I have thought of this for the last 4-5 years or so and notice it more and more. Maybe it is me getting older but I am getting more upset about it. NFL counterfeit jerseys that people order online from all lame overseas websites that pop up and down real fast.

Sewn jerseys that sell for well under $50 each. They stick out like a sore thumb to me, even ones for teams that have simple jerseys like the Packers, Bears or Raiders. You know, the sleeve stripping is not quite right, the numbers look like almost a soft mattress material, the Packers #5 font won't dip in the middle left side of the 5.... I have seen them for sale at used clothing stores even. I was at the Packers Thanksgiving game and the Colts vs Bucs game in November 2015 and from those 2 games, I'd say of all the jerseys I saw at those stadiums, at MINIMUM 20% of the jerseys people had on were bootlegged.

First of all, One thing I don't get is the blatant illegal ownership of these items. --- Let me clarify that.... If a friend of yours stole a car, you didn't know this, then that same friend gave you that car, then you could be arrested for ownership of stolen property. NFL merchandise is obviously licensed product. This also has royalties built into the cost. Bootleg jerseys are stolen intellectual property. The copyright loophole is having the jerseys made outside the USA, but once they come to the USA, those are violated. My fiancé is a law student at Marquette and next semester I asked her to bring this up to a law panel at the University to see what their take is.

My thought is that the NFL could legally go to NFL stadiums and have anyone wearing a bootleg jersey get a citation. Witch hunt? Yes it would be. On one side, it would be protecting their brand, on the otherside this would be a PR nightmare fans would be outraged the NFL would be the bad guy again for giving a dad in a bogus jersey a ticket in front of friends and family. I personally would not care though, mostly because I don't own any knock off jerseys, most every jersey I owe is either game used or issued with a lot of personal research I do myself on each item regardless of the authentication.

Ok, being a jersey snob aside...Lets just get this out of the way, the guy buying a $15,000 Aaron Rodgers Game Used jersey is not the same guy buying a knock off Aaron Rodgers jersey for $37.99 from an off shore website..... I think everyone on this forum pretty much understands that. Now with that out of the way, I know for a fact bootleg jerseys have at least SLIGHTLY hurt the lower end game used market. I was at a team garage sale a year or so ago and instead of buying a nice game sued jersey for $50, I heard a guy say he could get a jersey of that team's star player on certain off shore website for less than that. The jersey at that garage sale was $50 but was a jersey probably worth $130+ on ebay or to another buyer on this forum. Another example, is I myself trying to sell a legit game used jersey for $100 to a co worker and that co work flat out told me they rather get a jersey from one of those knockoff website, I said that the jersey he wanted to get was fake but because the bootleg jersey was $40, he didn't care and the look of the jersey was "close enough."

On ebay last month, I had 5 NFL game used jerseys that I should have had no problem getting $100 a piece (with free shipping) for but I was only successful on 1 out of 5 of those offerings. Now were bootlegs jersey sales responsible for me not selling those? Maybe not directly, but I certainly think bootleg jerseys sales don't help at all. In reality low end game sued jersey compete on price point against $40 knockoffs. To me it is a no brainer, I'd rather have a legitimate game used jersey over even a legit retail authentic jersey, but most people are not super fans as I would think game sued collectors are.... most people are casual fans and fantasy footballers who want something "Close enough."

I do think this situation is going to get better or get a lot worse and it will be interesting to see what steps the NFL does to protect their brand.