News

The Minnesota Wild and Fanatics, a global digital sports platform and leading provider of licensed sports merchandise, have announced a new long-term partnership aimed at elevating the retail experience for fans. Effective immediately, Fanatics becomes the team's official end-to-end retail partner, taking over operations of all physical retail locations at the Xcel Energy Center and managing the online store HockeyLodge.com. This move is designed to create a seamless omnichannel shopping experience for Wild fans.

Previously, Fanatics powered the Wild's official e-commerce site through its league-wide partnership with the NHL. The expanded collaboration will integrate both online and in-venue retail operations, providing a cohesive and consistent shopping experience whether fans are browsing online, on mobile devices, or attending games.

Carin Anderson, Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships and Retail Management for the Minnesota Wild, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership. She highlighted that fans will enjoy an enhanced experience both online and at the newly upgraded Xcel Energy Center store, with a greater variety and increased availability of their favorite Wild merchandise.

As part of the agreement, Fanatics will make significant capital investments to improve the retail footprint at the Xcel Energy Center. Upgrades will include renovations to stores, kiosks, and other touchpoints to optimize the shopping experience during games and events. By unifying e-commerce and in-venue retail operations, Fanatics aims to provide a consistent and convenient shopping environment for all fans.

Through its extensive licensed apparel partnership with the NHL—which includes rights to design, manufacture, and distribute all categories of authentic and replica jerseys, as well as a wide selection of fan apparel and headwear—Fanatics will offer Wild fans a significantly expanded range of high-quality team merchandise. Beginning this season, Fanatics becomes the NHL's official provider for on-ice uniforms. For the first time in over a decade, fans can purchase the same Fanatics-branded, Made in Canada on-ice jerseys that players wear during games.

In addition to Fanatics-branded products, the retail offerings will include apparel, headwear, hardgoods, and lifestyle items from top brands such as Mitchell & Ness, New Era, Minnesota-based WinCraft, and local favorites like UNRL, SotaStick, and Levelwear.

Ed O’Brien, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Fanatics, expressed excitement about becoming the official omnichannel retail partner of the Wild. He emphasized the importance of hockey in Minnesota's culture and reiterated Fanatics' commitment to providing an unparalleled retail experience so fans of all ages can celebrate the game and proudly support their team both on game days and beyond.

Over the past several months, Fanatics has implemented upgrades and renovations to The Hockey Lodge, the team's official flagship retail location. The store is set to host a grand opening event on September 21 at 11 a.m., coinciding with the date when the NHL and Fanatics will introduce the new portfolio of authentic and replica jerseys to fans.

With this partnership, the Wild become the third NHL team for which Fanatics operates both in-venue and e-commerce retail. The team joins other Minnesota-based sports properties that have partnered with Fanatics, including the NBA's Timberwolves, the WNBA's Lynx, the NFL's Vikings, and the University of Minnesota Athletics.