- Medium Rare, an events and entertainment company, is responsible for three of the biggest parties during Super Bowl weekend. They partner with celebrities including Shaquille O'Neal, Guy Fieri, Travis Kelce, and Rob Gronkowski to put on multimillion-dollar events—and manage to turn a profit.
Super Bowl weekend is synonymous with good food, good drinks, and a good time. And one event company is responsible for three larger-than-life parties in New Orleans, where the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 9.
Entertainment and event company Medium Rare has partnered with Guy Fieri, Shaquille O’Neal, and Sports Illustrated to help tens of thousands of fans kick off the big event. Medium Rare pulls off three of the largest events during Super Bowl weekend, each costing more than $3.5 million to produce—but each generating more than $5 million in revenue. Among the three events, Medium Rare will profit around $4.5 million.
That’s a major feat for the event industry, where it’s notoriously difficult to draw a profit—particularly for festivals, live music, and other entertainment. Adam Richman and Joe Silberzweig came to that realization about a decade ago while working at SFX Entertainment, which puts on major music festivals like Tomorrowland and Mysteryland. Silberzweig also worked at Live Nation.
Seeing the mistakes of others helped them design a profitable model.
“We actually saw the big festival model was broken,” Richman, who cofounded Medium Rare with Silberzweig, told Fortune. “Most festivals actually lose money. It's sort of like a dirty secret of the industry.”
Chance meeting with Shaq
Richman and Silberzweig wanted to fix that model, but never really had the intention of starting their own business. But after Silberzweig ran into Shaquille O'Neal at a Tomorrowland music festival about seven years ago, the two came up with the idea of partnering with celebrities and athletes, thrusting them to front and center of the live events instead of a typical lineup model with just company sponsors.
“What we saw really quickly was that brands were a lot more interested in partnering with an event that had a celebrity athlete in the lead than they did of just another festival with some made-up name,” Richman said.
Having seen how much Shaq had loved the Tomorrowland music festival, the two met with him to come up with his own dream event—which happened to be part festival, part carnival, and part circus.
“At the time, we definitely didn't think it was the start of Medium Rare and the start of our business,” Silberzweig told Fortune. “And I think that's how a lot of great businesses are actually born.”
This year will mark the seventh Shaq’s Fun House, expected to have 5,000 general-admission guests and 1,000 VIP guests. On Feb. 7, John Summit and Ludacris will perform at New Orleans’ Mardi Gras World, where the event is held. Shaq, a.k.a. DJ Diesel, will also perform, and attendees can enjoy carnival rides and watching circus performers. All-inclusive bar tickets start at $299.
“We really felt like we flipped the Super Bowl party on its head and really reinvented what it meant,” Richman said.
Business model
Medium Rare goes 50/50 with business partners, who include celebrities like Shaq, Food Network star Guy Fieri, Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy, football players Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce, and Shark Tank entrepreneur Daymond John. The company “takes all the financial risk” in putting all the money up for an event, and is also responsible for producing, marketing, and selling the event.
Fieri actually started working with Medium Rare after attending Shaq’s Fun House.
“And afterwards, he's like, man, Super Bowl is the biggest day of the year for sports, but also for eating,’” Silberzweig said. “And how do we create more momentum and excitement around that?”
With that, Richman and Silberzweig worked with Fieri to develop Guy’s Flavortown Tailgate, which marks its third year in 2025. The event attracts more than 10,000 attendees, many of whom come to the event for free. There are more than 75,000 sign-ups for free tickets that run on a lottery system, and Medium Rare distributes 10,000 of these tickets, which just get attendees in the door.
The next level of tickets (which cost about $60) guarantees entry and two samples of food. About 2,000 people purchase these tickets. VIP tickets cost $400 and include an open bar, four food samples, access to a VIP area, and expedited entry. Medium Rare usually sells about 1,000 of these. The Platinum VIP tickets, which cost nearly $1,000 and get the most premium access to the event; the company sold about 200 this year. These tickets get guests access to a private bar, passed hors d'oeuvres from Fieri, a special viewing area for the stage, expedited entry, and more.
Small but mighty staff
Medium Rare has also partnered with Sports Illustrated since 2019 to put on SI The Party as part of Super Bowl weekend. This year, Dom Dolla and Diplo will perform at the event, which is expected to attract 1,500 ticket holders and 1,500 VIP guests.
With all of its partners, Medium Rare’s goal is to “really identify that kind of key DNA with each partner and pull it out of them, and insert that into the event experience,” Silberzweig said.
Aside from Shaq’s carnival-inspired event and Fieri’s food festival, Medium Rare hosts Kelce Jam (a nod to Kelce’s love for music festivals), Dave Portnoy’s One Bite Pizza Festival (satisfying Portnoy’s famous pizza cravings), and Gronk Beach (a beach party and music festival for Gronkowski). And they pull it off with just 15 full-time staff members and about 200 independent contractors.
This year, one of the biggest challenges for Super Bowl party planning is the lack of hotel space in New Orleans.
“It's just not a city that's made for the abundance of people that are coming on Super Bowl weekend, and that's been a real struggle for us, and we have to get creative on where we're putting our staff,” Richman said.
But they’re making do, and expect to see tens of thousands of people at their Super Bowl events this weekend.
“Every year has just presented these different challenges, but that's what keeps us on our toes,” Richman says.
