Fanatics Founder & Exec Chair Michael Rubin said he “barely worked” for six months in late ’17 and early ’18 while helping rapper and close friend Meek Mill get out of jail, adding that he is driven on a deep, personal level to continue working for criminal justice reform. Mill in ’17 was sentenced to two to four years in prison for violating a nearly decade-old probation on charges that were ultimately dropped, despite his probation officer recommending no prison time. The rapper and Rubin have since formed a foundation devoted to criminal justice reform, and the licensed apparel mogul has become an outspoken advocate on the issue. Rubin said at the opening day of the CAA World Congress of Sports, “This changed from a mission of how to get him out of prison to how do we fix the system that is fundamentally broken,” Rubin said. “A lot of people, including some in this room, told me I was nuts, that I shouldn’t get involved in this issue, that it wasn’t my problem, that it was going to hurt my business. But I was like, ‘I don’t give a shit what anybody thinks.’”
STILL LOOKING TO JOIN NFL: Rubin, an investor in the 76ers and Devils, remains in pursuit of an NFL team after his unsuccessful push to buy the Panthers, but he said he would not be heartbroken if it did not work out. “Beyond being in a sport that I love, it’s a good business that makes money and generates returns,” Rubin said. “I think I would learn a ton (as an NFL owner), but also I think I could add some smart value. ... If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, great. The day after I didn’t get the Panthers, I moved on.”
PLENTY OF ROOM TO GROW: The Fanatics business is “just getting started” in Rubin’s words, and he believes he can “easily” turn a business with $2.6B in annual revenue to more than $10B on an annual basis. To do that, though, he said he needs the company to claim a “bigger share of the closet” among consumers. Rubin remained mum on specific plans for an IPO for the company. “We just want to build the most incredible business,” he said. “Will we eventually go public? Yes. But we’re not focused on it in the immediate future. And the reason we’re not is that we have so many big things we’re doing to grow the business and we want to get the company working as well as possible.”
Quick Hits:
* On the solicitation charges for Patriots Owner and close friend Robert Kraft: “He’s finally seen what it’s like to be a player in the NFL, a player in the NBA, when you have an experience with law enforcement that wasn’t the way you thought it was going to be. ... Robert’s going to come through this stronger than ever, and a lot of the true details will come out over time.”
* On competition from global online retail giants Amazon and Alibaba: “If you don’t highly differentiate yourself from Amazon and Alibaba, you have no chance to compete. You should basically shut down and go home. So if the NBA Store, the NFL Shop, the NHL Store, the MLB Store, Fanatics didn’t highly differentiate themselves, any of the teams didn’t do so, you’re eventually dead. Amazon is growing every year at a faster rate than all of retail. So each year they are taking more of the retail pie. The numbers are staggering.”
* On entrepreneurship: “It's something you’re born with. It’s either in you or it’s not. I was selling shit when I was eight years old. I was born with that gene.”
