John Nacion/Getty Images for Fanatics
Fanatics, the sports conglomerate that’s got its tentacles in sports betting/online gambling, trading cards/collectibles, merchandise, and more, has issued a statement apologizing for the widely panned quality of their Super Bowl gear. Numerous photos of haphazardly-made and cheap-looking official team merch for both the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks have gone viral on social media.
With Super Bowl week ramping up in San Francisco, California, the official team stores have been stocked with merchandise — merchandise that’s entirely produced by Fanatics. Boots-on-the-ground fans and reporters, however, shared photos of the Fanatics products on social media that sparked a narrative about just how much the company has “ruined” sports merch.
Fanatics had to issue an apology on social media after numerous photos of their janky Super Bowl merchandise went viral
It cannot be overstated enough just how much Fanatics has destroyed Sports merchandise… https://t.co/FEUqGhKtrA
— Mikerophone (@MikerophoneNFL) February 1, 2026
“The Fanatics merch slop monopoly must be annihilated,” one viral tweet said.
“Fanatics has ruined sports apparel all together, not just jerseys. They’re terrible and I have no clue how they’re not considered a monopoly,” a second added.
“Don’t forget the quality is also significantly worse than they used to be. Fanatics is the worst thing to ever happen to sports, but nothing will change unless we stop giving them money,” a third weighed in.
Insane that the only Patriots Super Bowl uniform you can get at the team store is a design the team doesn’t wear on the field and sells for $160.
You used to be able to buy Reebok uniforms with painted numbers for $30 at Marshall’s.
What happens when Fanatics has a monopoly. https://t.co/uN6dPpR5bD pic.twitter.com/xwGoJy9Y3m
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) February 1, 2026
Fanatics is possibly the worst thing to ever happen to sports gear https://t.co/0NncPdEtp7
— Josh Innes (@JoshInnesShow) February 2, 2026
Given how widespread the complaints about their Super Bowl products were becoming, Fanatics found themselves in a position where they had to acknowledge the problem, so they issued a statement on social media that’s actually only made their situation worse, as they blamed their patchwork production on the fact that the Pats and Seahawks stunk last year. Seriously.
“NFL fans, we’ve seen your jersey feedback, and we take it very seriously. We’ve let Patriots and Seahawks fans down with product availability – we own that and we are sorry. This Super Bowl matchup has created unprecedented challenges for us because of the massive surge in demand we saw from Patriots and Seahawks fans. Both teams went from missing the playoffs last season to being in the Super Bowl, an incredibly rare occurrence that led to these two fanbases buying nearly 400% more jerseys since Thanksgiving vs. last year,” the company wrote on Twitter.
“Even though we ordered substantially more jerseys for these teams than ever before, we’ve struggled to meet the overwhelming demand to keep team color jerseys in stock, which we know is your expectation. As sports fans, we understand your frustration and we will work tirelessly to be better. We are bringing in more team color jerseys daily and offering alternative options in the meantime. We’ve heard questions about the quality of these alternate jerseys and can assure you that, despite some unflattering photos, these jerseys are identical to the standard Nike replica ‘Game’ jersey – one of the highest consumer-rated items we carry built on the core template that has been unchanged since Nike took over NFL jerseys in 2012,” they continued.
“We didn’t expect the teams to be good so the product stinks” https://t.co/WTrTApGcVi
— Tone Digs (@ToneDigz) February 3, 2026
The company then directed dissatisfied costumers to their app, where they can return any items they purchased free of charge. Fanatics also added that the’re “listening and ready with a deep assortment of jerseys and fan gear for whoever wins on Sunday.”