TikTok, Fanatics, NFL accused of conspiring to monopolize sports memorabilia market

(CN) — A Minnesota sports memorabilia seller sued TikTok, Fanatics and the NFL, claiming the companies conspired to force independent sellers off TikTok’s livestream marketplace and funnel business to Fanatics in violation of federal antitrust law.

David Allan Skalsky, who operated the livestream business Quad City Breaks, claims TikTok, its parent ByteDance, Fanatics and the NFL falsely portrayed Fanatics as the exclusive authorized seller of NFL memorabilia before using TikTok’s platform to ban or suppress competing “breakers” who sell authentic merchandise obtained through other lawful channels.

“The object of the conspiracy was to exclude independent memorabilia sellers (‘breakers’) from TikTok unless they agreed to sell Fanatics’ merchandise exclusively,” Skalsky writes in the complaint.

Filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the lawsuit includes claims under the Sherman Act, Clayton Act and California’s Cartwright Act.

Skalsky claims independent memorabilia sellers built successful businesses on TikTok during the pandemic by livestreaming sales of sports collectibles. He says Fanatics later sought to dominate the market by leveraging its licensing relationships with the NFL while TikTok removed or demoted sellers who refused to enter exclusive agreements.

While his business was generating as much as $200,000 a month, Skalsky says repeated account bans beginning in late 2024 devastated his company. He writes that TikTok representatives told him the NFL had flagged his account and indicated it could be restored if he signed an exclusive agreement with Fanatics, but the bans continued anyway.

“Defendants’ conduct harmed not only plaintiff but the competitive process itself by eliminating independent sellers from the livestream memorabilia marketplace, reducing consumer choice, suppressing output of competing products, increasing barriers to entry, restricting alternative channels of distribution and concentrating market power in Fanatics-controlled entities,” Skalsky writes.

Skalsky says the loss of his TikTok audience forced his business into bankruptcy and cost his family their home. He seeks damages, restoration of his TikTok account with its previous algorithmic standing, cancellation of any exclusive agreements and an injunction barring the challenged business practices.

Representatives for TikTok, the NFL and Fanatics did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Skalsky’s attorney, Jeremy C. Shafer of Banner Legal, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.