Fanatics Launched The Ultimate Sports Credit Card

It’s 8:14am on a brisk November morning in New York City.

The 4 train empties into Midtown Manhattan as the skyscrapers dawn a grey overcast amongst the sea of freshly dry-cleaned workwear marching towards another Monday of spreadsheets and meetings.

Maybe an overpriced pumpkin spice latte will make the day a little less miserable. 

After ten minutes of waiting in line, you finally reach the counter. 

“Pumpkin spice latte please,” you say, hoping to get a smile out of the cute barista. 

Without looking up, she replies, “$7.99.”

You sigh, reach into your wallet, and pull out something that resembles a trading card.

Suddenly, she looks up with a glimmer of fascination in her eyes as she recognizes you holding her favorite player – and asks “Is that Karl-Anthony Towns in your hand?”

You smirk and say, “Yeah, it’s my Fanatics American Express® Card.”

Why Did Fanatics Launch This?

Michael Rubin and his $30 Billion Sports Kingmaker just announced their next business line: credit cards. In partnership with American Express, they unveiled the Fanatics American Express Card. 

Co-branded credit cards are not a new concept. We’ve seen them thrive in sectors like airlines, hotels, and retail: 

But nobody has built a card for sports fans. Until now. 

Some sports teams have launched credit cards. But the Fanatics American Express Card has the opportunity to create something that encapsulates all of the sports ecosystem – one that transcends any single sports team or league. 

Whether you’re a team owner or executive or casual sports fan, it’s important to understand the business behind this Card. It might be the most impactful product launch this industry has seen.

Breaking The Card Down:

Fanatics is turning everyday credit card spending into sports rewards through the Fanatics American Express Card. 

How it works: A fan can use the Card for ordinary purchases, earn FanCash, and use the FanCash towards sports merch, collectibles, tickets, exclusive experiences, and more across the Fanatics ecosystem. 

Credit card companies spend billions of dollars competing for a place in your wallet and continuously experiment with card colors, weight, and industrial design. 

Despite this, most cards look and feel the same. 

But this one is distinct. 

Cardmembers carry something that looks like a Topps sports trading card featuring their favorite players. The presentation is premium and collectible, deliberately built to stand out from conventional credit cards.

The company has licensing deals in place with the  NFL, NBA, WWE, and UFC leagues and their players associations so users can select from over 500 players across the 4 leagues. 

Supposedly, Rubin himself came up with this design. 

Four companies are playing distinct roles in bringing this Card to life:

The Card is an open-loop concept.

Traditional store-only credit cards can only be used with a particular retailer or family of retailers. These are called closed-loop cards. For example, if you hold a Target Circle Credit Card – you can only spend & redeem within Target stores.

Meanwhile, this Card can be used at any merchant that accepts American Express, not just Fanatics. 

The key is the distinction between where rewards are earned and where rewards can be spent. 

FanCash isn’t ordinary cash back that can be applied to any credit card bill; instead, it’s a loyalty currency you spend through the Fanatics ecosystem: 

FanCash = SkyMiles of Sports

When done right, a co-branded credit card can transform an entire spending category into an ultimate loyalty system.

Look what Delta SkyMiles American Express card did for air travel…

Miles became a currency. The card was your passport to navigate fancy airport lounges, priority boarding, and a discounted glass of Pinot Grigio on the tarmac.

Over 30 years, Delta and American Express built a loyalty engine that turned a commodity – getting from point A to point B – into a premium experience that rewards the customer for being the ultimate traveler while giving them status.

The setup for Fanatics American Express Card is no different.

Americans spent $43.5B on tickets to live sports games, total legal sports betting handle in the U.S. hit ~$167B in 2025, and the sports memorabilia and trading cards market is valued at $70B in 2026. 

We love sports so much that spending on our favorite teams & experiences is deeply embedded in our routines:

The scale of customers built across these habits is already massive for Fanatics: there’ve been 100M+ customers that have transacted across its entire ecosystem worldwide.

What makes loyalty extremely tricky in sports is that there are a lot, I mean a lot, of different sub-categories.

But Fanatics owns almost every endpoint: apparel, collectibles, memorabilia, ticket sales, betting, and prediction markets.

Which is why FanCash is the only currency that can travel across sports, just as SkyMiles did for flying with Delta.

Even before the Card hits the market, the currency has built a ton of traction: forecasted $1B+ worth of FanCash in 2026 to be issued across all of its business lines – and ~97% is expected to be redeemed.

Just ask Sid, he helped build FanCash when he used to work at Fanatics.

73% of frequent travelers said their loyalty status would outlast their marriage…

That’s how much status matters. 

Customers want exclusive benefits, and status decides who gets them. But look, it was never just about a better experience. Status means the brand treats you like a VIP, and the card you flash tells the world just how premium you are.

The Card brings that playbook to sports through Fanatics ONE – the first loyalty program built across the entire sports ecosystem where fans get first-in-line access to select Topps drops, discounted tickets, and one-of-one experiences.

So, Will This Really Change The Sports Industry?

Picture an every-day member of Bills Mafia. He buys a Josh Allen jersey with his Fanatics American Express Card, just as the season starts.

Little did we know he’s an Erling Haaland fanatic – a week later, he spends his earned FanCash on Topps Chrome Premier League packs in search of that 1-of-1 Haaland chase card.

One purchase. Two leagues. Two continents. One currency.

That’s never been possible in sports. And not for a lack of trying.

Many sports properties have launched their own credit cards, but each one ran into the same wall: their cards locked fans into a single league or team.

However, this Card sits on an ecosystem of 900+ global leagues, teams, and properties.

For the first time, the Card takes fans from league to league, team to team, sport to sport.

Now, it makes a lot of sense why Michael Rubin and Fanatics launched a credit card. 

The sports industry is a ~$3.7 trillion market that has historically operated without a unifying loyalty program.

Some were puzzled that a sector so big had gone so long without one. Others yearned for someone to solve this. 

This may just be the sports industry’s product launch of the year. 

Be among the first to get the card.

_{1 According to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, the co-branded credit card’s spending nears 1% of U.S. GDP annually [Source: Fortune].}

^{2 ‘Sports for People and Planet’ co-authored by the World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman estimates the global sports economy to rise from $2.3 trillion in 2025 to $3.7 trillion in 2030. [Source: World Economic Forum].}

^{Disclosures: The Fanatics American Express® Card is issued by First Electronic Bank, pursuant to a license from American Express. American Express is a registered trademark of American Express. The Fanatics American Express® Card is powered by Imprint Payments, Inc. You must have a Fanatics ONE account to have the Fanatics American Express Card. See Fanatics ONE Program Terms.} 

^{See Credit Program Cardholder Agreement for more information.}

^{* See Rewards Terms and Conditions.}