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Speaker 1: Welcome to this edition to the Steph Nick Smith Show
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Speaker 1: The momentum continues to rise, and obviously that's thanks to
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Speaker 1: Straight Shoot a book dot com and get yourself a copy.
Speaker 1: Once again, straight shoot a book dot com to get
Speaker 1: yourself a copy. You know, on this particular day, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to talk to the one guest that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have for this particular show. It's iso. It's me
Speaker 1: one on one with somebody and his name would happened
Speaker 1: to be Michael Rubin. He is the founder and the
Speaker 1: boss for Fanatics and every year since last year. Last
Speaker 1: year was this inaugural year. This year again they're having
Speaker 1: something called fanatic Fest. When you think about Comic Con
Speaker 1: and you think about things of that nature, fanatics Fest
Speaker 1: essentially is the sports version of all of that, where
Speaker 1: you just bring the entire sports world together and they
Speaker 1: descend upon one locale to celebrate sports in a variety
Speaker 1: of ways, games and guest hosts and all of this
Speaker 1: other stuff that's going on. And fanatics Fest was obviously
Speaker 1: a wonderful, wonderful experience when I experienced it last year. First,
Speaker 1: take my day job on ESPN airing every weekday Warned
Speaker 1: from ten am to twelve noon was their live for
Speaker 1: the debut of fanatics Fest. Last year, seventy thousand people
Speaker 1: showed up at the last minute for fanatics Fest. This year,
Speaker 1: it's expected that over one hundred thousand people will show
Speaker 1: up and it's going to continue to grow and proliferate
Speaker 1: before our very eyes, and I can't wait. I'm very,
Speaker 1: very excited. But no matter how excited I am, I'm
Speaker 1: not nearly as excited as the man that I'm.
Speaker 2: About to talk to next.
Speaker 1: As you will see, it's a one on one conversation
Speaker 1: about fanatics Fest and all that it entails with the originator,
Speaker 1: the founder himself, the one and only Michael Rubin. He
Speaker 1: is here with me right now. Take a look, my
Speaker 1: guess is the founder and CEO one of the biggest
Speaker 1: digital sports platforms that connects fans with their favorite sports figures.
Speaker 1: He's joining me now to discuss the second annual Fanatics
Speaker 1: Fest n YC. Please welcome to one and only Michael
Speaker 1: Rubin to the show.
Speaker 2: What's up, big time? How are you man? How's everything?
Speaker 3: I'm getting excited, man, A couple of days away. Ready
Speaker 3: Fanac's Fest number two.
Speaker 2: We're ready to go, baby, damn right, damn right.
Speaker 1: Last year's inaugural fanatics Fest was a huge success. Obviously
Speaker 1: I was there. How many people were there? And how
Speaker 1: many are you expecting this year?
Speaker 3: We had seventy thousand people in the first year, and
Speaker 3: we're definitely gonna have well over one hundred thousand people
Speaker 3: in year two.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 3: I mean last year we started with the NFL, the NBA, Hockey, Baseball,
Speaker 3: WW and UFC. In addition to all six of those
Speaker 3: sports coming back, we now have FIFA Premier League F one, Nike, Usta,
Speaker 3: Dick Sporting Good.
Speaker 2: So it's gonna be a movie. I'm psyching.
Speaker 3: I just looked at the list this morning of all
Speaker 3: of the athletes and artists and celebrities coming. I think
Speaker 3: we have three times amount of people coming from last
Speaker 3: year this year. I mean, just some of the biggest
Speaker 3: names in sports and culture. So it's gonna be a blast.
Speaker 1: Explain to the audience how you originally came up with
Speaker 1: this idea, What was the motivation of the impetus for
Speaker 1: it all.
Speaker 2: Explain that, Yeah, you.
Speaker 3: Know, I had been to so many music festivals. It's
Speaker 3: like Coachello. I've been to south By Southwest, I'd been
Speaker 3: to Comic Con, and I'd been to the National which
Speaker 3: a big training card show, and like, I wondered, why
Speaker 3: is there no sports festival, and I like.
Speaker 2: Say to my team, like, gottlam check, is there any
Speaker 2: in the world? There really wasn't. There had never been
Speaker 2: a sports festival.
Speaker 3: There had been like, you know, FanFest with the Super
Speaker 3: Bowl for the NFL, or a fan fest with the
Speaker 3: NBA All Star Game, but never really a sports festival.
Speaker 3: I think the reason was there was nobody other than
Speaker 3: Fanax that could really corral all the different sports together
Speaker 3: and then also have individual partnerships with so many athletes
Speaker 3: that mattered to bring.
Speaker 2: It all together. So, you know, typical.
Speaker 3: Fanac style, we just said let's go for it, no
Speaker 3: idea whether it was going to work or not.
Speaker 2: And three weeks before launched last year, I'm like, how
Speaker 2: to get myself into this?
Speaker 3: This is too hard and I'm like, wait a second,
Speaker 3: that's not like that's all right, So we're gonna make
Speaker 3: it work. And sure enough, seventy thousand people came the
Speaker 3: first year, and people just had an amazing time.
Speaker 2: And that's what made this all worth while.
Speaker 3: I seeing just so many happy fans and this is
Speaker 3: the most incredible weekend of their lives. And look, Steve
Speaker 3: en A, you came and opened it up last year.
Speaker 3: I remember watching many thousands of people just cheering, going
Speaker 3: crazy watching your show, and I didn't know what to expect, Like,
Speaker 3: I mean, three weeks earlier, I was like, how do
Speaker 3: I get myself into this mess? So, you know, it
Speaker 3: was a great weekend. And for me, this is really
Speaker 3: just about a fan give back. Like, look, I think
Speaker 3: it's very easy to build a big company, it's not
Speaker 3: easy to build a beloved company. And we want to
Speaker 3: build a beloved company, and we're just getting started with
Speaker 3: doing that. And you know, we've done done certain things
Speaker 3: really well and other things we haven't done well enough,
Speaker 3: but we really you know, our dream is to make
Speaker 3: an accent beloved company in the world, and this is
Speaker 3: a small piece of how you do that because you
Speaker 3: connect with you know, one hundred thousand plus fans live
Speaker 3: and then also you know, hundreds of millions of people
Speaker 3: via social media to see what happens there, and it
Speaker 3: makes people really have a special relationship with the fanatics.
Speaker 1: Now, talk to us about what you believe you've done well,
Speaker 1: particularly with the Fanatics Fest. What is it that occurs
Speaker 1: there that really stands out that makes it such enjoyable
Speaker 1: for the fans to the point where seventy thousand shows
Speaker 1: up at the first ever event, and now you're expecting
Speaker 1: over one hundred thousand people to show up this Friday.
Speaker 2: What is it that goes on there? It has people
Speaker 2: so riled up about it. I think there's so much
Speaker 2: to do for everybody.
Speaker 3: Like take somebody like yourself, who has access to anything
Speaker 3: in the world.
Speaker 2: But you could go there and spend three days, you'd
Speaker 2: see so.
Speaker 3: Many people that you love, so many people that you
Speaker 3: want to catch up with.
Speaker 2: And by the way, I know, you'd be.
Speaker 3: Like doing different competitions, whether it's being in an F
Speaker 3: one car or you know you're ww walkout or how
Speaker 3: hard can you punch the UFC punching bag. It's just
Speaker 3: like there's so much to do for everybody. I can't
Speaker 3: wait to go. They just start sending me pictures. I'm
Speaker 3: going Thursday night because like I don't get to really
Speaker 3: experience it during the festival because I'm just going from
Speaker 3: person to person trying to make sure everything's going well.
Speaker 3: But it's like the inner kid in us comes out
Speaker 3: because there's just so many great things to do and
Speaker 3: so many great people to see.
Speaker 2: It's so much great content to watch.
Speaker 3: Like I love that you're opening up, you know with
Speaker 3: first take this year from ten to twelve Friday morning,
Speaker 3: but there's six different stages with content every hour on
Speaker 3: the hour, and whether you're a football fan or WW
Speaker 3: fan or UFC fan, or you're a WNBA fan, there's
Speaker 3: just great content, great people, great activations. And the thing
Speaker 3: that's most interesting is how many people come from ten
Speaker 3: to seven Friday and Saturday and ten to four on Sunday.
Speaker 2: They want to be there the entire time.
Speaker 3: So that talks about just the amount of action that
Speaker 3: exists a fanatics fest.
Speaker 1: Well, I got a busy schedule, especially covering these NBA Finals,
Speaker 1: but I would have been there just for you to
Speaker 1: begin with. But to have the time that I had
Speaker 1: last year, it was electric. I couldn't believe how packed
Speaker 1: it was. I could have believed how site everybody was
Speaker 1: to be there. And then on top of all, Tom
Speaker 1: Brady showed up, Peyton Manning showed up, Alan Arbison showed up.
Speaker 2: I mean, every damn body was there.
Speaker 1: Who can people expect to see this year? Is that
Speaker 1: something that you're a secret that you're holding there? Did
Speaker 1: to you until Friday?
Speaker 2: Now we have.
Speaker 3: We've already announced I think three times the amount of athletes, artists,
Speaker 3: celebrities coming this year versus last year. So in one
Speaker 3: of the things we did is removed the festival from
Speaker 3: August until June because we wanted to have active NFL players.
Speaker 2: If you remember last year we did in August.
Speaker 3: The problem with that was all the NFL guys were
Speaker 3: already in pre season. This year, in the NFL, we've
Speaker 3: got I think a third and a half of the
Speaker 3: starting NFL quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: Got Jaden Daniels, c J.
Speaker 3: Strode, Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow. I know, we've
Speaker 3: got guys like Michael Parsons, DeVante Adams, CD Lamb.
Speaker 2: Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's so many, and I think there's fifty
Speaker 3: current NFL stars there. In basketball, you got Bron Wemby,
Speaker 3: kd Kat, James Harden and the amount of people even
Speaker 3: hitting me saying hey, Rube, like I want to come.
Speaker 2: It's just like you got room for me. So everyone's
Speaker 2: been hitting me all weekend.
Speaker 3: By we got Kevin Hart coming, Jay Z, Travis Scott.
Speaker 3: I mean, I remember last year Jay looked at me,
Speaker 3: He's like we were in the forty forty and he
Speaker 3: looked at me.
Speaker 2: He said, this is the most incredible thing, Like Traff.
Speaker 3: Took over and he's now the house DJ at forty forty,
Speaker 3: Like this is the most insane thing in the world.
Speaker 3: And by the way, trafvor at the time of his life.
Speaker 3: It's like everyone's coming back and so many more people.
Speaker 3: And one of the things you know about me, I
Speaker 3: love getting people together. And it's great to see so
Speaker 3: many great people getting together and so many great things
Speaker 3: that come from that. So you know, that's you know,
Speaker 3: there are a lot of things I suck up at.
Speaker 3: One of the things, I'm not bad. It's just bringing
Speaker 3: breef people together and letting great outcomes come from that.
Speaker 2: So I think we're gonna see a lot of that an.
Speaker 3: AX Best issue too, And the content is amazing, Like
Speaker 3: if you just look day by day, hour by hour,
Speaker 3: what are all the different things I can do? There's
Speaker 3: so much to do, but you know talent, I mean,
Speaker 3: it's you're just gonna see people walking back and forth
Speaker 3: through the aisle.
Speaker 2: It's like crazy because there's so much to do. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm also here in the prize pool. There's a prize
Speaker 1: pool that's gonna take place, that's gonna include about two
Speaker 1: million in total cash and prizes.
Speaker 2: Is that true? Two million in total catch and prizes?
Speaker 2: It is true.
Speaker 3: And the funny thing is I just have been thanking
Speaker 3: people for coming right before I jumped on here, and
Speaker 3: the last person I hit was Eli Manning, and I
Speaker 3: guess he didn't know that.
Speaker 2: So we're doing the Fanatics games.
Speaker 3: And what the Fanatics games are, We're doing eight different
Speaker 3: athletic competitions.
Speaker 2: You take your best six scores, you drop your worse too.
Speaker 3: So it's things like football throwing accuracy, Baseball pitching accuracy,
Speaker 3: ww walk out you have ce punching accuracy accuracy. So anyway, again,
Speaker 3: you take your best six scores, you drop me worse two.
Speaker 3: So and we pair people in groups of two or
Speaker 3: three to go through the different games, kind of like God,
Speaker 3: you're competing on your own, but we still pair people,
Speaker 3: and just for sport, we decide to pair.
Speaker 2: Originally, Kalid called me. He's like, Yo, do you see
Speaker 2: my run? Man? I'm so fast, he said, I want
Speaker 2: Brady in the games. He said, Brady may be able
Speaker 2: to beat me football, but I'll beast. I said. He
Speaker 2: was fast, reallytic, It's.
Speaker 3: Amazing what you can do with AI these days. So
Speaker 3: so Khalid called me. He said, I want to take
Speaker 3: on Brady. So he's talking a lot of smack, talking
Speaker 3: a lot of smacks. So Khaled said, I could beat
Speaker 3: him in basketball, I could beat him in baseball, I
Speaker 3: could beat him.
Speaker 2: In WW walkout.
Speaker 3: So originally I called Brady and Brady said that may
Speaker 3: have better have an ambulance to follow him around like that.
Speaker 2: That was his response. Then I realized we're missing something.
Speaker 3: How do we not have Tommy and Eli going up
Speaker 3: against each other? So now we got a little threesome
Speaker 3: guarding off Tommy, Eli and Kalich. So there's gonna be
Speaker 3: a lot of shit talk during that. During that little
Speaker 3: uh threesome going down.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be hilarious.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be hilaric because DJ Kylla can't play no
Speaker 1: damn basketball. Now golf might be a different matter, but
Speaker 1: he can't play any damn basketball. I already saw him
Speaker 1: do that. He needs to stop that Dons sense, by
Speaker 1: the way, before I let's get on out of here.
Speaker 1: I got a couple of things. Number One, I gotta
Speaker 1: produce some mine. His brother is gonna be competing in
Speaker 1: some event.
Speaker 2: He's one of the fifty fans that got picked.
Speaker 3: And by the way, we're root we're rooting for your guys, brother,
Speaker 3: because you know it, if we can have an incredibly
Speaker 3: athletic don professional athlete win this, that's the best of
Speaker 3: the wall.
Speaker 2: Right now.
Speaker 3: A lot of our common friends are talking a lot
Speaker 3: of smack called me, say, yo, I'm taking that bag
Speaker 3: of a million dollars home.
Speaker 2: Yo, I'm driving that five hundred thousandsf Ferrari out of there. Yo.
Speaker 3: I'm taking that two thousand and three tops Lebron James
Speaker 3: rookie card. This what quarter million dollars, I'm taking that home.
Speaker 3: So I'm rooting for your guys brother.
Speaker 2: I want him to win. I want the average fando wins.
Speaker 3: And we try to cast this right, make sure there's
Speaker 3: some good competition, so that's gonna be fun.
Speaker 2: And we may needs use.
Speaker 3: Steven A to come commuentate, give a little bit of
Speaker 3: you know, when we got brading, Eli and Kali going down,
Speaker 3: you may need to jump in there and just do
Speaker 3: ten minutes of comedy because watching those guys.
Speaker 1: Go competing, yeae, that's you trying to add more work.
Speaker 1: That's not trying to add more work to me, Michael,
Speaker 1: you know you're trying to add more work to me.
Speaker 3: You do anything, so you know you coming in and
Speaker 3: be able to make fun of college.
Speaker 2: I'm getting a little eli tellmy competition go, we need
Speaker 2: you man now.
Speaker 1: I will say this though, I mean, I understand it's
Speaker 1: not your fault. You know, I'm gonna leave it alone,
Speaker 1: you know, because I know people get a little sensitive
Speaker 1: if I'm around because I'm in the media and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. But I do get a little jealous when
Speaker 1: I see other people at the White Party. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna front because it's.
Speaker 2: Other people in the media.
Speaker 1: I'm like this, I would look better than them rocking
Speaker 1: all white. I've rocked my all white outfits from time
Speaker 1: to time. I would like something like that, but I'm not.
Speaker 1: I couldna be mad about it because I'm coming to fanatics, pest,
Speaker 1: But I just want you to know me at.
Speaker 2: The right.
Speaker 3: I was honored to just send you the shoes that
Speaker 3: only came to the people for the White Party. Even
Speaker 3: though there could be some white people the White Party
Speaker 3: you may have been a little critical of over the years,
Speaker 3: maybe like quarter of the White Party, you.
Speaker 2: Know, But and you're just doing your job. You doing
Speaker 2: what you do. But I wanted to.
Speaker 3: Make sure you have their shoes because their shoes are specials.
Speaker 2: Anything. That's where no one could say shit.
Speaker 3: You gotta be there, and you gotta be you, and
Speaker 3: I love you being you because you're the best.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be there, man, and I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: The one and only Michael Ruber for Fanatics. Fanatics Fest
Speaker 1: second Edition. Oh it's gonna be specially y'all. Javitson in
Speaker 1: New York City is big time, no doubt. Over seventy
Speaker 1: over one hundred thousand people showing up. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to be there. I look forward to seeing you Friday.
Speaker 1: My man can't and my brother love you, man, great senior,
Speaker 1: all right, same, I love you too, man, One and
Speaker 1: only Michael Ruber right here. Fanatics Fests NYC twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five takes place June twentieth through the twenty second at
Speaker 1: the Jacob Javid Convention Center in.
Speaker 2: New York City.
Speaker 1: For ticket information, go to Fanaticsfest dot com. That's it
Speaker 1: for this special edition to the Stephen A.
Speaker 2: Smith Show.
Speaker 1: I'll be back with you in a couple of days,
Speaker 1: if not tomorrow, You never know.
Speaker 2: With me.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to talk about, and I'll be around
Speaker 1: to do just that. Until then, This is stephen A
Speaker 1: signing off, thanks again to the one and only Michael
Speaker 1: Rubin Fanatics Fests this weekend. Check it out Javitt Jacob
Speaker 1: Javid Center in New York City. It's a must attend event,
Speaker 1: make no mistake about it, and a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: people are gonna be there, just like Michael Rubin told you.
Speaker 1: Don't miss it, y'all. Until next time, it's a stephen
Speaker 1: A signing off. Peace of love, be safe, cou bless