Fanatics Buys European Online Sports Retailer for $17M in Soccer Push

As a U.S.-based e-commerce company, Fanatics’ sweet spot has been in selling sports apparel branded by American teams. But the company has been eyeing European soccer team apparel as its next big opportunity, and has acquired a U.K.-based company to help it break in. Fanatics has paid $17 million to acquire Kitbag, currently owned by Findel, which sells licensed team apparel online at Kitbag.com for legendary soccer clubs such as Manchester United and Arsenal.