ESPN: Major retailer says NFL merchandise sales are strong

The world's largest retailer of NFL merchandise isn't feeling any negative effects from the league's much criticized handling of high-profile incidents involving its players.

Data from Fanatics, which sells more than 10 million pieces of NFL gear a year, shows that team sales are up 23 percent from Sept. 1 to Sept. 18, as compared to that exact time period last year. That's better than the company as a whole had been performing and above baseline ecommerce growth in the retailing industry…