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Fanatics Fest isn’t simply returning for its third yr in New York Metropolis with an additional day added to its festivities. It’s bringing again the Fanatics Video games with an excellent larger prize pool.
Throughout final yr’s sports activities fan pageant on the Javits Heart in Manhattan, Fanatics Fest launched the Fanatics Video games, bringing collectively among the world’s prime athletes and on a regular basis followers for a head-to-head competitors with an opportunity to win a $1 million grand prize and different prizes like an unique automobile and a uncommon buying and selling card price six figures.
“What made Fanatics Video games particular in yr one was seeing followers and world-class athletes compete facet by facet below the identical guidelines and feed off one another’s vitality,” Lance Fensterman, CEO of Fanatics Occasions, mentioned in a press launch.
“In 2026, we’re increasing that competitors and giving extra followers throughout the nation a direct path to earn their spot. The stakes are larger, the format is sharper and the video games are solely getting higher.”
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The Fanatics Video games are returning for 2026 Fanatics Fest with a $2 million prize pool. (Fanatics / Fox Information)
The expanded format of the Fanatics Video games consists of new nationwide qualifying alternatives for followers who want to take part by means of an unique partnership with Dick’s Sporting Items.
The in-person qualifier possibility will likely be by means of visits at choose Dick’s Home of Sport places throughout the nation, together with Knoxville, Tennessee (Could 9); Kennesaw, Georgia (Could 30); Houston, Texas (June 13); and Boston (June 28). Followers can have an opportunity to compete in sport-specific challenges tied on to how the 2026 Fanatics Video games format will work on the pageant from July 16-19.
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The highest three performers at every occasion will earn a visit to New York to compete on the Javits Heart alongside confirmed athletes like NFL legend Rob Gronkowski, NBA guard James Harden and WWE superstars Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan, with extra athletes anticipated to be confirmed within the coming months.
(L-R) Dana White, Kevin Hart, Michael Rubin, Matt Dennish, Justin Gaethje and Tom Brady converse onstage throughout Fanatics Fest NYC 2025 at Javits Heart June 22, 2025, in New York Metropolis. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Photos for Fanatics / Getty Photos)
And followers who want to take part and might’t make the in-person qualifiers will nonetheless be capable to ship in a video software like final yr, showcasing their expertise and sharing why they really feel they should compete.
However maybe the most important draw for the Fanatics Video games is a rematch between reigning champion and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady and fan champion Matt Dennis, a Philadelphia trainer who wowed the Fanatics Fest crowd final yr within the inaugural video games. Dennis completed in third place, whereas UFC fighter Justin Gaethje completed second behind Brady.
Fanatics Video games will carry collectively 50 on a regular basis followers and a complete group of fifty athletes, celebrities and creators as soon as extra, and so they plan on making the competitors larger, sooner and extra aggressive than it was in 2025.
Michael Rubin and Matt Dennish converse onstage throughout Fanatics Fest NYC 2025 at Javits Heart June 22, 2025, in New York Metropolis. (Rob Kim/Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
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Fanatics Fest continues to develop because the world’s prime sports activities fan pageant, drawing greater than 125,000 followers final yr to the Huge Apple. With even larger star-studded panels, dwell programming, autograph classes and meet-and-greats, Fanatics expects to interrupt that whole as soon as extra because it continues to provide followers alternatives of a lifetime.
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