"Team Issued on Field Game Jersey" of Matt Ryan

[Falcon]

Can anyone tell me if they think this is a good deal. Are "team issued" jerseys worth that much more? Here's the description on the item he's asking almost $800 for:

This auction is for one Matt Ryan Autographed/Signed Official Team Issued on Field Game Jersey. You can not buy this Jersey anywhere, this is exactly what they wear on the field with team tags on the inside. Autograph was personally obtained at the 2008 Rookie Premiere Event in Los Angeles on May 16-18th. I will include copies of all the paperwork, bio forms and my ID badge from the event.

[mvandor]

I won't speak to value as that's in the eye of the beholder, but I will speak to terminology.

In the strictest sense, "game issue" means a jersey (in this case) that never hit the field but emanated from the team locker room, or perhaps supplier. Value would be greater, however, Matty Ice is a rookie, 25% of the way through his rookie season, so how and why would an unused jersey be available on the market already? Makes no sense.

Which leads us to the looser definition of the term all too frequently used by sellers to pump value and mislead when selling a "pro-cut" jersey - ie. often a blank professional jersey customized to represent a specific player (usually identifiable differences can be located by photo comparison).

Odds are this is exactly that.

If that is worth $800 to you, go for it. You might ask him where he got it as well.

I might mention a quick photo comparison indicates the sleeve customizations are very accurate as best I can tell, however, this is an extra long jersey, typical of stock pro-cuts, and it APPEARS to me Matt has his red jerseys hemmed at the waist from pics I examined.

See below:

[Falcon]

In the description he says he got it at that Rookie Premier event and has all the documents that will come w/ it.

Thanks for the info and definitions. Also, I think you're right about the hemmed bottom. Good looking out! Thanks!

[mvandor]

In the description he says he got it at that Rookie Premier event and has all the documents that will come w/ it.

Thanks for the info and definitions. Also, I think you're right about the hemmed bottom. Good looking out! Thanks!

From reading the listing I got the impression that event was where he got the AUTOGRAPH (which oddly is on the front of the jersey), not the jersey itself. However, I have ebay messaged him asking where he obtained the jersey, we'll see what his reply is to that question.

[Falcon]

Wow, thanks for the help...

[JackHE]

I collect Falcons jerseys and would guess this is the situation - Yes, the team gave him the jersey for the photo shoot so technically would be "team issued" but I seriously doubt that this is what we call here on the forum "game issued" or even "pro cut". As mentioned, the length alone would rule this out as either one. Still might be nice to have but that price is pretty steep IMO. Just my 2 cents.

J

[sacker12]

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if that happens to a game-cut jersey that was made to be autographed. I believe that a lot of teams order multiple game-cut jerseys for their star players to be autographed or given away for charities, sports memorabilia dealers, fans, etc.

However, the explanation about the jersey being a blank team-issued jersey attributed to look like Ryan's jersey sounds like a good one. If you know where to look and who to ask, it is very much possible to get a blank game-cut NFL jersey.

[sacker12]

Also, I can't tell, but does that jersey have the new NFL EQT logo on the neck, or not?