Tokyo-based baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants, have announced a partnership with Nike and Fanatics for the 2023 NPB season.

The triangular relationship has been used in American sports leagues before, but Yomiuri Giants are the first individual club to adopt this approach.

Nike will be the official uniform supplier for the Giants and will have branding on club merchandise.

Fanatics will assume control of the Giants retail venues and will launch an online store in January.

Official rights and licences will be given to Fanatics, who will manufacture and distribution playing equipment and fan memorabilia.

Discussing the partnership, Yomiuri Giants president, Tsukasa Imamura, said: “It is a great honour and pleasure to partner with Fanatics, the global leader in licensed sports merchandise.”

“We can imagine the joy on our fans’ faces brought by the innovative business model, which includes manufacturers, logistics, e-commerce, and retailers using cutting-edge technology,” he finished.

For Fanatics, the opportunity to expand into the Asian market is a key selling point in the deal, following recent expansion efforts to Australia and New Zealand.

East Asia managing director of Fanatics, Masanori Kawana, elaborated: “Since we began our journey in Asia five years ago, we focused on creating value for the fans with a strong belief that our global vertical business model would benefit them and work across Asia.”