Global entertainment company WWE has announced a long-term partnership with Fanatics. Fanatics is a digital sports platform and this partnership will create new experiences for the fans globally, including e-commerce and licensed merchandise, as well as physical, digital and non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards.
WWE has partnered with three subsidiaries of the Fanatics platform, namely Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles and Candy Digital.
“Fanatics is the industry leader and Michael Rubin is a visionary,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO. “We believe this multi-platform partnership will set a new standard for WWE e-commerce, apparel and merchandise, while providing our fans globally with more ways than ever to engage with WWE and our Superstars.”
Fanatics’ next generation digital collectibles company, Candy Digitals, will become WWE’s primary NFT partner. Candy Digital’s team will curate a range of high quality trading card NFTs which will feature WWE’s big moments and upcoming stars.
Fanatics will launch an e-commerce store called ‘WWE Shop’ this summer, which will sell WWE merchandise across all categories, including but not limited to apparel, hard goods, such as title belts, headwear, accessories.
Fanatics will also add the rights to design, manufacture and distribute real-time, on-demand merchandise collections to celebrate WWE moments and emerging players.
“WWE is one of the most widely admired sports and entertainment properties worldwide, and it made perfect sense to activate many parts of our Fanatics global platform to create a first-of-its-kind, all-in fan experience,” said Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin.
“From e-commerce and licensed merchandise to trading cards and more, we’re going to offer up an incredible set of capabilities to help WWE’s passionate fans worldwide celebrate their favorite Superstars, marquee events and the WWE brand overall.”
In partnership with Fanatics Collectibles, WWE will launch licensed physical and digital trading cards bearing the ‘Topps logo’, which was acquired by Fanatics earlier this year and previously held a long-term relationship with WWE.
Fanatics Collectibles will be the exclusive provider of these cards and the Topps logo will appear on them when the WWE’s existing trading cards rights expire over a few years.
The sports field and the ever-emerging NFT market have been in the cahoots for quite some time now. Australian Open partnered with Decentraland to host the tennis tournament, as a virtual tennis tournament, making it the first official tennis grand slam to be held in the metaverse.
