Fanatics

Welcome to the open-source case for Fanatics. This is a company whose founder, Michael Rubin, was negotiating baseball card consignment deals at nine and running a ski-tuning shop out of his parents' basement by twelve—an entrepreneurial instinct that grew into a comprehensive global sports platform reimagining how fans connect with the teams, athletes, and moments they love. What makes this story worth the treatment is the ambition of the integrated ecosystem: fan gear, collectibles, betting, and content brought together under one roof, anchored by a Fanatics Commerce business that generates $6.2 billion, or 77% of 2024 revenue. Across four lenses, we trace that arc—the Founder Story of a Philadelphia kid who never stopped dealing, the Golden Circle belief that fans deserve more than transactional commerce, the Lean Canvas of how licensed merchandise and apparel drive the business, and the Empathy Map of superfans like Jake, who follow the NFL, NBA, and MLB and live their passion through every purchase.