How’s everybody doing? Welcome to my page, Packs & Pickups. Today, I’m going to share my thoughts on the first-ever NYC Fanatics Fest. 

Fanatics Fest was a sports festival featuring sports cards, autographs, photo ops, and the chance to see your favorite sports stars. It also included games, art, and other sports-related experiences.

This was supposed to be the sports show that had it all, but the question remains: Did the event do what it set out to do? Did it bridge the gap and bring sports fans together, or did it demonstrate that we need separate events for all these things?

Okay, first things first. Let's talk about non-sports card-related events. Straight off the bat, I’m going to let you guys know that I was not that interested in any of the other stuff besides the sports cards. I did try and experience some other aspects of the event because I wanted to get my money's worth, but a lot of the things I wasn’t interested in or I just didn’t have enough time to experience them.

The first non-card-related event I participated in was a panel for the New York Knicks. I’m a big Knicks fan, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get pumped up for the new season. We have a good team with an identity I really like, so I was looking forward to it. The panel included Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Walt Frazier, who I collect, Ben Stiller, and Spike Lee.

It wasn’t the best event to start off with because there were a lot of technical difficulties. The panel was supposed to start at 2:50 pm and end at 3:30 pm but didn’t start until 3:30 pm. The line control was not great. At some point, a barrier broke down, and people started cutting in line, which was funny because there was plenty of room in the theatre. I also heard a bunch of people saying whoever made it into the theatre might get prizes like tickets to a game, but there was no indication of that, so hearing that was pretty weird.

Once the panel finally got going, it was okay. They had a small discussion about the success of last season, the identity of the team, and a little bit about the past. Walt Frazier talked about his first championship and gave props to Willis Reed, which I thought was awesome. The Knick fans were funny as always, starting chants and participating in the conversation whether it was asked for or not. So, the panel was okay. I can forgive technical difficulties, but the line control could have been better. It was still fun, and I was still happy I went, but overall, it was just okay.
That was the only panel I went to. I thought I would go to more, but many of the theatre events had long lines, and I didn’t think they were worth it. I would rather dedicate my time to the cards. 

Some other noncard-related stuff I experienced were the shops they had there. I went to the Fanatics superstore, which again was okay. I liked their merchandise; it was expensive, but I expected it at a New York event. I hear people don’t like the quality of Fanatics stuff, but everything felt good to me. I guess I’ll see when I wash and wear the shirt that I bought. I also visited Mitchell and Ness, New Era, and the Lids booths. All were pretty small. I would have liked their booths to be larger, but I still found a hat and a shirt I really liked from Lids. Mitchell and Ness didn’t have enough product, and the same was true for New Era. In hindsight, it’s not that big of a deal because I'd rather my money go to more sports cards anyway.

 I got one autograph from a former Italian national player, Giorgio Chiellini. It was probably the biggest highlight of the event for me. I’m a big Italian soccer fan, and he was as nice as possible, so It was a great experience.

I stopped by the mainstage several times and saw guys like Cam Newton and wrestlers like CM Punk and Rey Mysterio. That was cool, but I didn’t stay long for those because they were kind of just talking, and once again, I wanted to use my time for other things. 

I checked out the Sports Illustrated Museum, which was nice, passed by the art booth, and watched some people go through the WWE walk-out setup. 

 The WWE walkout was a red carpet staged to look like a WWE entrance. You would pick your favorite wrestler's intro song and come out imitating them. There was always a massive crowd around it, and the crowd would imitate fans from a real wrestling event. It was a lot of fun to watch. 

I would have to say the WWE fans were probably the best fans at the event. They are passionate and energetic, dress up, and have a lot of good energy. In my opinion, WWE won the Fanatics Fest.

Other than that, I briefly passed by the rest of the stuff and then headed back to the cards.

Alright, let's get into the sports cards floor now. 

I do want to let people know that I am not a huge card show person, to begin with. They can be a good way to get some nice deals, meet new people, and become a part of the community. However, you get vendors that tend to sell the same high-priced product, you get the occasional encounter with a rude person,  and it sometimes costs way more to travel and stay somewhere than just to buy the card online. That doesn’t mean I’m completely against card shows. As I stated before, there are a lot of benefits: there are vendors who have great variety and are pleasant, and you can get some excellent deals. 

As far as this event went, I did have a lot of fun. There were plenty of vendors. Some had the same overpriced stuff, but I did find many friendly, interesting booths that had some good deals. I did have a few encounters with some not-so-great people, but most were pleasant and created a good environment. 

Some criticisms: I didn’t like the structure or how the vendors were set up in their sections. I can’t put my finger on why, but I just felt like the space could have been utilized better. 

It took me a little while to get the lay of the land on the first day. When I first got there, I thought there weren’t many vendors, but then I realized there were so many more on the other side. Which I guess played into why I would have liked the area to have been structured a bit better. A Topps stage was in the middle of the card section, where they had some cool stuff. A lot of high profile people breaking and giving talks—everyone from CC2 and Mojo to Allen Iverson and Peyton Manning. Once again, I didn’t stay and watch that stuff the whole time, but I got glimpses of it, and it seemed fun. 


Now, I want to discuss other people's opinions of the event. I heard many interesting things being said throughout the show from card and non-card people.

I heard some high-profile people in the card industry say they would prefer an event dedicated to cards. The Javits Center is huge, and if they filled the place mainly with card vendors, it would probably create the biggest card convention ever.

I also heard other vendors saying it was hard to make deals because the noncard people didn’t understand pricing or how to negotiate. 

From the non-sports card people, I heard some say they didn’t like how sports cards were there. In fact, some people said they would have replaced all the cards with more shopping booths, which I found really funny. Some people just didn’t understand why sports cards were even there.

So some of the card people didn’t like the non-card stuff, and some of the non-card people didn’t like the card stuff.

 Which leads us back to the main questions? Did it bridge the gap and bring sports fans together, or did it demonstrate that we need separate events for all these things?

Well, for me, I was more on the cards side. I didn’t think we needed a lot of the stuff that was going on, like the 40/40 club, for example. I just wish there was a little more focus on the cards.

BUT…

When I disregarded my own opinion of what I wanted and when I stopped to look around at what was going on at the event. I realized that every single thing at the show was getting some use. All the games were consistently played (NHL slap shots, basketball court, soccer game things). People were taking pictures with trophies, some art got sold, and the club looked packed. There were lines for the theatre, and it just looked like, despite some people's personal feelings, everyone, for the most part, was having a good time.

It was also air-conditioned, had phone service, and there were no long lines for the bathrooms or food, at least in my experience.

The criticism or opinions that I talked about earlier are still valid. I don’t truly know if this was a success for cards or how well the vendors did, especially compared to other shows. So, I would love to hear from the vendor's point of view on whether coming to the event was worth it.

Overall, because there was something for everyone, and it looked like everyone was having a good time, I think this was a success. So, I would give this event a solid B+, and I look forward to attending the next one and seeing some improvements.

I know it has been awhile since Fanatics Fest, but wanted to post my firsthand view of the Cactus Jack x Topps collab. I am a huge Travis fan and have been collecting for years, so this collab infuses my two favorite things.

Didn't get a chance to win the lottery to get one of the packs so I was pretty bummed. Definitely was not going to pay the ridiculous eBay pricing for this one. Did anyone get there hands on this pack?

Most random #FFNYC pickup…an encounter with Mad Dog on the show floor. Ever seen ANYONE sign a baseball like diagonally?!

Hit on a pretty good card at @veefriends this weekend. Got a CGC 10 rare Dapper Dachshund (numbered out of 500). What makes better is that @Garyvee signed it. Going to hold on to this one.