Sports Memorabilia

Sports Memorabilia
Everyone knows that sports generate big bucks in Canada and the U.S. The salaries of each player, the ticket costs, the equipment costs, and sports memorabilia all play a crucial role in the estimated $425 billion per year spent on sports. Sports memorabilia is a very hit and miss type of business. In order for you to be successful in making money, the collectables need to be from popular athletes, the buyer needs to love the product and you need to have a good place to sell them.

First off, the personal popularity of an athlete makes a huge difference in the value of collectibles being purchased. More items having to do with Wayne Gretzky will sell compared to a new rookie on the Toronto Maple Leafs team. A great example of this is when Lance Armstrong was winning the Tour de France, his “LIVESTRONG” bracelets were selling off the charts. Everyone had to have one. But now, even though he is still racing and a ‘celebrity’ in the biking world, his merchandise sales have suffered because his popularity has dwindled.

Next, in order for someone to spend a fair amount of money on sports collectables, they need to be attached to it. Fans buy merchandise because they view it as something special and because they love it. Most memorabilia never gets used and it is just an object to look at because the item is often valuable. If fans didn’t get emotionally attached to certain players or teams then memorabilia would not be worth anything.

To contrast, some people will only buy memorabilia for the status they receive. This can be called conspicuous consumption, “lavish spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth,” as said from Wikipedia.

Finally, the places memorabilia is sold is extremely important to how much money you make. Selling online can give an advantage because it allows the seller to make fast sales and allows buyers to purchase quickly. Prices of Stanley Cup winning jerseys can be...