There may be only one company that could get LeBron James, Tom Brady, Kevin Costner, Spike Lee, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, NBA star Victor Wembanyama, YouTuber Kai Cenat and dozens of other high-wattage names from the worlds of sports and entertainment under one roof: Fanatics, the sports merchandise, collectible and entertainment firm founded by Michael Rubin.
And they want fans to come along too.
Fanatics is bringing back its flagship live event, Fanatics Fest, to New York City on June 20-22, and in addition to a metric ton of sports stars, the company is doubling down on artists and entertainers (hence the likes of Costner and Lee).
“It’s a heck of a challenge, I wouldn’t say it’s fun. Most of what we do is fun, I don’t consider this to be fun,” quips Rubin in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, when asked about booking the stars that will congregate in the Jacob Javits Convention Center. “Look, what I will tell you is, there’s not another company in the world that could create Fanatics Fest, because putting it on the show is hard enough. But then, we’re going to have 300, 400 of the biggest athletes, celebrities, artists in the world come together. It’s really because of the broader partnerships that they have with Fanatics. Everyone coming here is someone that has a partnership with Fanatics, and that’s why they come.”
The event is stacked with programming, including live podcast and show tapings, including First Take with Stephen A. Smith, and guests that include NBA commissioner Adam Silver, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Ice Cube, and a slew of athletes. Panels that include athletes like Brady, James, Derek Jeter, Kevin Durant, the Manning brothers and others, and entertainers like Costner, Lee, Mark Wahlberg, Kenan Thompson and Keegan Michael-Key.
It is that mashup of sports and entertainment that Fanatics executives believe deliver the secret sauce for Fanatics Fest.
“In the past, athletes were up there talking about the game-winning hit, the game-winning drive. What we tried to do is bring culture, entertainment, even entrepreneurialism and sport, together, and mash it up in interesting ways,” says Lance Festerman, the CEO of Fanatics Events. “Even having these sorts of athletes and cultural icons on stage interacting in itself was pretty original. I think there was a lot we were proud of last year. And to Michael’s point, there’s a lot to be proud about this year with the content. I think the kind of creation and invention of this sort of an original platform was really cool. And I don’t think people had seen things like it before.”
“The content is 10 times better this year than last year,” Rubin adds. “It’s blow away great this year.”
One of the defining characteristics of Fanatics Fest is putting fans under the same roof as some of the most famous people in the world. As athletes join actors and musicians as global celebrities, the desire for fans to connect with them only grows more important.
That is reflected in the panels, photo ops and autograph signings, as well as events like the Fanatics Games, where athletes, creators, celebrities and fans compete head to head in skill-based challenges. And Fanatics will bring back the 40/40 Club, a temporary pop-up of Jay-Z’s infamous New York City hotspot, constructed inside the Javits Center, exclusively for the biggest stars and highest rollers … though fans are free to gawk from a distance.
“It’s for people that are really important to Jay and to us, and that really is the athletes, celebrities, artists that are there, and then our most important VIPs across Fanatics’ business,” Rubin explains. “It’s something that’s made to be highly curated. You know, there’s 100,000-plus people at Fanatics Fest, the people that come into 40/40 are measured in the hundreds.”
But the event is also Fanatics’ big bet on the experience economy, on connecting sports (and increasingly pop culture) fans in real life, not only with stars, but with each other.
“The fact is, you don’t have to get off your couch or leave your house for anything anymore, everything will come to you,” Festerman says. “Therefore, the impetus is on us to build something that is absolutely mind-blowingly cool and immersive and experiential … We know that Millennials, Gen Z, they want immersive experiences. They don’t want stuff, they want to feel something, they want a unique moment. And that’s what we’re doing, we’re building that moment that people can share on a mass level that is beyond the screen, and they feel something and they feel a connection to each other, to the content, to the celebrities, to the athletes.”
