The professional wrestling federation, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has inked a long-term merchandising agreement with the sports merchandise and digital collectibles giant, Fanatics.
The groundbreaking agreement will see WWE create enhanced sports and entertainment experiences for fans by incorporating many aspects of Fanatics’ expanded digital sports platform.
Fanatics will use its expanded digital sports platform to create a new, enhanced WWE fan experience across multiple businesses, including e-commerce, licenced merchandise, and physical, digital, and NFT trading cards.
According to an official statement, “Through the ground-breaking deal, WWE will benefit from many capabilities across the Fanatics platform to create more opportunities for its global fanbase to showcase their pride and passion for WWE, its marquee events, and star-studded roster.”
WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon said, “Fanatics is the industry leader and [Fanatics CEO] Michael Rubin is a visionary,” Vince said. “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.”
Rubin added, “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. 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 favourite Superstars, marquee events and the WWE brand overall.”
As part of the deal, Fanatics will exclusively re-launch WWE Shop this summer as a new, fast e-commerce and mobile destination, providing fans around the world with a leading assortment of WWE merchandise across all categories, including apparel, hard goods such as belts and accessories, and more.
Fanatics will collaborate closely with the WWE teams that have significantly grown this business in-house for decades. The company will also add rights to design, manufacture, and distribute real-time, on-demand merchandise collections to celebrate impulsive WWE moments and new superstars.