CEO & Founder, Fanatics
Michael Rubin on the 76ers hiring Daryl Morey & why fans are so eager for championship gear | KJZ
Philadelphia 76ers partner Michael Rubin joins KJZ to discuss the Sixers' decision to hire Daryl Morey as the President of Basketball Operations, the NBA's potential to start the 2020-21 season in December and weighs in on why fans have been so eager to buy championship gear.
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About Michael Rubin
Michael Rubin, CEO and founder of Fanatics, appeared on WFAN in June 2026, where he stated that the New York Knicks had become the single biggest hot market in Fanatics history, surpassing the Chicago Cubs' 2016 World Series win. He also said the entire 2026 NBA champion Knicks team was expected to attend Fanatics Fest. Rubin discussed the origins of Fanatics' trading card business, saying the idea was conceived in November 2020 and that he believed existing companies like Panini and Topps were "complacent, fat and happy, not innovative, not marketing." He noted the business started in January 2022 and would be more than a $5 billion business in 2026, with Fanatics overall valued at about $14 billion with 22,000 employees. On gambling, Rubin said Fanatics wants to be "the best at responsible gambling" and "the first to shut somebody off that's got a problem." In a separate appearance on the podcast "The Burnouts" in July 2024, Rubin shared an anecdote about being embarrassed after falling and bleeding in front of Jay-Z, and recounted a New York Post cover that used an unflattering photo of him, which he said he reposted because he found it funny. He also participated in a segment guessing the resale value of his clothing, including an Amiri jacket and a Prada shirt.
Transcript (15 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Interviewer0:00
From the organization that you are a partner with the Sixers, how did Daryl Morey end up as the president of basketball operations?
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Michael Rubin0:08
Sure, good morning guys. Good to be with you. So, look, after the end of this past season, I think it's fair to say we were all disappointed with where we were. I think you've got to turn negatives into positives, and I think led by Josh Harris, we had a major mission to figure out how to upgrade all aspects of the basketball organization, and start it first with Doc Rivers. Got an incredible coach, one the Philadelphia fans are really fortunate to have. And then when Daryl became available, if you kind of cut through it, he's the same guy we tried to get two and a half years ago and weren't able to get him. And literally within hours of him becoming available, Josh Harris reached out and said, 'You know, I want to figure out how we can get him to be our president of basketball.' And we moved incredibly quick. We did it with Doc; he was hired days after he became available. And the same thing with Daryl. Daryl became available, immediately Josh acted, we figured out how to get him in to become our president of basketball. I'll tell you, all in all, when you look at the upgrade the Philadelphia Sixers have made from the end of last season, which was disappointing, to where we are now, I couldn't be more excited as a partner and certainly as a Philadelphian. Our fans are so excited about where the team's headed.
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Interviewer1:09
Michael Rubin joins us on the show, PINZO Performance Line. Mike, you obviously have Daryl Morey, you have Elton Brand, you have new coach Doc Rivers. How do you envision the dynamic between all these guys working?
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Michael Rubin1:22
Yeah, I think one of the things I think these guys are an incredible partnership. When you look at Doc and you look at Daryl, I mean these guys in a lot of ways are opposites, so I think they're going to work incredibly well together. I think it's really exciting. In addition, you know, Elton's such a great guy. Sometimes as soon as he saw Doc became available, he said, 'We need to go out and get this guy. This is how we can win championships.' So these are three guys who just want to win championships and bring Philadelphia chips. And so everyone's incredibly focused, working so well together already, and so passionate about what we could do for the city of Philadelphia.
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Interviewer1:55
Michael, the league and Adam Silver are somewhat concerned about the pre-Christmas start for the 2020-2021 season. Where do you stand on how the NBA should start this season this year?
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Michael Rubin2:06
Yeah, look, the way I look at it is we have an incredible commissioner, Adam Silver, and I think Adam together the players are going to sort that out. Certainly there's a lot of pressures coming from all different areas, but they're going to get that sorted out. And they always work well together to get to the right outcome. I know we're going to do something that's in the best interest of the players and something that works for everyone.
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Interviewer2:27
When you look at the situation we mentioned at the start, you're the executive chairman of Fanatics. Why have fans been so eager to purchase championship game gear from the Dodgers and the Lakers?
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Michael Rubin2:39
Yeah, these have been two incredible hot markets. The Lakers actually beat our previous NBA record by more than 2x, so it's two times bigger than any hot market in the history of Fanatics. That shows just how great NBA fandom is, and certainly Laker fans as well. And the Dodgers became our second biggest hot market in the history of the company. I think it starts with e-commerce doing incredibly well, and that's about 80% of our business. Certainly with the pandemic, you've seen a big step function up in e-commerce sales. And Fanatics is benefiting again with that being 80% of our business. But these are, you know, sports are doing great. I think fans are so excited about supporting their teams. I think during the pandemic, there's been, you know, people just want to be excited about certain things, and we've seen that both with the Lakers and the Dodgers.
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Interviewer3:27
Mike, you and I talk about this all the time, so I'm curious to get your perspective on this. A lot of fans are saying, 'Well, NBA ratings are down.' What do your metrics show? You guys have a little bit more insight in that category.
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Michael Rubin3:39
Yeah, I think that's kind of like when you look at a brick and mortar retailer and if you say we're only going to measure the sales of the stores and not look at e-commerce, that's the same way we just look at television ratings. When I think about ratings, I look at what's overall fandom. And certainly social media is so much more important today than it was just a few years ago. So I think when you look at the NBA, fandom is incredibly up. I just looked this morning, year to date NBA sales are up 63%, and that's really very indicative of where NBA fans stand. And I think if you look at media consumption, the issue is television media is a smaller percent of total media consumption than it has ever been. Social media is more important than it has ever been. So I think NBA fans are more passionate than they've ever been about the sport. I think you're just seeing more consumption in other forms of media and less than traditional television.
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Interviewer4:29
Michael, with fans not able to spend money going into stadiums, how much have sales increased for you guys during this pandemic?
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Michael Rubin4:38
Yeah, look, e-commerce sales, which again is about 80% of our business, have been really strong. We're up nearly 30% year to date. And we also have a wholesale business that supplies the brick and mortar retailers, and that business has been, you know, terrible, it's down about 50%. But e-commerce is really strong. I'll tell you the most interesting thing: when sports were paused in March, I thought that fans would say, 'Hey, until sports come back, they're not going to support their teams.' It was exactly the opposite. There was incredible support. Fans want to go online, they want to buy the merchandise of the teams they care deeply about. And really, business was terrific during the entire pandemic, even when there were no sports for five months.
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Interviewer5:15
Michael, before we let you go, I want to ask you: you worked with Meek Mill and Jay-Z to form the Reform Alliance recently, and had a huge social reform. Tell us about the impact the Reform Alliance had in getting the bill signed in my state of California.
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Michael Rubin5:32
Yeah, well, it was a really big win for people in California and for the Reform Alliance. You know, we've got a goal of getting at least a million people out of the criminal justice system while keeping communities safe. And what a lot of people don't understand is America has five times the rate of incarceration of the rest of the world. And in California, Governor Gavin Newsom just signed into law just a few weeks ago a bill that put a limit on how long you'd be on probation, up to no more than a year for a misdemeanor, no more than two years for a felony. And that was an incredible step forward, and I think really transformative, one that's going to help hundreds of thousands of people directly, millions of people and their families indirectly. So really proud of what happened in California, and a big step forward. We need to do the same thing in every state in the country. We started the Reform Alliance inspired by what happened to my good friend Meek Mill when he went to prison four different times for not committing a crime. And we used that to again turn a negative into a positive, exactly what just happened with the Sixers' offseason. And we have a goal of getting at least a million people out of the system of the 6.7 million people that are in the system today, keep the community safe. And I think it was a big step forward and one that we look to replicate.
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Interviewer6:43
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