Fanatics is deepening its ties to the Qatari government via a new five-year partnership that will include sponsorship of the company’s flagship New York City fan festival, plus the possibility of events in the Gulf state further down the line.
The deal with Qatar’s Government Communications Office (GCO) was signed this week at Web Summit Qatar in Doha, Fanatics said in a statement. It’s the latest push into global sports for Qatar, whose sovereign wealth fund is already a Fanatics investor, and an opportunity for Michael Rubin‘s company to continue expanding its business into new overseas markets.
The deal will start with Qatar’s sponsorship of the second annual Fanatics Fest, a three-day event in New York City in June, where the GCO will host a networking lounge. While the festival is aimed at fans—with a focus on trading cards, memorabilia and apparel—it’s also a gathering of prominent figures across sports, culture and entertainment. Speakers and attendees last year included Rubin, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Tom Brady, Derek Jeter, Travis Scott, Jay-Z and DJ Khaled.
Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour Al Thani, director of the GCO, said in a statement that he hoped to bring Fanatics Fest to Qatar in the future.
It’s unclear how else the two groups will look to leverage the partnership, or whether there’s any equity involved. A rep for Fanatics declined to comment. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is already an investor in Fanatics, having joined a 2022 funding round led by the NFL.
Qatar is one of a number of Middle Eastern states that have increasingly prioritized sports in the past two decades, spending billions as a way of diversifying its economy and improving its global standing. Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a government-backed entity separate from QIA, owns French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain and a piece of Portugal’s S.C. Braga. Perhaps most notably, the country hosted the FIFA men’s World Cup in 2022 amid concerns over human rights abuses.
More recently, the country has backed a new global circuit for padel, as well as MMA upstart One Championship. In 2023, QIA became the first sovereign fund to buy into major U.S. team sports, acquiring about 5% of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals and Washington Mystics.
Fanatics has a long-standing relationship with PSG, and also runs the official e-commerce and in-arena shops for the Wizards, Capitals and Mystics. Nick Bell, the CEO of Fanatics’ live shopping vertical, spoke at Web Summit Qatar last year. (Sportico has also done business with an entity whose principals have ties to QIA.)
The QIA and GCO relationships are not the first sovereign ties to Fanatics. Temasek, an investment firm owned by Singapore’s government, invested in the company back in 2013, co-leading a round that valued Fanatics at $3.1 billion. Rubin’s company was valued at $31 billion in its most recent financing round, in late 2022. Fanatics revenue was $8.1 billion in 2024, up 15% from the prior year.
The first Fanatics Fest last year drew more than 70,000 fans to New York City. The three-day event in June will have more than 500 athletes, celebrities and artists in attendance, the company said. They include Brady, Peyton and Eli Manning, Ja’Marr Chase and Tyreek Hill.