has connections to the technology giant Michael Dell.
Last week, it was announced that Sky and Fanatics have partnered to launch a website for sports fans to get their hands on merchandise. "This launch marks a significant milestone for Sky, Fanatics, and sports fans more widely because it will close the gap between fans watching sports and wanting to gain access to products, through which they can demonstrate their allegiance to their favourite team kits and colours, in the moment," Matthew Primack, a Fanatics executive said.
Eldridge, run by Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly, is also an investor in Fanatics while the rapper Jay-Z, through his Roc Nation group, also has an interest in the firm. It has been reported that the December funding round will be used for mergers and acquisitions for Fanatics.
Fanatics, meanwhile, sell almost 400 different bits of Chelsea merchandise and signed an agreement with the club in 2018 to operate its megastore at Stamford Bridge and online website.
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