Argentina F Lionel Messi will appear Friday night at the official FIFA World Cup final press conference less than 48 hours before he attempts to lead Argentina to back-to-back World Cup titles. Messi will be joined at the event, which is being held in conjunction with Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in N.Y., by Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni. Spain will be represented by MF Rodri and manager Luis de la Fuente.
Meanwhile, Fanatics Chair & CEO Michael Rubin and Relevant Sports held an invitation-only lunch on Friday at the 40/40 Club that included various A-listers from the sports world. Among the attendees were MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Instagram head Adam Mosseri, LeBron James, Serena Williams and Tom Brady (SBJ).
Fanatics Fest continued on Friday at the Javits Center in N.Y., where ESPN’s “First Take” conducted a live broadcast. Rubin and Patriots owner Robert Kraft appeared on the show toward the end of the episode and talked about the event, which is expected to draw more than 200,000 people before it concludes on Sunday. Kraft said, “I’m amazed to come here and see, after three years, what this represents.” He said of Rubin, “In the last 50 years, I’ve been some great businesspeople. But I’ve never met anyone like him who has a vision. When he sees things, he knows how to think about it from a business point of view, but then he also knows how to build relationships” (“First Take,” ESPN, 7/17).
