Two days, 200 vendors, and the reason we built it

A two-day card show in Pontiac with Jared Goff, 200 vendors, and a floor full of kids who have never met an athlete.

By Jason Raznick, co-founder of RazMania

RazMania Fest is a two-day sports card and memorabilia festival in Pontiac on August 29 and 30. Jared Goff just confirmed. Here is why we built it: most kids in this region will never get within fifty feet of a professional athlete, and we are handing that afternoon to as many of them as we can fit.

Why it matters

I gave a father and his 9-year-old son my Pistons tickets once. The video that came back — a boy standing a few feet from men he had only ever seen on a screen — is the reason this exists. Meeting your first professional athlete at 9 rearranges what a kid believes is possible for them. That used to be ordinary here. It has been priced and roped off, and the kids who would get the most from it reach it last. Pontiac United and the Boys & Girls Club of Troy are bringing every kid they can get through the door, and we have not put a number on it.

Zoom in

The floor is 200 vendors and an estimated $10 million in cards to buy, sell and trade, plus a full Pokémon and TCG section, live breaks all weekend, a 40-yard dash and a half-court shot. On stage, athletes tell the kind of stories you never hear in a postgame press conference, and Brandon Greer — who represents Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood — explains how he got that job, because I want kids leaving knowing agent, banker and team manager are jobs too. Agents, dealers and operators in one building for two days makes it the best sports-business room in the state.

By the numbers

• Free — what a kid pays to walk in with an adult. Parking too. Adults are $10 advance, $20 at the door.
• August 20 — advance pricing ends, three days from now.
• Noon and 9:30 a.m. — Saturday and Sunday doors at the UWM Sports Complex, 867 S. Blvd. E. in Pontiac, both running to 5 p.m.

What's next

Goff joins Jack Fox, Jake Bates, Brock Wright and Hogan Hatten on the Lions side, and more names go up at razmaniasports.com all week. Bring a kid who has never been.