Uninterrupted to Launch The Shop Pop-Up at Super Bowl LVII

This will mark Uninterrupted’s first-ever live event that is open to the public. The five-hour slot includes discussions from athletes past and present, and stations with celebrity barbers.

LeBron James’ athlete empowerment platform, Uninterrupted, is heading to the Super Bowl, where it will launch The Shop Uninterrupted Pop-Up, a first-of-its-kind event for the brand. It will also mark the first time The Shop has held an event open for public attendance, and the event will take place at The Croft Downtown in Phoenix, AZ on Sat., Feb. 11 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MST.

The five-hour time slot will include a live discussion, titled ‘A Conversation with Football Champions around the theme of Heart of a Champion: Embracing the Grit Mentality.’ Super Bowl champion and former San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis will host, with other guests including Denver Broncos’ wideout Jerry Jeudy, and three-time Super Bowl champions LeGarrette Blount and Julian Edelman. The event space will be open on a first-come, first-serve basis for attendees with limited seating and standing room.

“It’s always been a mission of ours to bring The Shop experience into communities and actual people. We look at ourselves and think about what would the 14-year-old and 15-year-old versions of myself and [Maverick Carter], and LeBron want,” said SpringHill Company Chief Marketing Officer Paul Rivera in a video interview. Rivera is also credited as a co-creator of the show.

Outside of the conversation, there will also be barber stations with celebrity barbers Brownie Blendz, Nick Castellanos, and Vince Garcia working alongside local Phoenix barbers. Attendees will be able to stop by for a line-up. The space will also have The Shop’s first physical pop-up product drop. A release said the merchandise collection will have a limited-edition merchandise collection that will have hoodies, t-shirts, a custom jacket and a hat.

The decision to have the event during Super Bowl week instead of during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend was intentional.

“Our community does not have as much representation and we looked at that as an opportunity,” Rivera said. “We’ve done All-Star in terms of filming but never a live pop-up. We want to plug in to wherever there is existing [high] energy events. The Super Bowl is one of those, next year it could be All-Star or Art Basel. We want to be anywhere where our culture is underrepresented or is represented.”

A live event conversation format is something that SpringHill executives could duplicate in a multitude of locations. Whether the event would be a pop-up, a live conversation, or a combination of the two remains to be seen. Carter told Boardroom in November that The Shop is looking to expand internationally. The SpringHill CEO says production would be a similar barbershop-style conversation with people and hosts from other cultures. Rivera added that a tour is not out of the question as well.

“It’s all in play,” he said. “Anything that gets us into communities and into some of those more intimate settings where we can have real, organic two-way conversations is something we’d be willing to explore for sure.”

In the live conversation department, The Shop debuted an alternate broadcast on Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football earlier this year. The broadcast saw viral moments generated from players and entertainers such as Jalen Ramsey, Odell Beckham Jr., Jamie Foxx and, of course, LeBron James. As it relates to The Shop on Thursday Night Football returning on Prime Video, the status is currently unclear.

“The hope is that we’re able to do it again. As with anything else, the consumer decides,” Rivera said. “We were extremely happy with the content and opportunity. I think Amazon was equally excited. We are having conversations and seeing what that looks like but we would welcome the opportunity and maybe even on a grander scale.”

More imminently, The Shop’s season six debut is set for Mar. 9. Guests for the first episode have not yet been revealed. Grey Goose will return as the show’s presenting sponsor and episodes will continue to be exclusively available on Uninterrupted’s YouTube channel.