The New York Yankees and Fanatics have announced an exclusive, multi-year deal to market the team’s game-used memorabilia and collectibles. The move wasn’t unexpected, coming on the heels of Fanatics’ recent purchase of Steiner Sports, which had held the rights to Yankees gear for many years. Omnicom, which owned Steiner, spun the company off to Fanatics, which continues to gobble up huge chunks of the sports merchandise landscape.
The Yankees-Fanatics game-used contract builds on several exclusive autograph partnerships Fanatics currently holds with current and former New York players including Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Mariano Rivera, CC Sabathia, Didi Gregorius, Luis Severino, Luke Voit, Gio Urshela, Aaron Hicks and others.
Yankees game-used jerseys, caps, bats, baseballs, lineup cards and a variety of other items are collected and authenticated during games and after the final out. Fanatics says gathering those items will continue to be conducted through the Major League Baseball authentication program.
Items will be sold through an online store at Fanatics.com, through the Yankees’ online store and auction site and at the club’s team store inside Yankee Stadium.
Fans attending games at Yankee Stadium can visit the “First Base Team Store” located on the Field Level at Section 114A between the first and sixth innings to participate in a live silent auction featuring game-used memorabilia, autographed items and other products.
“We are thrilled to partner with a market leader like Fanatics, which will bring these unique pieces of memorabilia to the public in an efficient, consumer-friendly manner,” said Scott Krug, Yankees CFO and Senior Vice President of Financial Operations in a news release. “There is a tremendous amount of demand for game-used items, and we are excited that fans will have access to them via fanatics.com, in person at Yankee Stadium and at the online shop at yankees.com.”
“The Yankees are one of the sports world’s most famous and storied franchises with an incredibly passionate fan base, and we could not be more excited to enter into this unique, collaborative partnership in the midst of their incredible 2019 season,” said Fanatics Executive Vice President Victor Shaffer. “The opportunity to combine coveted game-used Yankees memorabilia with our exclusive athlete relationships will create an unparalleled collection of items available to Yankees fans around the world.”
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