How Michael Rubin — And His Posh Parties — Unite The Sports And Music Worlds

If a precise intersectional point among music, sports and business exists, it isn’t hovering far from Michael Rubin, the billionaire founder and CEO of Fanatics. Selling licensed apparel from just about every major professional sports team is Rubin’s business, but his most trusted friends, partners and advisers include Jay-Z, Meek Mill and Lil Baby, and his parties — particularly his famed summer “white party” in the Hamptons — unite superstar athletes like Tom Brady and James Harden with A-list performers such as Travis Scott and Beyoncé.

For that reason, attending a Rubin party isn’t just fun; it can be a prudent business decision. Jay-Z and Latin music star J Balvin have both attended Rubin’s events; three months after crossing paths at one in February 2023, Balvin signed with Jay’s Roc Nation management. Rubin won’t comment on cause and effect, but he allows that “every year, dozens of great things come out of each of these events.” He spoke to Billboard from his office in Philadelphia.

What have you learned about business from your friends in music?

Music drives culture, and culture drives business, so I’m always picking up trends. Meek kept telling me, “Fitted hats are getting hot, Lids is going to be really hot” — and Meek’s input led us to buy Lids [in 2019]. Jay-Z has been a partner, an investor, in each of our businesses — he’s a partner in the sports-betting business [Fanatics Betting & Gaming], he’s a partner in [sports merchandiser] Mitchell & Ness, he’s an investor in Fanatics. I’m always picking up different bits of wisdom from him on how to build a really interesting consumer company. Jay understands the consumer better than most people.

What’s an example?

Once we owned Lids, I was in a conversation with Jay and Lil Baby, and Jay said, “Michael, the way you need to think about headwear is the same way you need to think about sneakers, like it’s part of your wardrobe. You get up each day, you put on your jeans, your hoodie, your sneakers and your hat.” I hadn’t thought about it that way before.

What do you think your musician friends learn from you?

The biggest things people from music are picking my brain about are business deals and how to build a meaningful business beyond music. I’ll try to help them, give them recommendations. Meek helped come up with the idea for Lids, and that was a giant return for him.

Have you ever considered investing in the music business?

No. I have a lot on my plate, so I need to stay focused on building Fanatics.

What about music merch?

We’ve had a lot of artists come to us that say, “Hey, we’d love you to do our music merchandise.” We don’t think that makes sense for us. We’re bringing artists we care about into making sports collabs. We’re willing to sell artist merchandise at Fanatics in a small way, but that’s not a real opportunity for us.

What parties or events do you have planned for 2024?

I like to do a very few things really well. I’m not into high quantity. We’ll do four events this year. I’ll do the white party — that’s completely a personal party where I’m just bringing people that are important in my life together. The white party’s only 350 people. I’m doing the Super Bowl party. There’s tens of thousands of people who [want to] come, and I take 1,000. You can’t buy tickets, you can’t buy tables; it’s just all guests of mine.

How much do you obsess over the party details?

I manage the white party list myself, I manage the Super Bowl party list myself. I’m approving each person that comes. It’s only a question of making sure I have the right people in the room.

How do you pick the music?

I’m always getting input from Jay-Z. I’ll call and ask people, “Hey, do we want this person? Do we not want this person?” People don’t understand — I’m not a music guy. My brain doesn’t work that way. I can remember every number from every business deal I’ve done since I was 8 years old, but I can’t remember the words to any song.

This story will appear in the Feb. 10, 2024, issue of Billboard.