Fanatics launches digital trading card platform

Fanatics is taking a big step in its ongoing evolution into a digital sports platform.

The sports licensing and online merchandise retailer’s Fanatics Collectibles subsidiary is rolling out a new omnichannel trading card brand, Zerocool. The brand’s products, focused on the “world’s most important people, IP and brands across pop culture, art, and entertainment,” will be available on a new direct-to-consumer digital platform called Zerocool.com.

The first Zerocool release is a limited, collectible trading card set based on the VeeFriends non-fungible token (NFT) project, which will be sold using the blind Dutch auction model where prices are set by the market and bidders may wind up paying less than what they were willing to spend. Buyers can place their bids March 8-10 on zerocool.com.

The Zerocool x VeeFriends trading card set brings the VeeFriends NFT collection to physical form, with all characters used in the Zerocool collection using the original art from the VeeFriends NFTs, with the color parallel structure mimicking the NFTs parallel structure.

Although the company is keeping future releases confidential for now, zerocool has signed partnerships with other entertainment franchises and creatives, and says it has upcoming collaborations with several production houses and streaming services.

In January 2022, Fanatics acquired Topps’ sports and entertainment division. The deal, whose terms were not revealed but which industry sources put at some $500 million, includes Topps’ name and all parts of its worldwide trading cards and collectibles business — both the physical and digital divisions — which sells in more than 100 countries and has physical operations in 10 countries, including the U.K., Germany, Brazil, Italy and Japan.

In August, Fanatics raised $325 million from new and existing investors, with the new investors including hip-hop and entertainment mogul Jay Z. The latest round of funding valued the company at $18 billion.

Collectible trading cards are a rapidly growing business. They are one of eBay’s top categories, with the e-commerce giant reporting trading card sales as hitting $2 billion in transactions in the first half of 2021, with an average of one sports trading card bought every second. eBay launched a new authenticity guarantee service for trading cards in January 2022, and also offers an image listing tool for collectible trading cards in its mobile app.

The addition of Topps, and now the launch of Zerocool, will significantly accelerate the buildout of Fanatics Trading Cards, which the company launched in 2021 after it secured exclusive, long-term trading cards rights from several of the leading professional sports leagues and players associations.

However, Zerocool is a deliberate effort to extend Fanatics’ trading card offerings beyond the realm of sports-themed cards.

“Trading cards have historically been centered around sports, yet athletes are a tiny fraction of society,” said Josh Luber, co-founder and chief vision officer, Fanatics Collectibles. “Musicians, designers, artists, entrepreneurs, politicians, philanthropists, educators and more (including the brands, companies, organizations and IP they’ve created) have as much cultural power and importance as the world’s greatest athletes.

“Trading cards are a historical record, the immortalization of accomplishment, and a way to turn one’s support and fandom into investment and partnership,” said Luber. “Zerocool was created on the belief that ‘fans’ are fans for life, and that life is more than what happens on the playing field. It’s also what made Fanatics Collectibles the perfect company to birth the brand.”