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The term sports memorabilia usually refers to a souvenir, memento, keepsake or token of remembrance that is directly connected to a famous athlete, sporting event or personality. These items are generally collected by fans that find sentimental and/ or monetary value of the item(s). There is no set parameter regarding the number of items, type of sport, or even the era that an item may reflect. A piece of certain kind may be considered a collectable item.

National Sports Collectors Convention

The National Sports Collectors Convention is the largest, annual trade show held in the United States devoted to sports memorabilia. Also known as The National, the convention has been held annually since 1980 when a small handful of sports card collectors convened at a hotel located adjacent to the Los Angeles International Airport. The show changes location each year to allow people from all areas of the country to participate. The show also changes the autograph signers each year.

The 33rd National was held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, August 1–5, 2012.

The 32nd National was held at the Donald E Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, August 3–7, 2011 and included a total of 89 current and former professional athlete autograph signers.

The 31st annual convention was held August 2010 at the Baltimore Convention Center. In addition to approximately 600 dealer booths which buy, sell and trade sports memorabilia, the National is host to over 60 celebrity autograph guests during its week-long run including names such as Cal Ripken, Jr., Bob Gibson, and John Havlicek. The Baltimore Business Journal ranked The National as the show with the highest economic impact for the city in 2010. The estimated impact of $15.48 million surpassed the second-ranked convention by nearly $4 million. (Wikipedia)

News

O.J. Simpson will sign anything to make cash — unless it’s Nicole Brown-related -
29th January 2020

O.J. Simpson is secretly selling autographed memorabilia, we’re told. But he’s still not signing any gloves.

Sources says Simpson is caught in something of a commercial Catch-22: Charging money to sign collectibles is one of the few ways he’s able to make cash, but he doesn’t want his creditors — including Nicole Brown’s family — knowing how much memorabilia he’s scribbling on, or what he’s raking in from it.

So, we’re told, the disgraced 72-year-old former NFL star has started signing memorabilia on the sly. Sources say the Juice doesn’t advertise that’s he’s available to sign items, but instead has his intermediaries reach out to individual collectors to arrange “private signings.” “There’s no mass e-mails or anything like that,” said an insider. “Dealers have to go directly to clients.”

We’re told Simpson — who has started a new life in Las Vegas since his release from prison — will “sign anything, except items related to the [Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman murders]. He doesn’t want that kind of thing out there.” So … the gloves still won’t fit.

Mike Heffner, president of sports-memorabilia auctioneers Lelands (which isn’t involved in the Simpson sales), told us that demand for Simpson memorabilia skyrocketed at the time of the 1994 murders and subsequent trial, but has since waned.

Heffner estimated that a signature today would net somewhere between $20 on a card and up to $400 on a helmet. He also said that autograph sales are often particularly important to marred stars, whose checkered pasts rule them out of traditional career routes for retired athletes, such as broadcasting and endorsement deals.

Despite his comfortable life in Nevada, Simpson owes Brown’s family more than $35 million, awarded to them after Simpson was found to be liable for her death. In 1999, an auction of Simpson memorabilia raised more than $500,000, which went directly to the family.

Simpson’s lawyer didn’t get back to us.

(Page Six)