Michael Rubin may now be the undisputed champion of US sports merchandise, but his ambitions to build a TV and sports-gambling empire have lately suffered a few setbacks.
The billionaire’s Fanatics sports-licensing company clinched a deal to buy the Topps trading card business this week, reportedly valuing that side of the business at $500 million — less than a paltry three times earnings.
Credit Rubin, who had quietly — some might say ruthlessly — struck a deal with Major League Baseball and its players union to secure their trading-card rights from under Topps Chairman Michael Eisners’ nose.
But elsewhere, insiders told On The Money that Rubin’s reputation for cold, shrewd and successful calculation has lately taken a hit.
Fanatics — reportedly valued at more than $10 billion last fall in a deal whose backers included Silver Lake and Endeavor — wants to be the biggest online sports betting operator. But recently, the company, which doesn’t have a sports betting license in any state, lost the race for a New York license despite being confident it would win, sources close to Fanatics said.
About a year ago, Fanatics was in the auction to buy PointsBet, an Australian online sports gambling company, two sources close to that situation said. Rubin saw the inside of PointsBet’s operations and decided instead of buying an operator to build a business organically, the source said.
He also considered buying other sports bookmakers and ended up passing, sources said.
In the fall, when bidding for newly issued New York online betting licenses, Fanatics teamed with rapper Jay-Z and Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Sports. In particular, some Fanatics execs believed they were a cinch to win with Jay-Z on board, two sources close to the bidding group said.
Instead, Empire State gambling regulators awarded a license to two other groups led by companies like FanDuel, DraftKings, MGM, Bally’s, Caesars — and PointsBet.
Nevertheless, sources said Fanatics plans to launch a sports book late this year, aiming to gain traction by renting gaming licenses in several states from current bookmakers in exchange for a slice of revenue.
“We believe this is a meaningful long-term opportunity but we are going to be patient to build it the right way over the years,” Rubin told The Post in a Wednesday interview.
The company likewise has expressed interest in buying regional sports television networks but has recently passed on buying the stations Comcast is selling, including a piece of SNY, two sources close to the situation said. Rubin may have decided to step away from the Comcast RSNs after seeing the declining revenue of the networks, sources speculated.
Fanatics may instead try to work with Major League Baseball, whom it is already partnered with, in a few years to build an MLB-controlled direct to consumer streaming package, a source said, or wait for Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns the most RSNs, to simply go bankrupt in the next few years.