New Era Cap, the maker of caps for major US sports leagues, has started to fill out its advisory ranks as it prepares for an initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Fanatics, which runs the sports merchandising for all the pro sports leagues, has just acquired the largest maker of college sports caps in a deal that’s saved 200 jobs from the coronavirus pandemic.

Newly released baseball caps for all 30 Major League Baseball teams are getting such a bad reputation that three teams have been forced to pull their caps off the market completely. The Overlap ...