Thoughts and pictures from FanaticsFest NYC

Last Saturday my brother and I went to the Javits Center in Manhattan for the FanaticsFest. This is a new concept that mixes a card show with a sports fan festival. Many of the sports leagues were there with displays, although disappointingly for me there was no auto racing representation at all. 

Overall, I liked it for the most part but there were a couple things that I did not care for at all. 

Getting the tickets was a mess- you had to go in the main door, then go back out the main door and walk the length of the building outside to get the tickets in an area that they have blocked off from any other entrance. My brother did this for me, because I could not have done that walking on my own; I'm still not recovered physically from the National. 

The other big problem for me was the noise. It was so loud I just kind of wanted to escape, it was like a jackhammer in my head. I actually considered leaving early without seeing everything because of it, but I figured that no, these tickets were expensive, I'm seeing everything, so I fought it out and saw it all. I am considering wearing my sound-cancelling headphones next year, it was so bad. I also had to yell to speak with any of the dealers, so much so that I actually had a sore throat for the next two days after it. 

Other than those problems, it was actually very good. The displays from the sports were a lot of fun, there were more card dealers than I thought there would be based on the layout I saw online, and I was able to add some really cool stuff to my collection. 

They have since announced that it WILL be an annual event, and I do plan to go back. I know I can't get to the National in Chicago so I will be able to get to one big card show at least. The fact that I live close enough to drive down that morning helps, too. no costs in hotels and travel is good because for the two of us to get in was more than $120, and even though my brother was mostly just waiting while I went through cards, I cannot do it without his help.

With the National and this so close together I am struggling physically right now, hoping I am recovered enough to do my favorite car show in three weeks; just going up and down to my basement to work on models yesterday was too much right now. 

The cards for sale trended more towards high end modern stuff. There was some vintage but it wasn't overwhelmingly dominant as it was at the National. It also tended to be on the higher end price wise, although that may be because I heard tables cost $3000 at FanaticsFest vs. $1200 at the National. (I don't know if that's correct, but I heard conversations at the show). Late 90s to late 00s were genuinely scarce at both big shows I attended. At the National it was roughly 75% vintage, 22% post-Covid modern and 3% everything else. At FanaticsFest it was roughly 90% post-Covid modern, 6% vintage and 4% everything else. 

Basketball actually seemed the most well represented at FanaticsFest which I believe is the first time I've ever seen that, after having attended my first card show in 1993. A far cry from the show I attended in 2004 that had literally zero basketball. Baseball and Football came next, followed by hockey and wrestling. All but two of the NASCAR cards I saw came home with me, and I already had the other two.

One thing I thought was really good about FanaticsFest is the diversity of the audience. There was a LOT more Black, Asian, women and young collectors than I am used to seeing. I don't know if that is because it was held in NY or it means that more people are feeling welcome in the hobby, or a combination of both. I'm happy about it regardless of the cause, more people in the hobby the better and those are HUGE portions of the population that were previously missing. I'm also used to being one of the youngest people at card shows, even though I'm pushing 40. That wasn't the case at FanaticsFest and from the snippets of conversation I heard, the vast majority of them are into the hobby because they enjoy it...between both shows I only heard one conversation about flipping. 

Now, some photos.

 The Javits Center is such a cool building. 

Lego Javits Center was very cool

Brooklyn Nets had a display but they were the only team that did in the sports I follow

NBA had a large display

Line was too long for me to stand on so I zoomed in on the in season tournament trophy

The Juventus soccer team from Europe had a display and their mascot!

The NFL brought out all the Super Bowl rings

and the trophies

MLS display

Soccer trophies

New York Red Bulls mascot

At the Mitchell & Ness display

At the Lids display

At the Artist Alley, RayGunn jumping over Ty Lue 😄

SI was there with memorabilia

I believe that is Derek Jeter doing an interview

UFC had a display

But now we get to the NHL display, which was my favorite of the sports displays. Because it wasn't just the NHL...it was also the Hockey Hall of Fame, which brought memorabilia from the three local teams! 

Unfortunately my Islanders overview photo is blurry, but I photographed all the memorabilia and the labels on them individually, which can be found in the photo album at the end. 

The NHL also had all the jersey designs on display. I took a detail photo of each one of them too.

The Topps booth was REALLY cool! The building was chrome- that's my reflection in the building!- and there were holograms of cards floating above the building. Although the NHL had my favorite booth from all the sports, the Topps booth was my favorite overall. 

WWE was there and selling belts with all the major sports teams logos

Major League Baseball's display

WWE's display. I posted both photos of Asuka's stuff because I know there are several bloggers who are fans of hers.

These were all in the Fanatics booth.

I'm somewhat dubious of their timeline of cards

Now we look at some cards in display cases that I either wanted to bring home and couldn't afford, or were interesting in sports I don't collect.

I sincerely doubt Mickey Mantle said that

The Hawkeye photo system is going to be revolutionary. I tested it with a card I bought, and it's so much better than the scans of mirror foil and Finest cards. I will absolutely be buying one when they are available...so much so that I'm not sure I want to scan any more cards that have foil on them until I get one! 

I really want to get Upper Deck this year, but it's being price gouged so much I probably never will. D&A actually raised their prices, it was $250 at the National. 

I opened every single one of these boxes when they were new and not being price gouged, 

I wanted one of those jackets but they don't make them big enough for me.

This was just part of the line for the autographs...the tail end of it. That section was PACKED, which surprises me considering how expensive they were. The ones I was interested in started at $200. I didn't do that. 

There is definitely room to expand, just on the main floor they used. The Javits Center has two other floors so there actually is a LOT of room to expand. 

On the way home we were stuck in HEAVY traffic, but some of the billboards were showing Olympic stuff which I enjoyed. Since the cars were not moving I was able to take nice, clear photos too.

It was rainy and hazy on the ride home and let me get this cool photo of the George Washington Bridge, too.

I was able to photograph all the cards I got, which can be seen in the album, but one card in particular stands out to me. 

Just a couple of days before the show, I commented in a Facebook group that Cale Yarborough was my most wanted autograph. He is the only driver in NASCAR's all time Top 10 winlist I did not have, but I hoped to pull his autograph myself. Since he will not be signing anymore as he died on December 31st of last year, I knew I would buy one. It turned out to be the second card I added from the show, after Mario. And I paid less than the asking price, as the dealer cut off a few bucks off my stack. 

Although I think the Gritty Portrait may be my favorite addition of the day! 

I took more than 500 photos, all of which are on my website HERE. Thanks for reading!