Fanatics Controls MLB Marketplace Access
Fanatics
This reveals that Fanatics’ moat is not just better merchandising, it is control over where league licensed goods can and cannot be sold. Fanatics runs MLBShop.com and the online stores for all 30 MLB clubs, takes a revenue share with leagues, and has used that position to shape channel rules in ways that keep Amazon from becoming a full marketplace for MLB licensees. That matters because Amazon is the one online channel with enough traffic to weaken Fanatics’ grip on discovery and checkout.
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The practical effect is simple. A mug, hat, or shirt maker with an MLB license can sell into team stores and other approved retail channels, but cannot freely list that same inventory on Amazon’s marketplace. In 2022, a retailer sued MLB and Fanatics over agreements that allegedly blocked MLB licensed products on Amazon’s third party marketplace.
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The contrast with the NFL shows this is a channel control choice, not an industry rule. Amazon notified sellers in 2021 that it had a new agreement with the NFL and would work with NFL authorized sellers to expand selection on Amazon.com, meaning the league opened a path that MLB had kept closed.
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Fanatics can push for this because it sits in multiple seats at once. It runs league ecommerce, manufactures and wholesales licensed gear, and in MLB also holds broad apparel and non apparel rights through businesses like Fanatics Branded and WinCraft. That makes Amazon access strategically expensive for Fanatics, because every sale shifted to Amazon weakens both its storefront traffic and its leverage over licensees.
The long term direction is toward more fragmented distribution, not less. As leagues see the downside of relying on one operator for ecommerce, manufacturing, and marketplace access, more of them are likely to copy the NFL’s approach and reopen large channels like Amazon while still keeping Fanatics as a major partner. That would turn channel exclusivity from a structural advantage into a negotiated one.