Seven Stages, One Standard:
Powering Fanatics Fest 2026

Held during FIFA World Cup Final weekend, Fanatics Fest NYC brought together 200,000+fans, athletes, leagues, and brands for one of the world's largest sports fan festivals. For Alford Media, working with our TFC sister-company, Studio Blue, and the visions of this event with their client allowed us to bring to life the ultimate experience for any sports fan.

The Vision

Build a slate of live experiences where fans and collectors could celebrate their passions together

Fanatics set out to reimagine the fan experience with the launch of Fanatics Events, a bold new venture built to deliver massive, high-energy moments that bring fans closer than ever to the games and athletes they love. The idea was simple: build a slate of live experiences where fans and collectors could celebrate their passions together. Fanatics Fest 2026 put that vision into action at full scale.

That vision touched every corner of the Javits Center: autograph signings and photo ops, panel conversations and podcast tapings, a dedicated trading floor anchored by the Card Combine marketplace and Topps Trade Night, exclusive Topps product drops, and an exhibitor floor full of dealers and brand activations. Running through all of it were seven live stages spread across the venue. Alford Media's role was the AV and live production for those seven stages, the biggest live, on-camera moments of the weekend, while Fanatics' own producers and partners ran everything else on the floor.

The timing raised the stakes. Fanatics Fest 2026 returned to New York the same weekend the city hosted the FIFA World Cup Final, drawing more than 200,000 fans and over 500 athletes and celebrities through the doors.

Fanatics wanted every one of its seven stages to feel like the main stage. A guest catching a panel needed the same energy as a guest watching a live competition on another floor, nothing was meant to feel secondary. And it all had to hold up in full public view, for four straight days, in front of a crowd that never stopped filming, a far higher bar than the private, controlled events most live productions are built for.

The Challenge

Stages and sets had to be built for fans experience the moment live - in person or online

Turning that ambition into seven shows that all felt equally main-stage, each with its own crew and its own presenters, is a different scale of challenge than perfecting one stage on its own.

The technical work at each stage mattered, but consistency mattered just as much. Fans and presenters on any floor needed the same production value and the same energy as the stage down the hall.

There was no such thing as an off moment. For four straight days, the stages were surrounded by people recording. A missed cue or a rough transition wouldn't just be seen by the fans standing in front of it, it could end up in front of an audience far beyond the Javits Center. Every stage had to hold up for the crowd in the building, and for however many more were watching through someone's phone.

How We Made It Happen

Working together with our fellow Freeman Companies to make it possible

Fanatics needed seven independent production teams, one per stage, each responsible for the audio, lighting, video, and live production on their floor. The creative vision for every stage belonged to Fanatics, its own producers led each one, while Alford Media's crews made sure no fan could tell the difference from stage to stage, floor to floor.

That kind of consistency is what Fanatics was counting on, and it's why the team on-site mattered. Equipment can be rented by anyone. What kept Fanatics' vision holding up on every floor, not just the ones getting the most attention, was a team that had already solved these problems before, under pressure, on the road: Alford Media staff and trusted freelancers who averaged more than 22 years of road AV experience each.

None of that happens without the work behind the scenes:
"Our Operations Team handled the logistics and coordination behind every piece of gear that hit the floor, and that work is what let the on-site crews perform at their highest level. In six weeks, we coordinated the arrival of sixteen-plus trucks and more than 240,000 pounds of gear for load-in at the Javits Center, then stayed ready to pivot any time of day or night when something changed on show site. That kind of preparation is what held the seven-stage vision together."

— Jerreme Aldrich, Alford Media Project Manager

None of it happened in isolation. Alford Media worked alongside the broader TFC family throughout the event: Studio Blue on production, Freeman on exhibitor services across the surrounding show floor, and Sparks on the Dick's Sporting Goods (DSG) activation running alongside the DSG stage. What Fanatics got out of that coordination was one unified show, not a patchwork of vendors working around each other.

Plans kept moving throughout the weekend. With the World Cup Final happening in the same city, schedules shifted more than once, and the team adjusted each time so none of it reached the fans Fanatics had worked to bring in.

The Result

An experience no fan will ever forget 

Fanatics got the stage experience it set out to build. All seven stages carried the same production standard from open to close, holding up inside a festival that also delivered autograph signings, a live trading floor, exclusive product drops, and a full exhibitor floor. Here's what that standard looked like in practice: