Q&A with Fanatics Events’ Lance Fensterman
It will be a one-stop shop for sports fans, trading cards, and memorabilia collectors.
The first Fanatics Fest NYC will bring collectors, dealers, and athletes from all walks of life together. The event will run August 16-18 at the Javits Center in New York City.
RIPPED chatted about this inaugural show with Fanatics Events CEO Lance Fensterman — one of the architects behind the successful New York Comic Con.
What are the main features of FFNYC, and what makes them unique to this show?
Fanatics Fest will be a massive card show with so much more. It’s an immersive, interactive sports festival, one of the largest card shows ever to hit NYC. It will include interactive features from every major sports league, panels, and conversations where you get to hear from your favorite athletes and entertainers, exclusive merch and products like Topps Chrome exclusives, brands outside of dealers like Mitchell & Ness, hundreds of millions of dollars of cards and memorabilia collections on display, a huge exhibit of sports-inspired art and more.
What exclusive items can fans look forward to at FFNYC?
A big part of these events is exclusive products that you can’t get anywhere else. Topps is bringing exclusive Topps Chrome boxes featuring Big Apple Refractors that will only be available at the event. Topps is also bringing an exclusive Topps Chrome Cosmic x Cactus Jack exclusive set that will be very much in demand. There will also be some exclusive promo packs available only at the event that will appeal to casual sports fans attending the show, as well as seasoned collectors.
What excites you about the crossover between sports and entertainment that the show will have?
Sports is now one of the largest and most impactful forms of entertainment, and it reaches into all corners of culture. So, the idea of mashing together genres of culture and entertainment with sports makes sense. I think fans will love the collision of so many forms of popular culture and sport. And it’s something you really can’t see anywhere else.
The show will feature a wide range of current and former athletes, from football to basketball to baseball to wrestling. What was the goal in selecting this variety of athletes for the first FFNYC?
We wanted to ensure we had a broad representation of different kinds of athletes, sports, leagues, and teams. Being based in New York City, we wanted to make sure that the local teams and legends were represented, but we also didn’t want to confine ourselves to being a local sports show. We set about curating a diverse group of athletes who represented the best in sports, not only locally but nationally, and those who transcended a team or market. In short, we wanted to have something for everyone!
What do you hope the first FFNYC accomplishes?
We make tens of thousands of fans incredibly happy, and they look back on Fanatics Fest as the best weekend they’ve had as fans and collectors. Lifetime memories, discovering new forms of fandom, and great memories — that’s our goal.
Go here for full Fanatics Fest NYC info and schedule.
