CHICAGO — Lance Fensterman is CEO of Fanatics Events, a new venture from Fanatics Inc. that will focus on the growing community of sports fans in the live events industry.
Fanatics Events will serve all aspects of sports, collecting, entertainment, fashion and lifestyle, starting with the sports collectibles and memorabilia communities.
“We want to grow the sports card and memorabilia collecting community,” Fensterman said. “It’s a relatively closed community that’s hard to reach and understand. We want to improve the overall collector experience at shows, and then attract more casual sports fans and wow them with incredible content. If we can do that, we think we can create a dynamic series of incredibly impactful and powerful events around the world.”
An industry veteran of more than 25 years, Fensterman most recently spent the last 17 years creating and growing ReedPop, a subsidiary of RX that focused on pop culture events. He served as president of ReedPop since 2009 before joining Fanatics Events.
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“The world of sports card shows is eerily similar to what comic book shows looked like in 2007 when I started ReedPop: essentially one-off show organizers, minimal thought or resources put into the experience, very difficult for a newbie or outsider to get into or find value in,” Fensterman said. “So in that sense, the strategy is clear: build around a passionate community, improve the game in terms of experience, and bring new and exciting content to attract new fans around the world. More broadly, sports and athletes are woven into the very fabric of popular culture.”
Fensterman understands and has experience with passionate fan communities and sees an opportunity to create a culture of constant innovation and fun for the collecting community. Knowing that some shows and events work well for this community, Fanatics Events does not want to disrupt these existing shows but rather enrich and work around them.
“We’re a small team with big ambitions right now,” Fensterman said. “That involves a lot of listening and learning, both within and outside the company. But even more important is immersing ourselves in the sports card collecting community, leagues, and even players to understand what they want and need in a live event platform. From there, we start to craft the best ideas into a cohesive vision and plan.”
Contact Lance Fensterman at lfensterman@fanatics.com