Back, uh, uh, back again, three years ago, back when, when you were developing the c- first Comic Con for sports, what were some elements from Comic Con that you brought over that didn't work in the s- in the sports business?

You know, it's actually interesting.

So i- i- in Comic Con, you can get, uh, celebrities, whatever that means, right? To different people, that means different things.

And, uh, they'll come, and they'll sign photos and autographs, and you give them a guarantee, and they'll come and they'll do it, right? Um, in the world of sport, it was a little bit different.

Like, it took some convincing to get that experience.

But then beyond that, w- in the world of Comic Con, we're very big on panel culture, right? So you bring these celebrities together, and they go on stage, and they talk about making that film, making that TV show, and fans loved it.

So once we convinced athletes, "Great, sign, do photos," right, that wasn't too tough.

If it doesn't, we won't."

Yeah.

We also try to do a decent amount of WWE on Sunday because, like, we wanted to have a look counterbalance to the FIFA stuff, and that's a great time for, for WWE fans and WWE, you know, superstars to come in.

Um, they are...

I, I think they're equal with Star Wars fans 'cause, you know, I used to run big Star Wars shows.

They are right on par in terms of the most passionate, um, fans that I've ever, ever encountered, by far.

Um, the, the Dan Hausen of it all is gonna be awesome.

Like, we've got a couple of pretty big surprises that I think are on topic and on, uh, brand for Dan Hausen that are gonna be pretty fun that you'll see.

Um, I- anything else you wanna leave with that? I, I, I'm really excited.

How would you describe Fanatics?

No, no, 100%.

I mean, when we had this idea, it hadn't been done before, right? This was a f- pretty original concept.

Um, and when we were w- walking around in early 2024 talking to all the leagues, 'cause those were our first stops, was to go to every sports league and say, "Hey, we're building a platform." And the story was it was Comic-Con for sports.

That was the simplest, short version.

But more broadly, we looked at major tentpole sort of cultural happenings, and it was Coachella, South by Southwest, CES, Comic-Con, right? Why isn't there that unifying platform in sports that brings collectors and athletes and teams and leagues and brands all together? Uh, and that's what we set out to build, and in 2024, skin of our teeth, we got it done.

Uh, but we realized, like, w- w- it was one of the guys on my team, we walked out of the door Sunday night that first year, and he looked at me and he goes, "We just changed the game." And like I tend to be a little bit more like, "Okay, I got a list of things we gotta fix.

... perfect.

So, like, how did the ESPN relationship develop and, like, where do you see it going?

Yeah.

We've always had a really great relationship with ESPN, uh, F- Fanatics at large, and then Fest specifically.

Um, or even the other event that we run called WWE World.

In the past, we've had McAfee come, and he's taped there live.

So, like, we've always done really cool work with ESPN, um, when the logistics have been able to work and scheduling's been able to work, and we've been able to really nail it this year.

Them bringing ESPYs to the lead-up to Fest was just such a bold kind of visionary move on their part to say, like, "We see the energy building around this, this event.

So with all this star power, you know, and not just WWE, you know, the likes of LeBron and Kevin Hart, like, which of these talents actually gets the most love from fans on the ground? So who's gonna be the big draw?

these are going to be jam-packed.

It's gonna be insane, actually.

[laughs] So we expanded to four days, so we added Thursday, and then we bumped the show from June to July to co-locate with the World Cup.

And I think originally we were like, "Man, adding a fourth day, like, how's this gonna look?" Thursday's gonna be insane.

Like, just trust me, we're not quite ready to announce some of the things that are gonna happen in the building on Thursday, but it's gonna be absolutely insane.

Uh, the lineup, and we've announced 40% of it, it's very robust.

Uh, then Sunday will be filled with an amazing array of World Cup-related activities.

Yep.

that come on an application, or am I doing that myself? How does that work? Good comment.

That's what Jesse's for.

The football, I feel like, is the most underappreciated.

I'm not sure if it could go ballistic, but I do feel like you can find some really good stuff.

I was in San Antonio last week, and there's a good card shop down there.

They've been around forever, and they've always got some good old cards there.

kind of floating around in the corner.

that called? Is it extra something? There was like