Today, the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL) and Fanatics, a global digital sports platform and leading provider of licensed sporting goods, announced a new, long-term partnership with Fanatics to become the team’s official end-to-end retail partner. Fanatics, which currently operates the Wild’s official e-commerce site, Shop.NHL.com/Minnesota-Wild, will now assume operations of all physical retail locations at Xcel Energy Center and operate HockeyLodge.com to create an omnichannel retail experience for fans as part of its league-wide e-commerce partnership with the National Hockey League.

“We are extremely excited to announce our partnership with Fanatics as our new end-to-end retail partner,” said Carin Anderson, senior vice president of corporate partnerships and retail management for the Minnesota Wild. “As a leading provider of licensed sporting goods, fans will enjoy an enhanced experience both online and in the new Xcel Energy Center store, with greater variety and increased availability of all their favorite Wild merchandise.”

In coordination with the Wild, Fanatics will make significant investments to expand its retail presence at Xcel Energy Center, including its stores, kiosks and other touchpoints to optimize the shopping experience for fans during games and other events. By combining e-commerce and on-site retail, Fanatics can now create a unified, consistent shopping experience for all Wild fans, whether they are shopping online, mobile or at the game.

Through its comprehensive licensed apparel partnership with the NHL – including the 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 now offers Wild fans access to a significantly expanded selection of high-quality team merchandise. Starting this season, Fanatics is the NHL’s new official on-ice uniform supplier, and for the first time in over a decade, fans can purchase the same Canadian-made, Fanatics-branded on-ice jerseys that players wear during the game. In addition to Fanatics-branded products, fans can shop a wide selection of apparel, headwear, hardware and lifestyle items from many top brands such as Mitchell & Ness, New Era and Minnesota-based WinCraft, as well as other fan favorites such as UNRL, Sota Stick, Levelwear and many more.

“We are thrilled to become the official omnichannel retail partner of the Wild,” said Ed O’Brien, Fanatics SVP of Business Development. “Hockey is such an important part of the culture of the people of the Twin Cities and across the state of Minnesota, and Fanatics is committed to providing an unparalleled retail experience so fans of all ages can celebrate the game and proudly represent their favorite team on game days and beyond.”

Over the past few months, Fanatics has completed upgrades and renovations to The Hockey Lodge, the team’s official flagship store. The store will host a grand opening event on September 21st starting at 11 a.m. That same day, the NHL and Fanatics will introduce fans to the new Fanatics portfolio of authentic and replica jerseys for the first time.

Fanatics is the official e-commerce partner of the NHL. The Wild are the third NHL club for which Fanatics operates on-site retail and e-commerce. With this partnership, the team joins other Minnesota sports companies that partner with Fanatics, including the NBA’s Timberwolves, the WNBA’s Lynx, the NFL’s Vikings and the University of Minnesota Athletics.