From Thirty for Thirty Podcasts. Brian Patter, senior defensive lineman from Miami. Gun down. The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with Tabaki.
This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. Being placed under arrest. We had to kill our monsters.
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Now, on with the show. I'm a dream champion. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Let the Marx madness begin. A 12-sheet is moving on.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I love college basketball. Earlier on the show. ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Winthorst. Coming up.
Fanatics founder and CEO Michael Rubin. Host of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Okay, our number two, the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Hello to our ESPN audience. We love being on E1, as they say, back in Bristol. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial here on this busy first day of March Madness. We got a couple of games tipped off already.
Christopher Brockman, you want to give us an update on the scores of those games at present? What do you think? Yeah, of course, Rich Eisen. Heading into halftime, TCU.
Now walloping Ohio State. 3924. Wow.
So they won an 8-0 run since we last updated that score at the end of last hour. They did an 8-0 run in the last two and a half minutes to close out the half and take a big league on Ohio State. The other matchup, Troy, the 13th seed, leads four-seeded Nebraska, 11 minutes to go first half, 13-12. Not a great start for the Big Ten right now. Chris Weber's on the call of that game in Oklahoma City.
He's going to join us on Friday's show. Because that's the way we roll on this program. We get Hall of Famers who are calling basketball games in the NCAA tournament to show up the next day and talk about it.
South Florida, Louisville, tipping off in about 28 minutes. 844-204-Rich is the number to Don. We'll take some phone calls. In our green room, as promised, coming out here, is the founder and executive chairman of Fnatics, Michael Rubin, who's been on the show before. And he's just got a big-hearted dude with a massive company that keeps getting bigger and bigger.
And Fanatic Studios presents Fnatics' inaugural flag football classic that's taking place here in Los Angeles on Saturday. And it's going to be airing live on Fox Sports, Fox One, and Tubi. And it's going to be streamed internationally on the Fanatics YouTube channel. If you're in the area, tickets are on sale right now. In BMO Stadium, right here in Los Angeles on Ticketmaster.
It's a beautiful stadium right next door to the Coliseum. Um and so uh I've seen some uh uh Angel City soccer games there. Um and it's good stuff.
So uh 844204 Rich Number to Dial. The players that are available. or going to be playing in this flag football tournament. NFL players. Tom Brady, Joe Burrow, Jaden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, the quarterbacks.
The running backs are Alvin Kamara, Saquon Barkley, Ashton Genty and Kyle Yuscuk. The wide receivers are Odell Beckham Jr., Devontae Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, Gronk Flag football contest. Devontae Smith and Stefan Diggs. are all in this contest and there are some Uh defensive players. of notes.
Available as well. Yeah, there are. Miles Garrett. Derwin James, Luke Keekly, Hall of Fame, retired Matthew, Von Miller, Jalen Ramsey. My goodness gracious.
And then the Patrick Peterson, DeMar Hamlin. Oh, my goodness gracious.
some names to say the least. Yeah, a few non football players. I show speed. Yeah. No no no spaces just like our bracket challenge group, Rich Eisen Show.
Logan Paul, who Heard it from Brady last night. He was Okay. Do you hear what Tom Brady was basically saying?
Well, you know, Logan Paul kind of hid behind the, you know, WWE won't let me. Got it. And Bud Crawford, who knows how to throw a punch, actually. Um he's he's in this as well. Fun.
So, what I'd like to do to set up this conversation while we're updating NCAA tournament action. And have Michael Rubin in our green room right now before he comes out. I'd like to have a draft with the three of us. A-NAC. Oh, yes.
We love that. One quarterback. One running back, two wide, two pass catchers.
Okay.
Okay.
Are you in on this, Mikey? You're not? No, no, no, no.
Okay, so it's the three of us. It's the official. All right, so the math works. One quarterback, one running back, two wide receivers for your. Flag football game.
Can't wait.
Okay.
And as always, to determine who gets the top pick in any draft. We have. No, you don't have to do this, Michael. You're not a music guy. No, no, no.
That gets our home folks upset. Um. We've got the We'll uh from Your price is right, the actual big wheel here, right? The showcase, showdown wheel. Since you are TJ Jefferson, the price is right alum, I'm going to spin for you first.
Okay, here we go. Make it a good one, though. All right, here we go. And this is for the first pick, whoever gets the highest. Uh oh.
We'll choose first. It's 85. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's 85. That's 85, Chris.
You want to go next there? Let's do it. All right. Got to beat 85. Won't do it.
Can't. Here we go. 85 cents is going to be tough to beat. Tough to beat. Tough to beat.
Oh, 35.
So you're picking last right now. I need to beat 85 to pick first and 35 to pick second. Going for second. Here you go. Here we go.
I'm spinning it. Here goes the wheel. I know. But this is. You got to add the sound.
I should have spun it a little slower. You're about to come to a stop. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me.
Oh, almost tied it.
So I am choosing second. All right, T.J. Jefferson, you choose first. Out of it, you got the first overall pick of all the players that are in the Fnatic's inaugural flag football classic presented by Fnatic Studios. Quick question: Does Brady count?
What do you mean? What is the medium easy count? He's playing. Yes, I just wanted to make sure because you know, I don't know whether he's actually gonna go out that he's playing. I'm just making sure he's been working out.
He doesn't need to work out. Out of all these players, yeah. Give me Tom Brady. Yeah, of course you can. I was taking Tom Brady.
That's why I just had to. How do you not take Tom Brady first overall?
Well, he hasn't played football in like four years.
Okay, okay. All right. That question is moving. Let me ask you this question. Let me ask you this question.
Don't do this because I've been saying he should come back and play every single year. Let me ask you this question. No. Do you think he could wing it around to the people that he could wing it around to for the day? Do you think so?
I don't know, man. He's kind of old. Does he throw footballs every week? Probably not. You think he can?
He's kind of old. And plus, do you think he wants to win? For sure. Do you think he wants to win? Do you think he wants to look Michael Rubin, his buddy, in the face?
And say I'm not winning your first inaugural flag football classic. I'm going to have to talk about it. Every single time I see all these guys. When I come to your white party in the summer, break a hip. This got when he says that, and he would have been so stupid.
I would have taken it. I would have taken it first. I just had to make sure Tom was available. I'm taking Saquon. Oh, good one, Rich.
Good one.
Well, I get two picks, yeah? You do. Snake draft. I'm taking Saquon. You don't think Who's the one that you will have the toughest flag to pull?
Saquon. Yeah, that's correct. I'll take Joe Burrow and Ashton Genty. Burrow and Genti are off the board.
Okay.
And then, um I'm going to take Jalen Hurts. Oh nice one really. He's going to be tough to have a flag pulled. And guess who he knows very well? Saquon.
I'm a Harry Roseman of this draft, as a matter of fact. You need a cigar? I'm a Harry Roseman. Don't get hit in the face with a beer. I'm the only Jew sitting here before Ruben comes out here.
You know what? TJ, you get two.
Well, I got to take a guy who Tommy is really familiar with, right?
So that's a good idea. You got it. You're going Gronk. Gronk, Smash. Give it to me.
He stole my whole idea. Uh-huh.
Okay, so that's Gronk. And then I need a guy who's going to give me a great quote, such as it was a better catch by I.
So let me get. Nuke. Let me get D-hop. Yeah. Interesting.
I like that.
Now I go. Sir. Rich, yeah, one for you. I'm going Devontae Smith. Ooh, I'm just loading up on Eagles.
That's it. I mean, Rich, you are Harry Rose. I'm the Harry Roseman. As a matter of fact, I might. Is Big Dom available?
Yeah. He's got to be out here with all those Eagles available. I would imagine. Ooh, can we get Dom, man? Rich, you want to do it?
Studio tomorrow? Huh? Big Dom in studio tomorrow? You're his new BFF. I'm going to text him.
Chill, chill. You want a cheesesteak now, Rich? Fine, give it to me. I'll take Devontae Adams.
Okay, sir, Tony Luke's or James. Why already uh oh, I have oh, I only have one receiver. Uh oh. Yeah, you got it. Just do it.
You know you want to. Steph on digs.
Okay.
And you know I'm taking my guy. Who's your guy, bro? Come on. Hotel. Yeah.
You left me Odell on the board? That wasn't point in a while. Do you think it matters? Kind of. Yeah, it does.
Really? When you haven't done something in a while and then you try to do it, is it easy right away? Or is it not?
Well, if that's it. What am I doing? Am I going to be good?
Well, yeah, n probably not. My team's going to destroy you guys. Or do you think Odell is going to say, I'll show everybody I'm still Odell and I'm going to catch this thing with one finger? Man, you guys like living in the past. Who are you finishing up?
I mean, with all due respect to Kyle, you check. I got a car, yeah.
Okay.
So read your team back. All right, so I have Thomas Edward Brady, Robert Gronkowski. DeAndre Hopkins and Alvin Kamara. Chris, who do you have? TJ's got the AARP team.
Oh, my goodness gracious.
I've got Joe Poole. Wow.
Chipo he wanted. Joe Burrow, Ash and Genti, Devontae Adams, Stefan Dix. Yeah, you went current, is what you're saying. You went current. But young.
And I went Eagles. Yeah, who knows how to play together? Eagles. Or is this going to be such a terrible situation that everyone's going to blame Jalen Hurts for blowing it? Who's the offensive coordinator?
You know what I mean? That's a great question. You know what I mean? Who's going to get the finger of blame? To bring Kellen Moore back.
You know what I mean? Who's going to get blamed for my team not winning? to light up a phone line there in Philadelphia. I think Hurt, Saquon, Devontae Smith, and Odell Beckham Jr. are a pretty damn good team.
I'll take it. We'll take it to the people. And then defenders. You want to take a crack at that? You got one defender?
Might as well.
Well, I mean, I know you're going to take. You get the first pick there. I do. I mean, do you want me to spin the wheel again? Yeah, that was such compelling television.
Yes, no, this is what do we do with it? Spin the wheel for defenders. Yeah. Why would we do that? It was such compelling television.
Yeah. Do it one more time. What are we just winner gets Miles Garrett? Yeah, winner gets Miles Garrett. I spin it.
TJ, you're first. You're first. I want to see someone get the doctor. 60. Chris, you're next.
Decent. Here you go. Deese spinning the wheel. Deese. Here comes oh dollar's coming back around like dollar and man Woo!
Oh my woo! I cannot believe I just spun a dollar for Chris Brockman. Yes. Brockman just showed up here. His head next to mine.
We looked like the Titans coaching staff. Yes. All right. Let's see. I got to beat 60.
Damn it, you just gave him Miles Garrett. You know, you get a dollar rich. You never know. Oh! All right.
I'm 70. That looks like 25. It does not, sir.
So you get Garrett, right? Big mouse carried. And I'll take Derwin James. You got Keekly, Tyron Matthew, Von Miller, or Jalen Ramsey. You could take two of them.
Take two of them. Matthew. Jalen Ramsey. Yep. And who is the other one?
I'm missing the other one. You got Keekly, Matthew, Von Miller, and Jalen Ramsey.
Well, give me the Hall of Famer Luke Keekly.
Okay.
And then give me. Jalen. Um And I will take You left me Von Miller? Sure. It's a pass rusher?
On Miller. All right, and that leaves who for you? Christopher that leaves um Tyron Matthew. All right, so you get. You just got.
Garrett and Tyron Matthew. I just got Derwin, James and Von Miller. And you went Keekly and Jalen Ramsey.
Okay.
Woo! Let's play some flag football. Let's go to the phone lines real quick, and then we'll bring Michael Rubin out here. Who's been holding on the longest? It's Jay in Pennsylvania.
What's up, Jay? Hey, what's up, man? Keystone State in the Commonwealth. What's going on? Yes.
How are you guys? Yeah, so man, I got all kinds of stuff for you now. I've been listening here for a little over an hour now. Thank you. It's been great.
You know When you're talking about calling in to get the sports scores, it reminds me of calling in as a kid to get the time and temperature. Yeah, it's amazing. You know, you guys remember that one.
So, Rich, you know, you got Michigan winning it all, and I feel like that's a little bit biased.
So, if you can't pick Michigan, who's winning it? Ah, Duke? I think Duke plays Michigan, and I think it'll be another one of those games. And I just can't wait to see, you know. who shows up in the stripes and and how they call it.
Yeah, I mean, I got the tar heels. He's usually root for UNC or whoever's playing Duke.
So, you know, if it comes down to Duke, Michigan, I guess I'm with you. I think Taylor's a smart girl taking Duke. I actually think they are going to win it all. That's impossible. I had another question for you guys.
I got my you know, it's funny because you had Brian going to the teacher conference there today, and I'm actually a high school principal, and I got my kid out of school today here to watch March Madness. I don't know if I'm smarter or maybe dumb for doing that, but he's having a good time with a couple of buddies. But they got some wings.
So, his question for you was. What's your favorite flavor of wing? Hmm. We did a March Madness of beer back in the day in college actually.
So Maybe it kind of won't be. I think the honey, the honey, the honey wing. I like the, you know. I'm a hot barbecue. Yeah, not hot at all.
Going lemon pepper wet. Act like you know. Jay, I hope those answers are satisfying to you. Thanks for the call, buddy. That's Jay in Pennsylvania right here on the program.
So in in all seriousness, you've watched enough Duke games. You don't think they get... 80% of the calls from the refs. You really don't. You really don't.
You really do not. Come on, man. You really do not. The fact that you've come up here for weeks now and just been like, oh, it's eight on five, that's kind of embarrassing.
Okay.
That's your answer then.
So you don't believe they get 80% of the calls? I don't know. Watch some of the games. Watch some of them.
So you're telling me if there's 20 calls in the game, 16 go against the opponents? Um yes. That is insane.
Okay, we'll see. And like actually believe. It doesn't always lead to free throws or anything like that, but you'll see. It's traveling, it's whether the ball's out, whether a call is not made, all that stuff. Come on, man.
Yes, sir. Whether calls not made, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Michigan's guy goes down on the ground. Yaxel goes down on the ground.
That's an immediate travel. Boozer gets the ball, slides five feet. No traveling. That's the sort of stuff I'm talking about. And everyone else out there knows I'm right.
I don't know. Just cry. Oh, I'm crying. You kind of are. You've been crying for weeks about that.
Not at all. I haven't shed a single tear. I don't know what you're talking about. It's the. How dare you?
Oh. Fight you. All right, let's bring out the Fnatics founder, Executive Chairman Michael Rubin. There is the Fnatics inaugural flag football classic. Pro Bowlers, future Hall of Famers.
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Back here on our radio outfit, ESPN Radio and SiriusXM80 have just rejoined us here on ESPN Cable, ESPN the app, and Disney Plus. Michael Rubin, Fnatic's founder and executive chairman, is here right now. Fnatic Studios presents Fanatics' inaugural flag football classic taking place at BMO Stadium right here in Los Angeles on Saturday. If you're in the area, Ticketmaster is your place to get tickets. It's streamed internationally because we do have a lot of international viewers and listeners.
It's on the Fanatics YouTube channel, Fox Sports, Fox One, and Tubi from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time is your way to watch all of this. And Michael Rubin is here on the program. What's the first time you ever met Tom Brady?
When was the first time you ever crossed pads with him? Robert and Jonathan Kraft have probably been the most helpful family to me in my entire business career.
So through Robert and Jonathan, I probably met Tommy back, you know, 15 years ago. We didn't really become super close until the last five or seven years. And he's obviously the best person to ever play football. He's the most, you know, he's one of the most important athletes, two fanatics overall. We do so many things together.
But for me, the thing that's so amazing about him is to see the drive that he has. And you realize when you get to know him really well, why he won seven Super Bowls. There's no question about it. He's got my work ethic. He's up.
I talked to him so many times, four o'clock in the morning, five o'clock in the morning. He's grinding. He's fighting every day. And if you look how seriously he's taking this game, I hear people say, oh, you know, a mixture of former and current NFL greats. He's like, I could go kill any of these current quarterbacks today.
Like if I didn't own, you know, if I was one of them as the Raiders, I'd be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.
So last week, We were in Las Vegas for a friend of ours opening Zerabana Vegas, and Tom walked up to Joe Burr and said, I'm going to kick your ass this week. No, he didn't. Yeah, 100%. Joe's like, what did he just say? I mean, the banter's been very strong, much stronger than what Tom played in the NFL.
And everyone's charged up for this weekend. I bet so.
So you said the crafts were instrumental. Absolutely.
So how did you cross paths with them? Yeah, you know, I was lucky enough. Actually, the NFL introduced me to Jonathan Kraft back in 2006, 2007. And we actually met. It's a crazy story.
He actually, there were things that he didn't like about Fanatics, and he had issues with the strategy that we had. And so the NFL was kind of sick of, you know, trying to, you know, facilitate.
So they said, can you guys get together? He had so much, you know. Great ideas, and we're like, you're right about everything you're saying. And we used it to just make a better company. And we've been, you know, brothers ever since.
So Jonathan's been family to me for close to 20 years, and Robert for close to 15 years. But legitimately, there's not a group of people, family, anyone who's been more helpful to me in my business than Robert and Jonathan.
So it's obviously Brady. By the way, Robert's coming here this weekend. Oh, he is. Yeah, he's coming out for the game. Roger's coming tomorrow.
Robert called me yesterday. He said to me that he'd been grinding so hard he was tired. He wasn't sure he was going to come. I come back and say, Robert, like, I get it. You're going to be 85 soon.
You're getting older. You're getting tired. Right. He said, I'm coming. Oh, you challenged him.
Yeah, 100%. All I had to do was call out, you know, he had a birthday coming up soon. He was going to be 85. Maybe he's getting too tired. He doesn't have it anymore.
And he's like, I'll be coming back. He said, I'm coming. I slept good. I'm ready to go. I slept three hours, four hours.
RG1, as I like to refer to him, he's coming. Robert Godello or Roger Godell. Yeah, Roger's coming as well. Yeah, look, flag is obviously a huge initiative for the NFL. And, you know, they're putting so much behind it.
I think we, I don't think either one of us could have put this game on, this match on, without. helping each other and they've been incredible partners and it's just so important to grow the flag game globally. But to get out the quality of stars that we have, that's what's so exciting to see in one game. By the way, I mean, Tom reminded me yesterday, him and Jalen Hurts have eight Super Bowl rings on their end. He was, of course, poking at Jaden and Joe Burr for a couple of Heisman trophies.
He wasn't valuing those as much. Right. Yeah, but you just got so many incredible athletes. By the way, I grew up in Philly seeing having Jalen Saquon with other guys from the Eagles. I mean, just amazing.
Yeah, and so, well, it's part of your brand now, man. I mean, as I was talking to you in the back, You know, being at the last few Fanatics Fests, your head's on a swivel. And you're like, oh, wow, he's here. Oh, wow, she's here. Oh, wow.
You are a collector. Of stars in the way that people who come to your event are a collector of collectibles, like right now.
Well, you know, like that's what's happening. Look, I'm really fortunate. We work in the best industry in the world. I mean, like, you can't not love working in the sports business. You know that.
Everyone in this building, we're so lucky to wake up and do what we do every day. We work around the best sports fans of the world and, you know, a couple billion of the most passionate fans of the world, they all make us better. They push us to do great things. And Fnatics Fest is, I think, one of the hardest things that we do. It's one of the most rewarding things that we do.
Now, by the way, we're talking about your little race that I'm thinking there's going to be a rematch this year between you and Schefter. I heard you didn't have the right gear last time.
Well, I mean, Schefter is the one who challenged me, and I'm like, what am I going to turn down this challenge?
So, do you feel like if you came with the right shoes, were mentally prepared? You smoke them? Of course.
Okay, so we're going to see this at Fnatics Fest 3 this year. Yeah. I just didn't know I had to wear the proper footwear for that sort of thing. I didn't know. I guess I should be ready at any time.
Ready at any time. That is the Michigan. I should take my cue from Brady that you should just. Wake up and be able to compete no matter what. By the way, so we created the Fanatics Games last year at Fanatics Fest.
Yes. Where we took 50. It was wild.
So we took 50 of the best athletes. Artists, celebrities, mostly athletes, versus 50 average Joe fans. By the way, it was a million-dollar first prize. It was at like a half million dollar Ferrari's the second prize, and like a quarter million dollar tops, LeBron James rookie card is the third prize. And The competition was insane.
It was basically six different sports. Like, you know, how do you do throwing a football? How do you do hitting a golf ball? How do you do throwing baseballs? How do you do, you know, getting hockey into a washer and a dryer?
And your WWE walkout, how hard can you punch? And so I walked, and this is a great, this is maybe indicative of what we're about to see this weekend. Right. So I walked with Brady for the first competition. We matched two people up, and it was him and Eli Manning.
And so I watched Eli was like, he looked like he was the most incredible pitcher ever. And He looked a lot better than Tom. And so I like just was talking smack to Tom, like, you suck. You're old. You don't got it anymore.
Or Eli's getting you again? Yes. I was everything that could come out of my mouth. I gave him a hard time. Right.
Never thought about it again. I got home. I said, let me go to the Fanatics app and see who's winning. I'm like, Tom Brady's number one. I'm like, no way.
He's not really winning this thing. And of course, he called, no one can beat me. I got these guys. I'm in everyone's head. And then he won for the weekend.
He won the top prize. He was number one. He won the Fnatics Games out of 100 people. And so he's the reigning Fanatics Game champion, seven Super Bowl-time champion. And he wants to be the champion this weekend.
So I will tell you, he's preparing for this like a Super Bowl. He's ready to go. I don't know. Pardon me, what's the name of the year? Let's give him props.
The name of the quarterback of Team USA? Yeah, Darrell Hussett, Hoosh. Right, Hoosh. I mean, he doesn't seem to be a wallflower. You know what I mean?
But this is their way to basically say, with the commissioner there, you're there, these athletes here in the town of the Olympics to basically say, we are the team. Like, this is it.
So I'll tell you a couple interesting things. One of the great things about Business and sport is you always have to be iterating. And when Tom called me a year ago and said, Look, I want to do the biggest flag football game ever. Can you help us put this together? It's going to be really hard.
We've got to get everyone out to produce the game. Absolutely, Tom. Your family, let's go do this together. Our original idea was to have three NFL-based teams. And then, literally, three weeks ago, Mike Mahon, who runs our collectibles and trading card business, called and said, We can make this so much better.
Let's see if we get Team USA into this. They're the best flag football team. Let's see how the NFL guys do versus the best flag football team. And that just took this from like a friendly match to like, this is going to be serious. You know, people are really fighting to win this.
No one wants to be embarrassed. I mean, if Team USA wins, The NFL guys aren't going to feel so good. And by the way, if Team USA loses, that's pretty embarrassing for the best flag football team to lose.
So, I mean, and again, last night when we were doing some introductions, I reminded everyone from the NFL that they were six and a half-point underdogs or six-point underdogs from Fnatic Sportsbooks.
So you're going to see serious competition. But I think this format is one that's great to showcase and highlight not only flag football on a global stage, but also what the, you know, I don't think the USA flag football teams had. Any type of visibility like this.
So there's going to be, I think, tens of millions of people are going to watch this and tune into this on Saturday.
So to watch this competition is, I think, terrific for the growth of flag football globally. I want to go back to what you said to start your response. Just that you said you always need to be iterating? Is that what you said? Yeah, look.
What do you mean by that? I mean, three weeks ago, we were doing this game in Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. Reality's major pivot. Yeah, with three NFL-based teams. Right.
Couple weeks later, we're doing this in LA where they're going to have the 28 Olympics at BMO, where they're going to play football games. With a completely different format. I mean, that's about innovating, pivoting, figuring out how to do it better. I mean, you tell me how much more interesting is this format of having two NFL-based teams and the best-flag football team playing against each other. I mean, do you really have any idea what's going to happen?
Because I don't. No, not at all. I'm just talking about just growing businesses and things like that. Part of what we're doing around here is we We've done nothing but pivot on this show for like six years, like six years, and that sometimes it's realities that cause you to pivot, and other times you've got to start thinking about it. And I think there's a lot of people out there maybe trying to start their own small business right now, listening to us, watching us on our platform, that would love to get your two cents on that for somebody who's grown fanatics the way that you have over the last year.
Yeah, well, first of all, I think we haven't done anything yet. I think we're just getting started, and we're always going to have that mentality. And from my perspective, you know, I think to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to just be, you just have to have a will to win always. And you always got to be figuring out how you can be better, never accepting where you are.
Someone said, how'd you feel about last night? I said, because we did the draft yesterday, and by the way, the draft was hilarious. I mean, the guys just watching everyone just laughing for 45 minutes straight. But I'm like, here are all the things we still do better because you have to have that mentality. If you ever accept whatever you do is good enough, you're never going to be good enough.
So, and you also have to know you're going to take lots of L's in business. And that's, you know, that's part of growing a business. That's part of playing sports. That's part of business. Things never go the way you think they're going to go, you know, consistently.
You know, some things go the way you do, some things don't. You just got to keep pivoting. You got to keep innovating. You got to keep listening to your customers and keep being better in everything that you do. Fanatic Studios, what's that?
What are you trying to grow here?
So it's interesting. We were, you know, we really think about not getting a business unless we can do something that's significantly better for the fan. And also, it's a big opportunity for everybody around us. And If there's one theme that kept coming up, it's that in our three primary businesses, the FNAX Commerce and Fan Gear business where we started, the collectibles and trading card business, and the betting and gaming business, you know, we work with the best athletes of the world, the best sports properties, best teams in the world. And there's such a big opportunity for us to work with them to create content that's strategically important to them that could, you know, really be very strategic to the businesses that we're in.
So we started this business. And by the way, This game this weekend is put on by FNAX Studios. We've got a bunch of shows that we've launched with. And I think we'd like to be one of the more important sports content companies, but we want to make sure it's super strategic to everything that we're doing. Meaning you're obviously partners with leagues, you're partners with athletes, you're partners with everybody who.
probably considers their own world, their own app. Uh, I guess, accolades and the things that they're doing is their own content.
So, how do you find it? You know, I'll give you an example. Look, we work with 5,000 of the greatest athletes in the world, and we have so many partnerships that are incredibly important to us. And people want to make sure they tell their story in the right way. And we have a very long-term approach, so we don't need to go out and sell a show to somebody to make it.
I mean, even like this weekend, I mean, whatever it takes for us to do something great, whether it's Fanatics Festival, when we started it, you know, we're losing tens of millions of dollars, or this game that has a huge investment in it. You know, we're going to always do what's right for the long term in the business.
So, it gives us that ability to invest in these things, to get behind people, to tell stories in the way they want to tell stories, but also do it in a way that's good for fanatics in our ecosystem as well. And I think, you know, when you watched, you know, the F1 movie is an example, or Drive to Survive, you're like, you know, we as a company think about, well, we built that, how can we integrate? You know, we have a big F1 collectibles business, we have a big F1 merchandise business, the F1 betting and gaming business is growing.
So you just think about how. How can you integrate your businesses in a really smart way into the type of content that you build and do it on a long-term basis with the people that are most important to you? Are you going to make movies? Is that what you're saying? I mean, I think we're going to do it all.
I mean, I think we're going to do it all. Are movies the first thing I think about? No, but when there's a movie that makes sense, we'll absolutely do that. And we'll do. I mean, I think when you think about Media Tay, it could be from short-form things on YouTube to movies to every iteration in between to putting on events like the Fanatics Flag Football Classic.
And I think for us, we think. This is a great opportunity for us to bring tens of millions of fans together to watch this game this weekend. And we love that. We love bringing people together. That's the great thing about sports.
It unifies us, it brings us together. It's the only thing that's not divided in this world. If I told you. It's been twenty years ago then. That you're going to needle Robert Kraft to come to your event, that the commissioner of the NFL is coming to, because you've got all these NFL stars.
For a sport. that is as popular as it's ever been. And for an initiative that is important to the NFL, because it's your business and you're the one who's bringing it all together, you'd have said what?
Well, I would have looked none of this stuff faster me because I just feel like we haven't even begun. We've got to keep doing better in everything we do. You don't stop. We're lucky to have great partners. I mean, I just talked to Roger on the way over here.
He's excited about building flag and he's working tirelessly at the NFL to do that. Robert's, you know, such an NFL-first guy. And so, you know, I think for Robert, it's partially, you know, by the way, I get it.
Sometimes you wake up tired one morning, but then he's like, hey, I helped build this business. I'm so behind fanatics. Like, I want to come see how this comes together. And by the way, I'll be asking them, not what you like, what'd you not like? What could we do better?
How do we make this better? I remember going to the Pro Bowl this year in San Francisco and just saying, okay, we just take a note after note after note to say, how do we change our game and make it that much more interesting? You know, it just, again, you have to, I totally understand what you're saying, Michael, because you have to constantly be thinking about what the next thing is. And a perfect example of that is the man you spoke to on the way over here, my boss of the last 23 years, is only my boss for 12 more days until I'm fully, completely. with the network that's airing us right now.
as we're talking. Because the NFL network got bought by ESPN or sold or what have you. It's one big happy family. But it's just crazy. I can't believe it.
Like these things I never could have thought were possible. I mean, you thought I guess possible that it would ever happen. And the media world, the sports world, the content world is constantly changing. But that's the way the world works. And what I've learned is if you stay still, you get knocked out.
And so you've got to always be innovating. You've always got to be changed. You've got to always be listening to the fans, listening to competition. And if you're not, You won't stay on the spot for very long.
So I like these things. To me, when I watch Disney and ESPN getting together with NFL's media assets, I think about how they can produce a better product for the fan. And I think that's exactly what they're going to do. And I think it's going to be a better and stronger company when you put it together. And by the way, I love entrepreneurialism, always working to create new things.
Then, how do you build those things sometimes independently, sometimes as part of something bigger? Yeah, for sure. TJ Jefferson is an Arch Manning card that he's hoping becomes much more valuable. At the end of the day, I mean, do you want to strike a deal right now? We're always up.
Listen, you know, TJ, I'm very passionate about the collectibles business. There's not been a business we've had more fun building in the last five years than coming up with the idea to start the Trading Garden Collectibles business. And then in 2020 to where we are today. And here's the good news for you, TJ. Yes, sir.
We are just getting started in that business. I'll tell you a crazy stat. When we took over TOPS January 1st, 2022. 10 MLB players of the 780 collected cards. Today, more than 250 collect cards.
They're so into it. You know, getting the athletes involved in the trading card business, getting such product innovation that didn't exist. Like in baseball, as an example, a couple years ago, we came up with this idea when someone comes up into the majors for the first time to put a debut patch, a rookie patch on their jersey, comes off after the first game and goes in a one-on-one card. Could you imagine instead of that card, you had the Otani one-on-one card for when he played his first game? By the way, you'd be buying this, you'd be buying this company, and Roger would be working for you.
That's how valuable that card would be.
So, you know, the collectible space has, we're just getting started. We only have, you know, there's like 11, 1,200 hobby stores in the U.S. Outside of the U.S., there's less than 100. You know, we are marketing. Innovating the product, getting the athletes involved, and having so much fun doing it.
So, I think we are really in the early stages of the growth of that industry. He thinks the Arch card is you think it's going to buy you a boat, though. Oh, by the time Arch is done winning six Super Bowls and 18 MVPs and throwing for 100,000 yards. Yeah, I'm getting a boat. Any specifics on this card?
Is this like a one-on-one or is this like a base card? What do you think? It's an Arch Manning High School card that I buy about five years ago.
Okay, and it's a Door Newman card. Is that what you're saying? All right. Well, listen, I'm bullish for you. I'm excited for you.
I'm excited to see what you can buy with it. I'm going to stick with some of my, right now, some of my Brady cards. One of the things I love doing is collecting people that I have good relationships with because it makes you more invested in their future. You know, the one thing last night when Tom was giving Jaden a hard time, I realized I was with Josh Harris when he spent, or the two of us kind of bought together a card for a half a million dollars. Right.
We had this at Fnatics Fest. Actually, Josh went up and bought it. I encouraged Josh to do it.
So I got to say, I love being invested in the futures of the different players.
So I collect certain things of people that I really like. It's been fun to see some of the owners get involved in this. Sure. And, you know, I'm glad that you're incredibly passionate, TJ, about this garden. We're going to know your entire future is dependent on Arch Manning.
So you better ball out. He's also a Die Hard Sixer fan. Yeah. You know, I'll tell you one thing. I had a great experience being involved with the Sixers from 2011 until 2022.
You know, we never got it done. We were a perennial second-round exiter of the playoffs. That's a failure on our part. Talk about not succeeding. If you don't win a championship, you're not doing your job.
And You know, these guys, you know, look, I'm always sixers are always in my blood, but that is a tough job to own a sports franchise and try to win every year. And if you don't win, you haven't done your job. Mm-hmm. Dude, thanks for coming. I always appreciate you coming here and inviting us to Fnatics Fest.
Well, listen, I think, look, I've got to tell you, next year for Fnatics Fest, we've made it the same weekend as the World Cup final, July 16th through the 19th. I went through the schedule. A couple weeks ago, and you've been to both. And I think the first one was great. The second one was a huge step up from it.
You could tell, yeah. I went through the schedule, my mind was blown, and nothing blows my head out. How many incredible People, there's so many things that people don't know about. But I think the most important event that's going to come is the rematch between you and Adam Schefter. I agree.
I just want to say, I heard the betting lines have you as an underdog as well, so you better start working out. Oh, wow. Get it together. Sir, I do know. Because if I see Schefter whip you again, we may revoke your.
That could be an Espin Axe Fest. Oh, we can't have that. Oh, whoa. I'll never get that white party invite. We like winners, so I need totally understand that.
I'm running it at St. Jude in two weeks for my charity, so I'm going to be already having run it. And I'll be expecting it this time. By the way, amazing what you do with that. We're always honored to help with that remote.
You are so generous every time, Michael. It's incredible what you do with that. I appreciate that. But I want to make sure you're not getting older and slower. I mean, I gave Robert that pump-up speech yesterday.
Hey, you should, you know, you're going to be 85 soon. Like, I want to make sure you're still working 18 hours a day. Called me the night before. Listen, I want to see a faster score. You need to be defying age.
I don't want to hear about this father time BS. I want to hear about you killing it out there. I look forward to giving you the result that you are hyping. And you're right. Let's go, baby.
Don't overhype it. Adam Schefter and I are going to totally blow. And number one event at Fnatics Fest, July 16th and 19th. That's going to be Schefter Eisen rematch. I will do it.
I can't wait for it. I'm always appreciative of you and your support. And certainly, Fanatic Studios presents Fanatics' inaugural flag football classic this Saturday, right here in Los Angeles, California. You can watch it on Fox Sports, Fox One, and Tubi from 4 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
For those who are watching us. And listening to us internationally, we know you're out there. You can check it out on the Fanatics YouTube channel, Ticketmaster, if you're in the area to go see it with your own two eyeballs.
So, before we leave, you gotta tell me who's winning? Yeah. Tom and Jalen? Yeah. Jaden?
I don't know. I don't want to hear the rest of you. Team USA. No, everyone in this place, we're writing it down. We're going to see how you guys do.
Who do you guys? I will never. Ever. Say Tom Brady can't do it.
Okay, so you got Brady in jaillisted. I 100%. All right, guys, rest of the room. What do we got? Yeah, absolutely, Tom Brady.
Well, he's a New England fan over there. What do you got? Brady, TJ?
Well, we did a mock draft before you came out, and I drafted Brady and Gronk.
So, yeah, I'm going with that score. I mean, that works. By the way, I went full Eagles. I went Hurts, Saquon, and Smith. And that's where you messed up.
So, funny thing, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to leave here. I'm actually going to my first products. I'm going to tell Brady, yo, I was just on Rich Isa's show. Everyone thinks you're going to get your ass kicked.
And then we'll wind up being right. Yeah. Because he's going to kick everyone's ass. Right. We got to keep him highly motivated.
Nothing can come too easy. Hey, man. Congrats on pulling this off, putting it together. And I wish you the best of luck. Thanks so much.
That's Michael Rubin right here. Thank you. Michael Rubin right here. Follow him on Instagram at Michael Rubin on The Rich Isaiah Show. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast.
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That's LinkedIn.com/slash Eizen. Terms and conditions apply. You got the updates on scores over there, Christopher? What do you got over there? Sure, let's do it.
Looking at the NCAA tournament, men's side kicking off here. Let's see. Did Ohio State lose? Yeah. Yeah, they did.
Hold on. No, they haven't lost. I didn't have it. Team's still on, right? As a matter of fact, they are back in it.
It's 49. No, I didn't have it right there. I'm sorry. Under nine minutes to go, TCU 49, Ohio State 47. By the way, Ohio State outscored him in the second half.
25 to 10. They climbed back in it. Sure helped. Nebraska putting it on Troy at halftime, 41-25, the fourth seed there. Nebraska handling their biz.
And under 10 minutes to go, first half, Louisville, 17, South Florida, 11. And it's also Wisconsin 5, high point 3, which could be the high point of the game. High Point University is in N High Point, North Carolina. Do you know that? I Wisconsin doesn't score a lot, do they?
Yeah, they do. They throw in a ton of threes on Michigan. A little too much for my liking. Jason in Tampa, Florida. Let's sneak in his call in the minute we have left here on our radio outlets.
What's going on, Jason? Hey, man, how's it going? Great day, right? First day of the tournament. Hey, are you watching your Buckeyes coming back right now?
What do you got? You see this? Yeah. Yes, sir. So it was something I wanted to get your opinion on is because this team's kind of intrigued me this season.
So Yeah, you look at the slow start they had, they dropped, I think, what, four of the first games first few games out of the gate. And then the rest of the way, they go on this run, and they look like the Florida of last year. And to include, I mean, they beat SEC Champion Arkansas just three weeks ago 111 points on them, 34-point win. Right. But then you look at.
So now you've got all this talk around them just last week about them being a team to beat. for all intents and purposes next to Duke. And then It's like the life just gets sucked out of them after that Vanderbilt. Listen, Jason, you are in survive in advance mode. Are you a dad, Jason, or you're single?
What are you? Are you a father? No, no, I don't have any kids.
Well, let me just tell you. Three kids. Chris will tell you: if you have any kid on the weekend, just get through hour to hour, day by day, survive in advance, man. And thanks for the call, Jason at Tampa. Right to bedtime.
If he was a father, he would have totally understood my analogy for sure. Hour three, Mike Florio, coming up. Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
