Michael Rubin, founder and CEO of Fanatics Sportsbook, recently announced that the company could be operating in up to 15 states by the start of the 2023 football season. He made this statement during the Sports Business Journals World Congress of Sports Conference in Los Angeles. This is a more conservative goal than previously speculated, as it was thought that Fanatics could be up and running in 15-20 states by the end of 2021.
The company is now offering sports wagering services in Maryland at FedExField, and will be commencing mobile betting in Massachusetts in the near future, with Pennsylvania and Ohio soon to follow. However, due to New York’s punitive taxes on sports betting, the state is not currently on the list of locations Fanatics will be operating in.
At the conference, Rubin also noted that with the right execution, Fanatics could generate up to $8 billion in long-term EBITDA. This would give the company the opportunity to make a large impact in the highly competitive and expensive sports media industry, though Rubin noted that Fanatics is not currently considering any new business ventures.
The company’s core business is in merchandise and apparel, though it has recently expanded into collectibles and wagering. The $500 million purchase of Topps Sports & Entertainment in 2022 added to the company’s sports card deals with Major League Baseball (MLB) and the NBA.
Fanatics was valued at $31 billion in private markets following a $700 million capital raise in December 2020. With a continued focus on its current operations, Rubin believes that Fanatics can become a vertically integrated one-stop-shop for sports fans, offering everything from apparel to betting to collectibles to event tickets, and possibly even a media entity.
