Dig into sports-memorabilia reports for story ideas
By Flickr user Dennis Crowley
Even to non-sports fans, there are fascinating threads to the recent scandal stories about the recent resignation of Ohio State University head football coach Jim Tressel and the accusations that players were trading in team memorabilia with his knowledge.
And for business writers, there is plenty of fodder there for local stories about the sports-memorabilia market, from the relative value of local team merchandise to small businesses that deal in it. As we all know, sports coverage is one of the big draws for news consumers, and jumping on these headlines with a look at the business of sports collectibles is a timely and eye-catching way to tie in to the national story.
(To keep the story focused, by the way, you might want to emphasize the distinction between memorabilia — defined by Merriam Webster as “things that are valued or collected for their association with a particular field or interest” — and garden-variety licensed merchandise which never really had any direct connection to athletes, players or teams.)
According to this 2007 PBS report, the sports-memorabilia market is a $2 billion annual industry. From baseball cards to autographs to signed jerseys, millions of collectors are spending money on these keepsakes and dealers from top-of-the-line auction houses to eBay sellers to garage salers and swap-meet vendors are turning a profit on new and historic items. The variety gives huge range to the possible business stories, depending on your market and the type of buyers and sellers you can find locally.
According to this CNN report, the “founding rules of basketball” sold in December at a Sotheby’s auction for more than $4.2 million, a record for an item of sports memorabilia. That’s how big the business can get. A small stack of baseball cards can fetch a quarter of a million dollars, while Super Bowl rings and other sports jewelry are stock in trade for ChampionshipRings.net.
The trade publications SportsMemorabilia.com and Sports Collectors Daily are interesting resources; if you want to focus on local team items you can use their search engines to find news and information about those organizations. I’d also suggest searching eBay (try a ZIP code search to find sellers in your region) for small businesses and amateur dealers, along with other online-sales venues. Curators of sports halls of fame, university collections, major-league team archives and other experts might also be able to help you identify prominent local dealers and collectors.
One other idea: If you can muster the expert resources, it might be interesting to hold a sort of online or in-print “Antiques Roadshow,” with experts evaluating readers’ prized memorabilia and explaining the history and value. Assessing and ranking the relative value of items from local pro and college teams (going beyond basketball and football if possible) would make for an eye-catching chart or graphic, too.
