NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 21: The Museum of Greatness during Fanatics Fest NYC 2025 at Javits Center on June 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Fanatics)
The temporarily erected 10,500 square-foot museum was guarded 24/7 throughout the weekend by over 25 armed security guards, 360-degree cameras, and undercover police officers.
Anything less would have been inadequate, considering the $200 million worth of sports memorabilia the Museum of Greatness at Fanatics Fest housed: Tom Brady’s Super Bowl jerseys; Shohei Ohtani’s All-Star Game uniform; LeBron James’ first Superfractor card. And those are just scratching the surface.
You simply had to see it.
The Museum of Greatness was one of several experiences at Fanatics Fest, held over the weekend at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. It was unprecedented. Many of its contents had never before been displayed publicly. Some came from players’ personal collections. Thirty individual collectors contributed items. The memorabilia on display was categorized into modules, including Rising Stars, GOATs, Women in Sports, Barrier Breakers, and Entertainment.
Curating the museum checked off two boxes for Fanatics: building relationships with collectors and providing an experience for all sports fans. As Fanatics’ vice president and head of collector relations, Nick Connolly, told reporters on Friday morning before the museum opened to ticket holders, “We have something for everyone.”
That sentiment, Connolly continued, is what Fanatics Fest is all about.
“No matter where you are in your collecting journey, or where you are as a fan, you can come here and see items that you’ve either recognized or heard about,” he said. “I think it’s just a very special experience.”
Fanatics set out to fill the museum with one word in mind: “Iconic.”
The company was proactive in sourcing items for the museum. They reached out to collectors, who were eager to display their pieces. They received more messages from collectors offering to display their items once the word about the experience came out, Connolly said.
“That’s the piece that really is bringing the collecting community together of people wanting to showcase this for the world,” he said. “I think that’s a really special thing of what the museum brings.”
Bringing millions of dollars worth of sports memorabilia to New York City for a weekend is logistically challenging. Connolly, speaking in front of Brady’s Super Bowl jerseys, said there was a “close call” involving them — The Athletic reported that Brady had forgotten where his jerseys were, but Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin sent a plane to get them. Connolly said that the team worked late the night before to put everything together.
And yet, Fanatics believes they can take the Museum of Greatness further in years to come. They see it getting bigger. They want to incorporate more sports. They have licenses with UFC and the WWE.
But the work they put in for this year’s iteration of the exhibit was all worth it, as the stream of attendees spilled into the museum as the first day of Fanatics Fest opened.
“If you look behind you, you see the hundreds, hopefully thousands, hopefully tens of thousands of people that will come through this,” Connolly said. “We do it all for them. And I’m very excited that we’re able to showcase all this.”
The goal of an exhibit like this is to get more fans into collecting cards and memorabilia. Seeing a rare Ohtani card on display, for example, could take a young fan deeper into the world of collecting.
“If a kid gets to walk away and say, ‘I want to collect a Shohei Ohtani card.’ Or a father or grandfather who’s here with their grandson says, ‘I haven’t seen that Hank Aaron card in so long, or the Honus Wagner. Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen one before,’” Connolly said. “We want to be the place where people have these types of special memories.”
Some of the museum’s other notable contents included:
- Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam ball from Game 1 of the 2024 World Series
- More than 50 Topps one-of-one Rookie Debut Patch Autograph cards
- Michael Jordan 1997 Fleer Precious Metal Gems Green card and 1998 Fleer Metal Gem Masters one-of-one
- LeBron James 2003 Ultimate Rookie Logoman card
- More than 30 of the top Tom Brady cards in existence
For more on Fanatics Fest, visit AMNY.com
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