Inside Michael Rubin's $90 Million Bet On Fanatics Fest
Michael Rubin is about to spend $80-$90 million on a four-day party in New York City, and he's totally fine with the possibility that it might not even be profitable.
During its inaugural event in 2024, Fanatics Fest drew 70,000 people to a 400,000-square-foot space at the Javits Center in New York City, hosted 300+ athletes and celebrities, and incurred a $15 million loss on a $50 million production budget.
But this year, Fanatics expects more than 200,000 sports fans to attend the event over four days. The company has rented one million square feet of space at the Javits Center. More than 500 athletes and celebrities will be in attendance, and the event might even be profitable on a production budget of $80-$90 million.
With 200,000 attendees paying $70-$80 per adult ticket, only about $15 million of total event revenue will come from ticket sales. Fanatics will then make up the remaining ~$70 million through 1) sponsor and brand activations, 2) autograph and photo op fees paid directly to Fanatics Events, 3) on-site merchandise and collectibles sales through Fanatics retail, and 4) VIP and premium ticket packages.
On the expense side, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin says the company is paying $10 million across hundreds of athletes for signings and appearances at this year’s event. Fanatics then calculates how many autographs and photos each athlete needs to sell to recoup their appearance fee (or make a profit), with some athletes, like Jalen Brunson, selling out of $1,000 photo ops before the event even began.
But the biggest mistake is judging Fanatics Fest like a traditional live event. Fanatics could lose tens of millions of dollars over these four days and still consider the weekend a financial success. That’s because the real value isn’t limited to tickets, sponsorships, or autograph sales; it comes from what Fanatics can do with 200,000 highly engaged sports fans after they leave the building.
Here are five ways Fanatics plans to monetize the event behind the scenes: