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Amazon’s New NWSL Merch Deal May Have Broader Implications

eben novy-williams
·6 min read


Amazon has for years largely stayed out of the billion-dollar world of licensed sports apparel. Earlier this week, it announced a deal that might signal a shift in that philosophy.


On Monday the NWSL said it was expanding its relationship with Amazon to include permission for the tech giant to manufacture and sell licensed team gear through its merch-on-demand platform, a corner of its business that appears to do very little in major U.S. sports.

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My first thought when I saw the news was to note who wasn’t involved—Fanatics, which has made merch-on-demand the calling card in its rise to dominate licensed sportswear. Is Amazon trying to do more in sports apparel? And what does that mean for Fanatics? My second thought was that Amazon is now one of the NWSL’s broadcast partners, so perhaps it only sees value in this type of ecommerce when it amplifies an existing partner.


Then I realized they were actually the same thought. Prime Video’s live sports portfolio will almost certainly expand in the coming years—likely quite rapidly. Even if Amazon is only interested in licensed goods when it can sell them during live games, the list of leagues that qualify is about to get longer.


I asked my colleague Jacob Feldman, Sportico’s resident expert in new media, for his thoughts on Amazon’s merch moves vis-à-vis its streaming goals. He highlighted a key advantage that streaming giants have over legacy TV networks in rights talks: their ability to “solve problems that go beyond storytelling and distribution.”


“On the flipside,” he said, “the NWSL agreement is a reminder of just how massive and wide-ranging Amazon’s business is. Ecommerce fashion sales globally dwarf the value of sports media rights. Sports rightsholders that bring benefits to multiple business lines will therefore be the most enticing to digital behemoths.”


Unsurprisingly, a representative for Amazon declined to comment on the company’s sports merchandise ambitions. But here’s how I understand things after a few days of phone calls:


The Deal: The NWSL’s new Amazon tie-up is part sponsorship, part retail partnership, and part licensing arrangement. Amazon will become the league’s “exclusive retail partner” (that’s the sponsorship), and will be authorized to sell some official NWSL product, just like a Dick’s Sporting Goods (that’s the retail partnership).


The most interesting part, at least to me, is the licensing arrangement. Unlike Dick’s, which only sells other companies’ licensed merch, Amazon will be making much of that NWSL product. The NWSL’s official online store, a separate thing entirely, will continue to be run by Legends.


While there will be some overlap between the NWSL’s Amazon shop and that official online store, both will have product that the other doesn’t. All of the Nike jerseys, T-shirts and on-field apparel won’t be available on the Amazon store, for example, because Nike severed its relationship with Amazon in 2019. And none of the Amazon print-on-demand items will be available on the Legends-run shop.


Prime Video Overlap: Best I can tell, Amazon’s two biggest moves into licensed sports apparel in the U.S. have been with leagues that broadcast live games on Prime Video. And those two deals have been radically different.


Back in 2021, as it was getting deeper into broadcasting Thursday night NFL games, Amazon teamed up with Fanatics to dramatically increase the amount of licensed NFL product available on Amazon’s ubiquitous marketplace. The result was an NFL Shop landing page, billed as “a Fanatics experience,” that has league merch made by Fanatics and others. Nike product and uniforms, for reasons stated above, were not included. At the time, I viewed this deal as a brilliant way for Fanatics to provide Amazon with licensed sports product while keeping itself as the conduit to those transactions. I still do.


This NWSL deal is obviously quite different. Fanatics isn’t the league’s ecommerce partner, and unlike in the NFL Shop, Amazon will be making NWSL product, not just selling it. (As an aside: I wonder what Fanatics would do if one of its league partners said it wanted to also use Amazon’s manufacturing services).


Amazon’s Business: Amazon launched its merch-on-demand business in 2015, offering basic royalty rates for any business looking for an easy option for its T-shirts and hoodies. If the platform has other sports partners, it’s not promoting them. The website highlights eight companies that use the service, and they’re all entertainment brands with well-known IP, such as Marvel, Universal and Disney. (An Amazon rep said in an email that “sports leagues” use the service, but didn’t name any others).


Five months ago, Amazon also announced a new Fan Shop, alongside more than 1,000 new NBA products. The shop is a landing page for all of Amazon’s licensed sports apparel, largely lower-priced items made by companies like Icer Brands and Outerstuff.


Prime Allure: From the NWSL’s perspective, doing more business with one of the richest companies in the world has obvious benefits, especially if it doesn’t cannibalize the existing Legends store. More listings (and let’s face it, priority) on Amazon’s marketplace could broaden the pool of buyers. A mother buying a soccer ball on Amazon, as an example, can buy an Angel City tank top in the same order. Those products can be shipped via Amazon’s robust Prime shipping service and could soon be available in other countries where Amazon operates.


There’s also a more direct line to data about sales and purchase patterns. The league will soon know if its fans want to shop for apparel while watching games. And if they do, the NWSL can access another level of data that might be more valuable, like when during games apparel is typically purchased, and how to best market them.


Fanatics Impact: So what does this mean for Fanatics? No company has benefited more from Amazon largely ignoring licensed sports apparel. And no company is likely more responsible. Michael Rubin saw this industry’s future long before almost anyone else, and his empire is now the world’s largest online seller of licensed sports merchandise. Excluding the NWSL’s deal with Legends, there are very few major U.S. leagues that don’t partner with Fanatics on their league shop. I can’t imagine Fanatics is nervous about this deal or Amazon’s ambitions, even if its 2023 revenue was about 1/70th that of Amazon.


Also, just because a company could upend an industry doesn’t mean it will, or even that it wants to. An early DraftKings investor once told me that in the company’s first few years, he worried daily that Yahoo would decide to throw its heft behind daily fantasy and instantly change DraftKings’ outlook. Yahoo dallied in DFS, but never really prioritized it. Now that fear is a distant memory. Verizon bought Yahoo in 2021 for $4.83 billion; DraftKings has a market cap of $20 billion.


Fanatics may be well past the point of worry about even a company with Amazon’s resources deciding to encroach. A rep for the company declined to comment, but the moat around its business is extremely wide.


Fanatics can also push the NFL model if Amazon decides it wants more product from other leagues. With Amazon in the bidding on live rights for the NBA and college football, just to name a few, we may soon find out.

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