The cancellation of the Washington Redskins’ trademark Wednesday leaves many unanswered questions, but perhaps the first in the mind of the average fan is: What does that mean for all my Redskins stuff?
In the age of nonstop NFL merchandising — you can get a Redskins-branded ceiling fan, for pete’s sake — the issue becomes not just whether fans will buy newly-branded gear should the team change its name, but whether they could actually make a profit by selling the merchandise with the old name and logo.
So is it time to take to eBay to snap up those hoodies, signed helmets and more? We asked sports memorabilia appraiser and ”Antiques Roadshow” expert Leila Dunbar of Leila Dunbar Appraisals and Consulting LLC to give us the skinny on collecting Redskins items. Here’s what we found out:
Would the cancellation of a trademark itself change the value of items that were created under that trademark? If so, how? For the rarest and most important items in particular, the cancellation of the trademark does not affect the historical importance of game-related memorabilia and-or the demand for those items.
That’s because game-used and related sports memorabilia (uniforms, bats, balls, equipment, championship trophies and rings, etc.) are at the top of the hierarchy, because there are relatively few items available for sale. Demand is far greater than supply. Mass-produced souvenir collectibles are generally at the bottom of the hierarchy, as these items are sold in large quantities.
The cancellation may have an impact on manufactured merchandise, however, as without the protection of a trademark, the market is open to all manufacturers who want to produce T-shirts and other Redskins souvenirs, which means greater competition and less profits for both the Redskins and their NFL team partners.
If the Redskins did change their name, what would that do to the value of existing merchandise/collectibles? If the Redskins change their name, given the controversy, it is possible that it will start a run on the current available manufactured merchandise and could cause the short-term market to be pushed up for those items. It is unknown what the impact will be for the long run as what often happens is that “limited edition” items are hoarded by many and then offered on sites such as eBay, which gets flooded with such merchandise and keeps the prices from rising because of the continued supply.
In my experience, Washington Bullets collectibles are not significantly higher than Washington Wizards collectibles, nor are Charlotte Hornets higher than Charlotte Bobcats. Again, for team-related, game-used items, the impact will be negligible because they are valued for the achievements they represent.
Is there any precedent for this? There is no precedent that I can think of in terms of a vast change in the market for merchandise related to a name change or a move by a team. There are a number of teams whose names have changed, largely because they moved, such as the Athletics (Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland), the Colts (Baltimore to Indianapolis) or the Braves (Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta). In my experience, the moves have minimal significant impact on mass produced collectibles.
History has impacted the market for memorabilia in both directions. On one hand, today some of the most sought after memorabilia are game-used items, signed baseballs and related documents from the 1919 Chicago White “Black” Sox, who were found to have been paid by gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series. It is the only known World Series for that scandal to have occurred.
On the other hand, memorabilia from players suspected of steroid use such as baseball players Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, generally sell for lower prices than during the height of their careers. In 1999, McGwire’s 1998 70th home run ball, breaking the single season record of Roger Maris’ 61 home runs set in 1961, sold for $3 million. Today, it would most likely sell for a fraction of that price as Bonds broke the single-season record just a few years later and because both have been accused of using steroids to enhance their performances.
In your time appraising/auctioning sports memorabilia, have you encountered collectors who were either more interested in Redskins items because of the controversy or turned off from collecting them because of that? I have not encountered either situation. Beyond the team, fans collect items from their favorite players such as Sam Huff, Sonny Jurgenson, Art Monk or Robert Griffin III. Football and general sports collectors want items that represent important players, moments or games and the controversy doesn’t enhance or diminish those pieces. The controversy hasn’t thus far impacted the action on the playing field, and there is no reason to think it will affect the top game-related memorabilia.