kingjammy24
09-13-2006, 03:46 PM
a long time ago, mlb didn't pay attention to the game used market. from locker rooms across the country, jerseys silently made their way out to various dealers and collectors. dealers would try to forge relationships with clubhouse staff, securing "team sources", in order to become the beneficiaries of these jerseys. the more sources you had, the more inventory. players would give away jerseys to friends, family, and business associates. these practices wove together an unregulated cottage industry of independent dealers and collectors all selling, buying and trading via various channels. usually the provenance couldn't be proven. the unregulated, informal, hodge-podge nature of it all was ripe for fraud. seeing this, authenticators appeared offering to authenticate jerseys for a price. i believe most of this is coming to an end.
it seems that mlb, at the corporate level, has discovered how to profit from the game-used market and accordingly developed a system to collect, authenticate, and mass-market game-used jerseys using their own Web presence. no need for middlemen when mlb and/or its teams can easily sell or auction their items on their own, directly to the public with mlb/deloitte authentication. given that mlb has immense brand recognition, a substantial web presence, and all the resources it requires to engage in this sort of business, i fail to see why they'd take a cut in their profits to pay a middleman like steiner. no need for authenticators if everyone knows the only legit jerseys are mlb-authenticated.
going forward, it seems this model will gain substantial momentum as the primary way that the majority of major league jerseys will be distributed from teams, including special events like the wbc and all star games. nobody has better access to these jerseys than mlb/the teams themselves. while mlb/teams may lack the ability to keep their game-issued vs game-used inventory clearly marked apart, the general provenance is obviously impeccable.
given all of this, i see the mlb/teams developing strict controls regulating the inventorying, distribution, and sale of jerseys given that these items are a substantial product line in their retail operations and stand to deliver serious profits. (how many dvds do you have to sell to equal the sale of 1 ryan howard or albert pujols jersey?).
ultimately, i believe it's the teams who actually own the jerseys, as opposed to mlb specifically or the players. given all of these issues, here are some questions i have for the dealers out there:
1) are you concerned about your future supply given that more and more teams will choose to keep their jerseys and market them themselves?
(barry, are you concerned that the rangers will choose to sell their own items given how easy it is?)
2) even if some things are slipped out the back door, will it even matter given that they won't be mlb authenticated and therefore be regarded as dubious? (ie: by securing a monopoly on yankees jerseys, steiner effectively rendered every 2005 non-steiner yankees jersey as questionable.) if every team announces that it sells it's own jerseys then who's ever going to trust an item without team provenance?
3) many jerseys come from the players. it's been said that pujols, for example, is strict about how and where his jerseys go. given that pujols doesn't own his jerseys and they're really property of the st.louis cardinals, do you think that teams will clamp down on players distributing and profiting from items that are really team property and a source of team revenue? afterall, it's now clear that mlb/teams are viewing game used jerseys as a substantial product line. they've developed a substantial system to market and profit from these products. it's hard to believe they're going to allow players to do what they wish with these items considering they have no claim to them.
4) if teams clamp down on players distributing team property, then will players react by purchasing more jerseys on their own in order to cash in on this revenue themselves?
5) is it likely that the nba, nfl, and nhl will NOT follow mlb?
6) if the mlb takes this route, then i see a huge decrease in the need for authentication. is there any need, for example, to send a steiner or meigray jersey to an authenticator?
if mlb takes over the exclusive supply and marketing of jerseys, then i believe prices will rise. they'll have a monopoly and we all know what monopolies do to prices. on the other hand, if the players react to this loss of income by purchasing jerseys on their own and marketing them directly, then i believe prices will drop as the players will be flooding the market with their pieces. if i had to choose, i guess i'd rather have the mlb controlling jerseys than the players.
thoughts?
rudy.
it seems that mlb, at the corporate level, has discovered how to profit from the game-used market and accordingly developed a system to collect, authenticate, and mass-market game-used jerseys using their own Web presence. no need for middlemen when mlb and/or its teams can easily sell or auction their items on their own, directly to the public with mlb/deloitte authentication. given that mlb has immense brand recognition, a substantial web presence, and all the resources it requires to engage in this sort of business, i fail to see why they'd take a cut in their profits to pay a middleman like steiner. no need for authenticators if everyone knows the only legit jerseys are mlb-authenticated.
going forward, it seems this model will gain substantial momentum as the primary way that the majority of major league jerseys will be distributed from teams, including special events like the wbc and all star games. nobody has better access to these jerseys than mlb/the teams themselves. while mlb/teams may lack the ability to keep their game-issued vs game-used inventory clearly marked apart, the general provenance is obviously impeccable.
given all of this, i see the mlb/teams developing strict controls regulating the inventorying, distribution, and sale of jerseys given that these items are a substantial product line in their retail operations and stand to deliver serious profits. (how many dvds do you have to sell to equal the sale of 1 ryan howard or albert pujols jersey?).
ultimately, i believe it's the teams who actually own the jerseys, as opposed to mlb specifically or the players. given all of these issues, here are some questions i have for the dealers out there:
1) are you concerned about your future supply given that more and more teams will choose to keep their jerseys and market them themselves?
(barry, are you concerned that the rangers will choose to sell their own items given how easy it is?)
2) even if some things are slipped out the back door, will it even matter given that they won't be mlb authenticated and therefore be regarded as dubious? (ie: by securing a monopoly on yankees jerseys, steiner effectively rendered every 2005 non-steiner yankees jersey as questionable.) if every team announces that it sells it's own jerseys then who's ever going to trust an item without team provenance?
3) many jerseys come from the players. it's been said that pujols, for example, is strict about how and where his jerseys go. given that pujols doesn't own his jerseys and they're really property of the st.louis cardinals, do you think that teams will clamp down on players distributing and profiting from items that are really team property and a source of team revenue? afterall, it's now clear that mlb/teams are viewing game used jerseys as a substantial product line. they've developed a substantial system to market and profit from these products. it's hard to believe they're going to allow players to do what they wish with these items considering they have no claim to them.
4) if teams clamp down on players distributing team property, then will players react by purchasing more jerseys on their own in order to cash in on this revenue themselves?
5) is it likely that the nba, nfl, and nhl will NOT follow mlb?
6) if the mlb takes this route, then i see a huge decrease in the need for authentication. is there any need, for example, to send a steiner or meigray jersey to an authenticator?
if mlb takes over the exclusive supply and marketing of jerseys, then i believe prices will rise. they'll have a monopoly and we all know what monopolies do to prices. on the other hand, if the players react to this loss of income by purchasing jerseys on their own and marketing them directly, then i believe prices will drop as the players will be flooding the market with their pieces. if i had to choose, i guess i'd rather have the mlb controlling jerseys than the players.
thoughts?
rudy.