The Major League Baseball (MLB) team, San Francisco Giants have announced a new 10-year extended partnership with the leading provider of licensed sports merchandise and global digital sports platform, Fanatics.
As part of the new agreement, Fanatics will now run the Giants’ entire network of physical retail touchpoints at Oracle Park, giving supporters even more chances to display their love and devotion to the club.
The collaboration expands upon a previous arrangement that was established in 2019 when Fanatics took over as the exclusive operator of the Giants Dugout Store at Oracle Park. The Giants’ retail operations will be entirely unified beginning with the 2023 baseball season thanks to Fanatics’ assumption of management of every store inside the stadium. By combining these initiatives, fans will benefit from a bigger, more reliable selection of items and best-in-class buying convenience.
Mario Alioto, Giants Executive Vice President of Business Operations, said, “The Giants have been proud to partner with Fanatics to offer our fans a satisfying and quality shopping experience both in our Giants Dugout Stores and online. By expanding our partnership and bringing Fanatics’ expertise into the ballpark, fans will now be provided a consistent experience no matter where they shop.”
In order to improve and develop the park’s overall retail footprint over the course of this new, expanded agreement and in cooperation with the Giants, Fanatics has committed a sizeable capital investment. This will elevate the fan experience both on gameday and afterwards. The redesign of the main team flagship store and the optimization of its other retail locations inside the arena are the two main areas on which Fanatics and the Giants will concentrate over the next two years.
Fans will have direct exposure to a vastly greater selection of high-quality team and player memorabilia thanks to Fanatics’ vertical, on-demand industrial capacity, such as rights to design, manufacture, and distribute all Nike MLB fan jerseys and apparel sold online and at team store locations. These collections will be specific to the Giants, celebrating the local culture and the team’s rich history. Fanatics and the Giants worked together to develop custom goods honouring Will Clark Day in 2022, an occasion honouring the Giants legend where his jersey was formally retired.
Ed O’Brien, Fanatics Commerce SVP of Business Development, commented, “The San Francisco Giants are a storied MLB franchise and a valued partner to Fanatics, and we’re incredibly excited to expand our working relationship together. We’ve achieved tremendous success since first partnering together in 2019 and look forward to creating a more unified and enjoyable shopping experience for fans moving forward.”