When it pushed its way into the trading card market with the acquisition of baseball, football and basketball trading card licenses in 2021, Fanatics indicated its desire to get into case and box breaks at some point. That time is coming soon, with the company bringing in a person to oversee the process.
Last month, Fanatics hired Nick Bell, a former executive with Snap and Google, to become CEO of Fanatics Live, which will transform from a virtual meet and greet operation into a live streaming business for cards and collectibles. He’ll be based in Los Angeles and work under newly hired Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan.
It’s expected that the platform will launch some time later this year.
“Excited to launch our livestream shopping platform to continue innovating and enhancing the trading card experience for both collectors and fans – can’t wait to get this going later this year,” Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin tweeted Thursday.
Fanatics plans to host live events, led by digital content creators and much of that will be focused on box breaks where spots are sold, packs opened and cards are distributed to those who bought in. According to reports by various financial outlets Thursday, viewers will buy cards directly on the Fanatics app or website through a revenue sharing agreement with certain breakers.
“Fanatics Live will focus on transforming the digital shopping experience through personality and content-driven live commerce, aka livestream shopping,” Bell wrote on LinkedIn.
While the business will initially focus on cards, Bell told the Wall Street Journal it’s possible Fanatics Live could incorporate other collectibles as well.
The idea is to grow the live experience through Fanatics’ channels in order to grow its customer base for trading cards. That’s in line with what Rubin has said about the company’s plans to grow the card and collectible market.
“All collectors are fans, but not all fans are collectors,” Bell told CNBC. “We have a big opportunity to really grow the hobby by bringing in people who wouldn’t necessarily classify themselves as a collector today and open them up to this hobby by the way of entertainment and a community where they can hang around like-minded people.”
“If you look at the global sports trading card market, it’s $44 billion, and expected to be nearing $100 billion by 2027,” Bell told Fast Company. “And it’s not just the size of the market, but the core principle behind it, which is the intersection of passion and community.”
Fanatics is tossing around the phrase “personality driven” when discussing the new venture so it wouldn’t be a shock to see the company seek out prominent hosts from outside the hobby in order to drive engagement. Bell indicated Thursday that Fanatics Live is hiring.
Live shopping has been a growing market in all areas of commerce around the world. Whatnot and Loupe are two of the more prominent companies that offer live breaks and sales of trading cards through mobile applications but online breaking by sports card shops and businesses devoted to box breaks has been a part of the hobby ecosystem for several years.
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