By Kassie Seavy

The New York Knicks’ dramatic NBA championship is expected to extend the bump in sales of licensed team and league merchandise well into next season. 

In the immediate aftermath of the Knicks’ finals victory on June 13, Fanatics’ “hot market” revenue in the New York area was about $100 million, CEO Michael Rubin told CNBC. That was against an NBA hot market average of $10-$20 million, he said. 

Most Fanatics merchandise was not expected to reach buyers until July 1. And that timeline will stretch for other licensed merch, including to July 24-30 for JH Design’s 2026 New York Knicks NBA Finals Champions Limited-Edition Swarovski Crystal Leather Full-Snap Jacket ($10,000) and to October 6 for a New York Knicks 2026 NBA Finals Champions Reversible Full-Snap Varsity Jacket ($190). The combined NBA/NBPA royalty rate ran about 22-24% for the finals against 16-17% separately, licensing executives said.  

Building on this growing demand from fans following the excitement of the championships are upcoming events, including one of the better NBA drafts expected at Barclays Center in New York (June 23-24), the potential trade of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James’ free agency (June 30), and the start of the NBA Summer League (July 9-19). Taking all of these elements into consideration, the momentum behind merch sales is expected to continue, licensing executives said.  

“All these huge moments are going to continue to push the NBA forward and I don’t think it ends in the near term because you also will have all these players going to different teams with sales likely increasing each time,” said Jon Wheeler, a Partner at print-on-demand supplier 500 Level, which has fielded inquiries from the Miami Heat for merch tied to a potential trade for Antetokounmpo. 500 Level was limited to championship graphics developed in-house since photo-realistic images (many from Getty) are licensed to Fanatics and Nike. Level 500’s factory in Austin, TX has daily capacity for 4,000 shirts. 

That increased demand will likely test suppliers in the weeks and months to come.  

Immediately after the Knicks’ win, Fanatics orders were running about 8,500 per minute, according to Rubin. That forced Fanatics to reach beyond its Mitchell & Ness division to fill orders, including with 500 Level. 500 Level itself drop-shipped 30,000 shirts to Dick’s stores in the New York area featuring three t-shirt designs. This included a “New York vs. Everybody” design, 34 of which were on display at the front of a Dick’s store in Danbury, CT on June 21. The display also contained t-shirts from print-on-demand supplier BreakingT, Mitchell & Ness, former Knicks player Allan Houston’s FISLL brand, and Dick’s Athlete Logos private label. 

Yet sales of Knicks merch were not limited to stores or online. Fanatics also had trailers located throughout New York to connect with fans celebrating in the streets, along with its store in the West Village. And a number of people were hawking non-licensed championship t-shirts on dozens of street corners during the New York Knicks’ Victory Parade through the “Canyon of Heros” on June 18.  

Despite the bootleg merch being available on street corners and online, 500 Level’s sales in the 24-hour period after the Knicks won surpassed the previous record by 20% and were in “the millions of dollars,” Wheeler said. The previous 24-hour record was held by the “Craig Sager Strong” t-shirts that were released following the sports reporter’s death from leukemia in 2016. 

“You are going to see the entire NBA business lifted by the Knicks winning and that is going to be a multi-year benefit,” Rubin told CNBC. “Knicks fans that wanted this for so long, they are going [to] celebrate for many years.”