Fanatics Is Shrinking On Apparel And Growing On Cards
Fanatics announced the layoffs back in November. 286 workers at the Oak Creek warehouse near Tampa. The doors close July 31. People started leaving March 1. That news is months old. The reason it matters now is what is happening on the other side of the company.
April 1 was the day Fanatics took over NFL trading cards from Panini. Topps prints them now. The first new releases are landing this spring with bigger print runs and more retail. Fanatics is also hiring a senior person to build out the team that turns NFL content into card files. That role did not exist before.
So the picture is simple. One side of the company is getting smaller. The other side is getting bigger. Same balance sheet.
The apparel side is hard right now. Nike printed a nine-year-low stock price on April 1 after a flat quarter and weak guidance. Sportswear sales were down low double digits. Fanatics is private and does not report numbers, but it sells the same kind of stuff Nike does. The Oak Creek closure fits the category, not just the company.
The card side is the bet. NFL license. New product calendar. New hires. That is where the money is going.
What to watch from here. If a second warehouse closes, the apparel pullback is a trend, not a one-off. If more cards-side hires show up under that new VP, the card side is staffing up faster than the org chart currently shows.
Two arrows. Same company. The November news made the cuts. The April news shows where the money went next.
