In just a weeks time the National Sports Collectors Convention, a massive treasure trove of memorabilia new, unique and traditional, will make its stop in Cleveland this year, followed by FantaicsFest in New York in August.
Both will be a treasure trove of stuff feeding into the growing market of collectables, and both are worth a trip. Aisle upon aisle of collectables big and small, with literally millions exchanging hands…or just a few dollars.
What has been missing? Women’s sports items. This year The National will have a several of the 1999 Women’s World Cup Champions signing, but Fanaticsfest? One woman and even with leagues like the WNBA involved, a quick look at both websites shows little if any women’s memorabilia being displayed. 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…only ONE small booth dedicated to promoting women’s sports. No Mia Hamm, no Lisa Leslie, no Serena Williams, no Anika Sorenstam, no Cami Granato. I was thinking about this because of a conversation soccer legend Michelle Akers had at an event at NBC earlier last 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 syndication of The Sports Bra, the first bar dedicated to women’s sports first, has grown in popularity and exposure
Funko Pops, is another recent addition to the space. But for the most part, the space is still open. Cllct recently did a story on Brandi Chastain and what her legendary sports bra would bring, and it led us to think there is probably a lot more than that to be had, and coming out of the Olympics, even more on the horizon..
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.
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