Just a few weeks ago the National Sports Collectors Convention, a massive treasure trove of memorabilia new, unique and traditional, returned to Chicago.
It is what you would expect, aisle upon aisle of collectables big and small, with literally millions exchanging hands…or just a few dollars.
What was missing? Women’s sports items. There is so much momentum in women’s sports these days…attendance, broadcast, sponsorship, team sales prices, marketing deals…yet on the entire floor, thousands of feet of space, hundreds of booths…there was ONE small booth dedicated to promoting women’s sports. Of all the autograph signees for the weekend…the number of women? Zero. Of all the merchandise on display, there was ONE WNBA jersey. No Mia Hamm, no Lisa Leslie, no Serena Williams, no Anika Sorenstam, no Cami Granato. None. Not a space. I was thinking about this becuase of a conversation soccer legend Michelle Akers had at an event at NBC earlier this year. Akers, who was a stalwart of so many U.S. Women’s National Teams and was such an integral part of the 1999 World Cup champions, mentioned that he was downsizing her house and had all this “stuff” from her playing days, but had no takers yet on most of it.
What?
We have seen companies slowly come to the space. There are card business that are growing. The launch in Portland of The Sports Bra, the first bar dedicated to women’s sports first, has grown in popularity and exposure to the point where franchising has been discussed. Funko Pops, is another recent addition to the space. But for the most part, still silence.
That tells us something, actually a few things. Maybe the market is not there yet because the audience is not yet mature enough. Maybe the organizers and collectors are not hearing the demand just yet. Maybe the mindset for women’s sport is still leaning forward where the tangible collectible is not needed, it is much more cloud based. Maybe those interested in women’s sport would rather be out and about than in a convention hall of a sunny weekend in the summer. Or maybe, just maybe, in a risk averse traditional business, those at the top don’t yet see the opportunity.
Our opinion, if you can start the business geared towards the women’s stars past, present and future, you bring in an new demo to these shows, you show inclusivity, and you drive a new revenue stream. It wasn’t like people weren’t asking for women’s swag, they were, it just was not present.
Now like any emerging market, the spend and the income probably won’t be substantial at first. It’s hard to gauge scarcity of the collector so far, but as the rest of the marketplace goes, first engaged entrepreneurs might find a way in.
Worth following for sure.
