Fanatics comes for card shows 🏷️

Today’s edition is brought to you by Cardboard Market — use one search to find cards across eBay, COMC, PWCC, MySlabs, and more!

Rise and shine, card enthusiasts! This is Penny Sleeve, we make every day feel like payday.

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• Fanatics comes for card shows 🏷️

• Ohtani’s interpreter is one of us 🤝

• Auctions ending soon 🔎

• People to follow in the hobby 👥

• Meme of the day 🃏

FANATICS COMES FOR CARD SHOWS 🏷️

Fanatics has officially announced its first major sports collecting event — Fanatics Fest NYC. The event is taking place from August 16-18 at the Javitz Center in New York City, with a whopping 400,000 square feet of floor space. The National in Chicago last year was 600,000 square feet with nearly 100,000 attendees, so based on floor size alone, this event is gearing up to be a big one. Interestingly, Fanatics Fest NYC is taking place only two weeks after the National and the same weekend as the East Coast National.

Attendees can expect an all-day trading pit, “Collecting 101“ sessions for beginners, and a museum showcasing some of the rarest cards and sports memorabilia. The guest list is star-studded, with athletes like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Kevin Durant expected to attend and potentially sign autographs. Ticket prices range from $20 to $400, with a general admission adult ticket costing $50 per day.

We can probably expect to see more events like this popping up in major cities across the US, and probably the world. Fanatics recently held WWE World at WrestleMania, their first official event, which became the highest-grossing and most-attended fan event in WWE history.

My take: Fanatics is entering the card show world guns blazin’. Lance Festerman, the CEO of Fanatics Events, previously organized events like New York Comic Con and the New York Anime Festival. He has the expertise and sophistication that’s been somewhat lagging in the hobby. In fact, Michael Rubin was convinced by Josh Luber and Gary Vee to take over the sports card market for that very reason — it was an old boy club that hadn’t evolved for decades. Fanatics will likely invest more money into events than any other card show host. Both these mega-shows and mom-and-pop shows have their place in the hobby, but I expect Fanatics Events to become the key player in this space over the next several years.

OHTANI’S INTERPRETER IS ONE OF US 🤝

Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime interpreter for MLB star Shohei Ohtani, is facing bank fraud charges after funneling more than $16 million from Ohtani’s personal accounts. He spent the vast majority of that amount placing nearly 19,000 bets, more than 25 a day, and losing more than $40 million.

But here’s the kicker — he also spent more than $325k buying roughly a thousand sports cards. Between January and March 2024, he bought cards on eBay and Whatnot under the alias “Jay Min“, with cards getting delivered directly to the Dodgers clubhouse. The cards featured players like Juan Soto, Yogi Berra, and even Ohtani himself. Mizuhara reportedly planned to sell these cards at a later date.

I didn’t expect cards to get looped into this already crazy saga, but it’s funny to see them represented as a vehicle for money laundering. Ohtani denies any knowledge of these events, both the gambling and the card purchases.

AUCTIONS ENDING SOON 🔎

• Goldin Pop Culture Elite Auction: ends April 13

• Mile High Card Company Spring Auction: ends April 13

• SCP Auctions Spring Premier Auction: ends April 13

• Steve Novella: ends April 15-16

PEOPLE TO FOLLOW IN THE HOBBY 👥

• Pancake Analytics: Sports cards analytics content

• Fat Daddy’s Sports: Vintage sports card addict

• Diamond Jesters: Musings on baseball cards

MEME OF THE DAY 🃏