Sporting brand powerhouse Fanatics and American Express announced Wednesday a partnership that will allow Amex users to tap into their sports fandom.

The bank holding company is now the Official Payments Partner across select Fanatics online and retail locations worldwide and a presenting sponsor at Fanatics Fest, one of the world’s premier sports fan festivals held annually in New York City. 

“Nearly 80% of U.S. American Express Consumer Card Members identify as sports fans and this partnership with Fanatics will deliver unforgettable fan experiences and expanded access at some of the world’s most popular sporting events,” said Elizabeth Rutledge, chief marketing officer at American Express.

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“By combining the scale of the American Express Network with Fanatics’ ecosystem of more than 100 million fans, we’re delivering the new Fanatics American Express Card and experiences that make fandom more rewarding – from everyday purchases to once in a lifetime moments.”

Fanatics’ chief strategy and growth officer, Tucker Kain, added, “We’re constantly looking for new ways to celebrate and support fans for their passions and enhance the everyday fan experience.

This new partnership combines the power of American Express’ global payments network and expertise in membership, loyalty, and experiences with the scale and reach of Fanatics’ sports ecosystem, creating new opportunities to recognize and reward fans throughout every stage of their sports journey.

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The deal features a new Fanatics Amex Card, where users can earn FanCash, Fanatics’ digital reward currency, which can be redeemed for authentic apparel, tickets, trading cards, collectibles, and other experiences across the Fanatics platform.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
AXP	AMERICAN EXPRESS CO.	309.73	+0.39	+0.13%

Fanatics Cardholders will gain exclusive benefits and elevated tier status within the Fanatics ONE loyalty program and will have access to unique offers, benefits, experiences, and protections through the trusted American Express Network.

“Partnering with American Express allows us to scale these ambitions in a meaningful way, expanding our payments, loyalty and advertising capabilities, while creating truly differentiated products, including the Fanatics American Express Card, which we believe will become the Card that sports fans reach for,” Kain said.

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The deal with Amex is similar to Fanatics’ brand partnership with AT&T that became official last month in that AT&T customers get enhanced status with Fanatics ONE, have additional opportunities to earn FanCash, access to experiences and unforgettable events, and more.

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One of the top-tier golf simulator companies in the country has stepped it up a notch.

Five Iron Golf, which has spread from its roots in New York City to over 50 locations worldwide, has launched Five Iron Tournaments, a real-money indoor golf tournament platform that turns Five Iron’s national venue network into an always-on competitive golf ecosystem.

The platform, expected to be fully rolled out by the end of this summer, allows players to enter tournaments on demand, compete on live leaderboards and play for real prize money across formats including stroke play, scramble and closest to the pin.

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“Before Five Iron, I was a professional poker player, and I’ve always been fascinated by what happens when games build a true digital presence. We’ve seen that in poker, chess and other competitive formats, and that was part of the inspiration for bringing a more dynamic, gamified competition model to golf,” Five Iron CEO Jared Solomon told FOX Business.

As golf’s popularity continues to skyrocket, Solomon wanted to tap into what has not been done before in the world of the sport.

“We talk a lot about off-course golf and where the sport is going, but we don’t always talk enough about the different ways people can play or consume golf. With Five Iron Tournaments, we’re excited to create a new format that brings competition, flexibility and gamification into the experience,” Solomon said.

Golfers are able to obtain their own Five Iron Handicap based on their performances at courses. Five Iron’s technology gives players the ability not only to play PGA championship courses, but also some of their local country clubs.

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Other formats include scrambles (recently won by this author), fourball, closest-to-the-pin contests, and numerous others. A June closest-to-the-pin event will feature 20 tournaments on iconic courses with $20,000 in guaranteed prize pools.

“The idea is to give players many different ways to compete. There can be hourly, daily, weekly or month-long tournaments, with different formats, whether that’s four holes, nine holes, 18 holes, winner-takes-all or other payout structures,” Solomon said.

And while Five Iron is perhaps best known for its bar vibe, Solomon saw that players still have the competitive edge when they head to the simulator. Since the beta launch in October 2025, more than 1,000 players have logged nearly 20,000 tournament entries.

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“A lot of this came directly from our own customers,” he said. “They want to compete more, they want more games and they want more variety in how they engage with golf. Five Iron Tournaments give them another way to do that.”

Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday proposed allowing third-party payments in mutual funds in certain scenarios, such as investment by an employer on behalf of its employees and payment of commissions by AMCs, provided adequate safeguards are in place.

The current regulatory framework mandates that all payments for investments in mutual funds must originate directly from the investor’s own bank account and be routed exclusively through RBI-authorised payment aggregators or Sebi-recognised clearing corporations.

After receiving feedback from the industry, Sebi felt a need to review the existing framework for third-party payments in mutual funds by permitting specific, well-defined scenarios where such payments may be allowed without compromising the overarching objectives of investor protection and compliance with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

“The intent is to strike a balanced approach that facilitates ease of investing in genuine cases while reinforcing robust safeguards against potential misuse,” Sebi said.

Accordingly, in its consultation paper, Sebi proposed a third-party payment scenario where an employer can pay for employee investments in mutual fund units through payroll deduction.

“The proposed scenario acknowledges the established practice of employers offering various benefits and savings avenues to their employees. This mechanism would allow asset management companies (AMCs) to accept consolidated payments for mutual fund investments through salary deduction,” Sebi said.
Further, the regulator suggested another scenario involving third-party payment, where AMCs can pay mutual fund distributors (MFDs) in the form of mutual fund units instead of trail commission.The proposed scenario — allotting mutual fund units instead of trail commission, as agreed between AMC and the mutual fund distributor — will provide a convenient, seamless and disciplined way for the MFD to invest in MF units and will encourage MFDs to save and invest for the long term, it added.

Additionally, Sebi has proposed to permit investors to contribute a portion of the subscription amount or a scheme’s return toward a social cause. This aims to facilitate investor contributions to social causes through a regulated, transparent and investor-protected framework.

To manage PMLA risks in third-party payments, Sebi has suggested safeguards like robust KYC for both the payee and beneficiary, a clear written mandate, and an auditable, non-cash electronic fund trail via segregated accounts with regular reconciliation.

AMCs must perform due diligence and ensure transparency, guaranteeing beneficiaries full redemption liquidity, Sebi suggested.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought public comments till June 10 on the proposals. PTI

The federal government is projected to run a budget deficit of at least $2 trillion this fiscal year, according to an estimate by the Treasury Department and bond market participants.

Earlier this month, the Treasury released its quarterly refunding documents for the second quarter of the calendar year, which included estimates of needed borrowing over the next two quarters of fiscal year 2026 as of April.

It showed that the White House is anticipating a roughly $2.1 trillion deficit in FY2026 based on the president’s budget, while participants in the bond market expect the deficit to be about $2 trillion.

Both figures are up from the estimate of more than $1.8 trillion that was produced by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in February based on legislation passed by Congress as of mid-January. The U.S. ran a deficit of just over $1.8 trillion in the last fiscal year.

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“Both the Treasury and the markets agree we’re on course to borrow $2 trillion this year, up from the $1.8 trillion deficit we logged last year. $2 trillion deficits used to be unheard of, and then they only occurred during major recessions – it’s beyond scary that $2 trillion deficits are now the norm,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).

A federal deficit of $2 trillion or more in fiscal year 2026 would rank as one of the largest in U.S. history, coming in at third on the all-time list.

The two largest budget deficits in U.S. history were both incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the biggest totaling $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020 and the next-largest reaching nearly $2.8 trillion the following year amid a surge of stimulus spending to support the economy.

US NATIONAL DEBT BREACHES $39 TRILLION MILESTONE FOR FIRST TIME AMID SPENDING SURGE

MacGuineas said that the latest deficit projection is “yet another data point – along with debt passing 100% of the economy in March and interest spending on track to top more than $1 trillion this year – showing the need for us to get our fiscal situation under control.”

“Markets will only tolerate our unsustainable borrowing for so long; the risk of fiscal crisis gets higher as the days pass. We need deficit reduction urgently,” she added.

US DEBT SET TO CRUSH WORLD WAR II RECORD AS ANNUAL DEFICITS EXPLODE TO $3T WITHIN DECADE

Data from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that the U.S. national debt surpassed the size of the economy in April for the first time since the World War II era. 

The highest recorded ratio of public debt to GDP was recorded in 1946, when it reached 106% of GDP as the U.S. was in the process of demobilization after the end of the war. 

The CBO estimated earlier this year that the U.S. will break that record in 2030, with it expected to rise to 108% that year.

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Federal debt has surged in recent years amid rising spending on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare as America’s population ages, as well as mounting interest costs incurred amid a growing debt and elevated interest rates.