Fanatics Adds Lawyers in Bid to Grow Sports Betting Business

Fanatics Holdings Inc., a sports apparel and collectibles company making a push into sports betting, has hired some new lawyers to further that effort.

Eva Pulliam, a data privacy and regulatory affairs partner at ArentFox Schiff, recently joined company subsidiary Fanatics Betting and Gaming as vice president of legal product and marketing.

Briana Reid, a former college athlete-turned-lawyer for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, also joined the betting and gaming arm of Fanatics last month as a state compliance analyst.

The sports gambling business in the US has exploded with companies like Fanatics, FanDuel Inc., and DraftKings Inc. vying for market share following a US Supreme Court decision in 2018 that struck down restrictions on sports betting.

Pulliam spent roughly 15 years at ArentFox Schiff and predecessor firm Arent Fox, working out of San Francisco and Washington. She was considered a rising regulatory expert when Pulliam made partner in 2022.

In her new job, Pulliam is paired with product, regulatory, and marketing teams to focus on marketing, privacy, and legal matters arising out of “developing and improving” mobile applications like the Fanatics Sportsbook, the company said. She reports to Jane Pollack, a former lawyer at Uber Technologies Inc. who joined Fanatics’ betting business last year as senior vice president of legal.

Reid works outside of the legal group as a member of its regulatory team but reports to senior regulatory counsel Michael Levine, Fanatics said. Levine joined the company last year from online gambling platform PokerStars Inc.

Legal Hiring

Fanatics, a privately held company led by prominent sports executive Michael Rubin, was valued at $31 billion a year ago after a $700 million fundraising. It has offices around the world but its holding company and sports betting business is based in New York, its commerce business in Jacksonville, Fla., and its European headquarters is in Manchester, England.

Rubin sold his stake in the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers in 2022 amid concerns about conflicts of interest with Fanatics expanding its investments in the sporting world. That same year the company, advised by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, paid $500 million to buy the sports trading card division of Topps Co.

Fanatics has been on a hiring spree within the last year, recruiting seasoned sports industry executives ahead of a potential initial public offering, according to a report last September by Bloomberg News.

Gregg Winiarski joined Fanatics as chief legal officer for its holding company. While the highly regulated gaming industry often requires additional layers of legal expertise, other Fanatics units also have their own legal teams.

In January, Fanatics promoted senior legal counsel Emma Doughty to vice president of legal affairs, making her the top lawyer for its international business. Willkie Farr & Gallagher associate Emma Spath in New York also joined Fanatics that same month as corporate counsel for the holding company.

In December, Fanatics elevated Andrew Yonteff to be general counsel for its commerce business, succeeding Caren Yeamans, who has transitioned to an advisory role at the company. Yonteff initially joined Fanatics from NBCUniversal Media LLC in 2022, the same year Fanatics hired former Wachtell associate Shiri Ben-Yishai to be general counsel for its collectibles business.

Law Battles

Intensifying competition in the sports betting business has led to disputes.

DraftKings filed a lawsuit last week seeking to prevent Fanatics from hiring Michael Hermalyn, its former vice president of VIP management. DraftKings claimed Hermalyn possessed confidential information related to its Super Bowl plans that would allow Fanatics to pick up prized sports betting clients.

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher successfully represented DraftKings in securing a temporary restraining order just before the Super Bowl that allowed Hermalyn to join Fanatics but barred him from taking any business records from DraftKings or soliciting company clients. Fanatics isn’t a party to that dispute in a Boston federal court and hasn’t commented on it.

The collectibles division, which last month signed a multiyear deal with NBA star LeBron James, has also run into legal troubles with Fanatics adversaries.

Quinn Emanuel Uruqhart & Sullivan, Latham & Watkins, and Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart are representing Fanatics in an antitrust fight that escalated last year with Italian trading card competitor Panini SpA, which is being represented by Boies Schiller Flexner and Carlton Fields.