Tom Brady, George Condo & Michael Rubin on Sports Cards, Art & Greatness - Fanatics Fest 2026

The Groto fall into a raising canes cream sauce. You get the chance to kind of listen to some of the great people that make this event move. And it is my pleasure to bring out some outstanding people that are dominating their sport or their field. Guys that are champions, guys that put this thing, the whole thing together. Guys that understand that when you collect pieces of art, they mean a lot more than a piece of cardboard. Anybody that collects cards understands that it's not just a piece of cardboard. It represents something to you emotionally. And that's what art is all about. When you look at something, you understand and appreciate art. And with that in this discussion and understanding this panel, it is my pleasure to introduce one of the great modern artists of our time. He has collaborated with Kanye West and created artwork for the 2010 album entitled My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Well known for book and album covers, known for his unique paintings and prints. Ladies and gentlemen, George Condo.

I mean, do I need to go through an introduction for our next guest? 'Cause I think we all know him. He's a seven-time Super Bowl champion. He won the Fanatics games last year. The number one player believes he's going to win this weekend as well. First player in NFL history to win a Super Bowl or NFL championship in three different decades. Ladies and gentlemen, the GOAT that is Tom Brady.

All right, listen. You know, Tom's got seven rings, but the guy who's got the current ring and is really the king of New York, the number one pick in the 2015 NBA draft, seven seasons after 20 and 10. Loves the card space like Tom and George. And he's an NBA champ, a current reigning NBA champ, Carl Anthony Towns.

The next guy doesn't need a ring 'cause every day he wakes up as a champion. And he's the reason why we're here. This came from his big beautiful mind. Year three of Fanatics Fest and it's only getting bigger and better. The founder and CEO of Fanatics, Michael Rubin.

So this is really cool because I mentioned it briefly about how artwork plays such a big role and how we see things visually, what it means and then the idea that you can blend it and connect to collecting small pieces of art, right? And George, your affiliation with this is so great in understanding, I think, for our audience that when they carry something, there's an emotional attachment to that piece of art. There's a memory, there's a connection that you have maybe to an athlete, to a specific game, to a specific moment. I want to go down the line and start with you, Michael. How does greatness show up for you? Whether it's day to day, whether it's what you're doing down the road, whether it's what you're planning down the road.

Tom, why don't you take it away? What does greatness mean to you considering also what you do on a daily life and experience? You're such a competitor. How do you measure greatness?

Well, first of all, thank you for having me up here and great to be with you guys. Everyone here at Fanatics Fest who's showing out. This whole event is for you guys to have all these athletes come out, all these incredible games, food places to go for kids, for everybody, for all the teams. We all look forward to being here because it's not often that we get to be up here this close with you guys. So I hope you get the ability to see us. We would sit out in that crowd at one point. If Fanatics Fest was going on when I was a lot of you teenagers your age, my ass would have been in those seats, too. So the fact that I get to be up here is really an honor. And a lot of the reason why I'm here is because I was very fortunate to find something that I love, the sport of football. And with myself and with all the teammates that I played with over a long period of time, we found a deep love for the game, a deep commitment to what we were doing and we wanted to win for each other. So much about what I think greatness is and I was able to be around so many great players is they truly and businessmen and entrepreneurs and artists and what they do is you're always redefining yourself. You're always finding new ways to be a little bit better. We all started sitting in this crowd. I was 13. I was 14. I was 15. I was not some crazy prodigy athlete at 15. I had to improve. I had to improve my skill set. I had to be a better son. I had to be a better athlete. I had to be better in school. I went to college. I tried to be a little bit better. We won our first Super Bowl in 2001. I was not a finished product. I still have a long way to go. And I try to continue to adapt my game to learn from other people, realizing that the competition is always coming for you. There's competition every day in life. That's the beautiful part about life. If you find something you love to do and you're committed to it, that's amazing. But there's a lot of other people who are committed to it, too. So a lot of times you got to go above and beyond what other people aren't willing to do if you want to be great. If you want to be good, you can do what everyone else does. If you want to be great, you better work a little harder. You better be a little more disciplined. You better be a little more committed to your goals. And all of your actions and your priorities should reflect those goals. And George has done that. He continues to redefine himself. The guy on my far right, Michael. There's very few people in my life that I've ever met that continue to wake up every day. And Fanatics has done amazing things since the day it got started. But where it's at and where it's going is the only place that Michael thinks about. He's continuing to think about how do we make this experience better for the fans, the teams, the leagues, the spectators every single day. And Cat just won his first ring, but I already know he's thinking about the next part and it's going to be a lot harder for him. He doesn't know this yet, but to get number two is a lot harder than getting number one. But guess what? To get number two is even more gratifying than getting number one. And that's what it's all about.

No pressure, Dad. Oh, what you got in front of you? I mean, the idea of getting to that mountain for the first time, what was that like for you? That experience that again seven years in a league, figuring it out, finding your way, and then coming to New York and then changing everything in your career.

I mean, it was the highest time I've ever had to be able to play in front of these fans, be able to have their love and support. Most importantly, the respect and stepping on that court and finding a way to get that championship is something that can't be explained. But just like he says, the feeling was short-lived. I know the fans keep coming up to me and telling me, 'Congrats, champ,' and keep saying the word champ and everything, but in my mind, I'm only thinking about the next one. So that's all that's been on my mind. That's all I think about. Even when I saw Tom earlier in this month, I told him, I asked him right away, how do you get that next one? That's all I could ask about was the next one. How do I get that next one? You know, we had that moment after the game. We celebrated the trophy, the champagne. It was awesome. But even for me, the work was not done. As soon as we landed back in New York, the next day I was back in the gym. I was already working out, getting ready for the next season because that's the most important thing now in my mind.

Well said. And the first three guys are artists in their own right, whether it's on the football field, the basketball field or I should say, sorry, or in the business world. George, for you, you're a true artist and everything is a blank canvas. What does that mean to you? The greatness of art and pursuing that on a daily basis.

Thank you. Thanks, Michael, for having this whole thing going on. Pat, all the fans out there, greatness for me, it's about longevity, which you guys were just talking about. It's about influence. It's about influencing kids to get up and work hard to do what they got to do to make it. It's about how to be influential in the future to get inspirational and future artists to realize you work every day really hard at what you do. You build your craft, you make it a lot. The idea of art is that it stays alive. When you're done editing, it's just got to vibrate. It's got to be like live on the wall. And that's the greatness. If your work is not alive and kicking, then it's not that exciting. These guys are alive and kicking when they get out there and they know how to do it. It's inspirational to me. I look at that kind of energy. I look at that kind of determination. And I think that's what it is. This determination is about longevity. It's about legacy. It's about keeping the stuff alive for future generations.

Well said, too. We talk about the idea of longevity. Tom understands that. And you got to reinvent yourself too along the way, right? In that process. This worked here. This doesn't work here. I'm going to reinvent myself. Candy did that as well, especially during this playoff run, right? Michael, you do that on a daily basis for you, George, as an artist, reinventing yourself each and every day. How do you appreciate that? The idea that where you were to where you are right now in that process?

Tom, the appreciation of art for you, especially when we look at what I love about both you guys being a part of this panel is your love for trading cards and Carnival Bodega. Shout out to both of them. You guys going into it all in and understanding the passion that many people in this crowd have and that connection to holding something that goes much farther than people on the outside realize, right? What does that art connect mean to you when you think about trading cards, Tom?

I had one of the coolest experiences of my life today. I was a card collector since I was 8 years old. There was a hobby shop in San Mo and San Francisco Bay area where I grew up called What's on Second. And whenever I had my paper out and I made $2.50 for the month, I would take my money and I'd go down to What's on Second and I would buy packs of cards. So by the time I was 8 years old, now I'm 48. I've been collecting ever since. And today I walk behind one of the rooms back here and my favorite baseball player growing up and the guy that I collected more than anybody else was Don Mattingly. And I had a chance to see Don Mattingly and that brings up so much nostalgic memories for me as a kid because that's where I fell in love with sports. I love sports. But one way that I connected with all these athletes that I love, the teams I love, the leagues that I love was through trading cards. And now to be involved in a hobby and to see how Fanatics continues to transform the industry. Talk about innovation. You know, bringing someone like George and his creativity into the mix and how he can reinvision trading cards through this incredible artistic mind that he has is something that nobody outside of Michael would think about. And it's all about creating something that's unique, something that's new, something that's been innovative. And I'm just so thrilled to be part of it. A lot of these young kids out there, you're going to collect cards. Well, you're going to get some of these cards, too, in these packs. And it's going to open your eyes up to the art world, which I didn't even experience till I was in my 40s. So you're getting to learn at a younger age because his genius, Michael's genius, sports, how we all collaborate, work together to bring something really special for the fans to me is the coolest thing about it.

I'm going to tell you something right now. There are certain cards that I love and there are certain cards I don't give a about. There's things like I can't wait to chase the debut patches. Okay, when Messi plays his last game in the World Cup on Sunday, he's going to have a legacy patch on his jersey that'll go on a one-on-one card. My god, will that be an incredible card. I got to tell you, his 19 cards.

They're crazy. And I mean, what did you think when you saw the card?

I was stunned. I never in my trading card career and just being a fan, I would have never thought we would have one of the greatest artists in our generation, if not the greatest, actually take time out of his day to make art trading cards. And like you said, it's true. It would only come from the bad mind of Michael that we would think of this and be at this position. So I've been blessed to have the insight to actually have seen the cards. And I'm going to tell you right now, I'm personally going to be chasing every single one of them. So I'm really excited.

I'm just saying on the next studio.

And by the way, for the product, it's going to be coming eventually in the fall. Only 19 cards. They're one of one not reproduced because when you look at the cards, they are small art pieces. You can see the paintbrush drying on these cards. It's gorgeous. And with that, it sets up perfectly. Let's roll the video. Let the audience get a chance to see some of these pieces of artwork. These masterpieces, George, keep in mind you've ever seen.

I'm George Condo. I am a painter from New York City. I was a complete maniac collecting baseball cards. All these kids are just crazy about sports. They collect cards, but how many of them are aware of the world of collecting art? I thought within certain packs of the Topps cards will have literally real drawings. We're making a statement with these cards that these cultures are both intertwined. It's unscripted. It's completely natural enough for artists. The facial expressions and the sort of body language of them is so painterly. It's organized aggression and requires that kind of aggression. For me, it's really thrilling. It was extremely challenging painting that miniature, the ones where I had a jeweler's lens to be able to get into the detail. They used to stare at my cards and look at the picture and imagine the player. They don't just copy the players. They're capturing the spirit of my painting and capturing the spirit of the player themselves. We're getting a psychological viewpoint from the painter to the sports player. Creating a culture collection for the idea of introducing kids in the stadium to art and to integrate the idea of art and sports together. The legacy of these cards will be long to not only the sports culture but to the arts culture.

Amazing. Again, 19 cards and I got two of them in my hand right now.

Goosebumps. And let's unveil them to Tom and Cat.

This is a reveal. I was not expecting this.

Can you do this for the audience, too, boys? Right there. Can you show them so everybody can see what they look like?

There we go.

George, these are literally masterpieces, one of ones. And on the back, you got stats on them and your autograph. When you thought about designing these for Tom and Cat, what was going through your mind for each individual?

I was thinking when I was a kid, I used to go to bed at night. I spent every penny I had for my bank, my banker. I would collect baseball and football cards and I just look at them at night and think this was my introduction believe it or not in visual language was looking at sports photos and now I'm actually painting them. I'm painting these guys. They're like, when you grow up your kid, you like got superheroes in, Superman. Superman right here. And I'm so excited about it. I'm so glad to bring this to the audience and you make the craziest cards that ever exist because there's a million photographs of them in action playing, illustrations. But I wanted to do something that was original, something that was like that same kind of feeling. When you got to get out there, you got to make moves like the movie theater with the Falcons, it's like sitting there, 23 points behind going like we're going to make some moves here in that last game.

You guys got to win a game.

Yourself. Um, George, I'm pumped that you got your first 19. And talk about, are we talking about who the other athletes that you did? Maybe talk a few of the stories of who else you did. We got, by the way, today at 6:00 p.m. Messi is in the house. Did you do a Messi, which by the way, pretty insane. FE is doing the press conference here and Messi's in the building at 6 p.m. Talk about the Messi card that you made. What it means to you to have him in the biggest football match of his life on Sunday night and having made that card. We need that Messi card, by the way. We got to where is that Messi card? But if security doesn't stop me, I may leave with those two cards and the Messi card.

I can't tell you how proud I am that I've been able to make that card. You know, Messi is another hero and it's like he's the best in the business. The soccer lesson, you know, and because I was like doing that card knowing that I'm painting these cards, my introduction to visual language was literally from trading cards, looking at these things and then it translated somehow into my love for painting and my love of imagery and doing these guys and also I want to make them laugh. I want to make them. These cards put a smile on their face, and maybe more than just your average everyday thing.

George, it's working though. Seeing the smile on Tom and Cat's face. Now, what's your first reaction when you stole the car? I noticed a small detail says seven times, 7x immediately there.

Very cool. And I've obviously been a big fan of torch as well. I've actually been to his studio here and you are blown away by what I've seen there. And I was just think it's so cool. You said something earlier, Kevin. We're all artists in our own way. I think the point I obviously can't do any of that. That's like 0% of my skill set is that. But we all kind of in our own way see things like an artist. I always feel like a quarterback goes on the field and he is a blank canvas of what he wants to create. And the offensive coordinator gets to create what he wants to create. And everyone does a little bit different. And if you're a copycat, I think people see through that pretty quick. You steal other people's ideas. If you can really form your own opinion, your own judgment, your own point of view, and see things the way you want to see, how you can create it, that pulls out kind of the creativity in all of us. And I think it's so cool for an artist like George after all these years, has an incredible genius in his brain. He sees this just white canvas and what is he going to do with it and what is he going to show the world and how can he express what's in his mind? But to see it come out on a trading card, which is what's been a part of my life for four decades, absolutely blows my mind. So, these are going to be insane when they hit the market. By the way, Kevin, how do we get the other cards out here? Where's the Messi card if anyone I want to see the best card?

I know one person who has it, but he's not here right now.

And the Serena one is really a beautiful piece of art. It's like a Mona Lisa. I love the Serena, but who was your favorite one that you did? Put you on the spot. And don't say all of them.

Yeah. I mean, I got to say Pat and Tom, I'm not just saying it because they're here, but I did love making those two products. And I love doing the one with Pat because when they won, with all the confetti and the blue and orange, put it all around it. And it was kind of like a George Sal, with the pointillism, which is a thing in art. And Tom's is like a crazy cubist type composition. He's wearing a Tampa Bay and a Patriot outfit at the same time. And I love doing Messi because and also I love Beckham. The Beckham card was insane and that was really cool. And I love doing Serena.

You Jaylen Brunson I think too.

Yeah, I did a JS. No, I'm sure that'll be a hot cat. What was your reaction as you stare at it multiple times?

I just can't believe that one of the best artists ever touched Pink Rush

And you want to go straight to talk about all the time and I keep you keep talking about the we keep talking about me and Tom Brady up here. So I don't but athletes, we haven't even gotten to the entertainers that are also in this as well with you. I mean, we have Jay-Z, right? We have the biggest ones as well. Stephina Lamb,

I think all of you are of the 19 people you did, 10 are in the building for Fanatics Fest.

George, I want to put you on the spot. If he wins another championship, does he 20th card? How does it work? Like, is each championship of the Knicks get a new card? How does it work?

Why not?

But fans can win again. We get another Condo card.

Yeah, I think Topps needs to come out with a N commemorative Topps edition.

Okay. By the way, also I want to remind everybody 19 cards and these one of ones are going to be released in Topps products, some of these cards early in the fall. So keep an eye on that. A round of applause for these guys and the great artists. George, Tom Brady, Mar Towns,