The Collectables Market Is A Cross Generational Boom; But Women’s Sports Still Lags

Just last week National Sports Collectors Convention, a massive treasure trove of memorabilia new, unique and traditional, returned to Chicago, following on the heels of Fanatics Fest a few weeks ago and scores of other smaller shows across the country that pop up this summer. What has been very encouraging at these events are not just the die hards showing up with their cases…its the amount of kids who also are discovering the value…literally and figuratively…of tangible assets tied to events, athletes and celebrities. Things they can learn the history from, touch and feel and take away with them. NFT’s? They look at you with a blank stare when the formerly buzzworthy digital collectables are mentioned, although there is a place for them as well.

There are a few reasons for the collectable boom, but two that keep coming up from friends and colleagues. Fathers…parents…have found cards and other items as a way to teach and bond with their kids who crave knowledge and the ability to conenct in a post COVID world. Screen time…playing video games…is not enough. These kids want to be out and about and experience things with others…IN PERSON. The second aspect that has come up are the facts…litrerally. More than a few parensts have said to me in recent weeks that the stroeis behind tangible items…stats, short stories, accompanying QR codes that revel history, even video, and other meta data, have proved to be a subtle teaching tool for hard to get across lessons like STEM and culture and history. A kind of Trojan horse to make lessons cool and relevant through sports.

Now back to The National. Although I was out west and didn’;’t make it to Chicago this year, colelagues have told me it is what you would expect, aisle upon aisle of collectables big and small, with literally millions exchanging hands…or just a few dollars. Not dissimilar from what we saw in parts of FanticsFest, which was probably more fan activity and a little less memorabilia.

What was missing for the large part? Women’s sports items….again. This came up in conversations this week as The National Women’s Baseball League launched, and Hope Solo recently announced her auction of memorabilia and some Caitlin Clark cards have sold for near record prices. There is so much momentum in women’s sports these days…attendance, broadcast, sponsorship, team sales prices, marketing deals…yet on the entire floor at The National, 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. All this reminded me again of a conversation soccer legend Michelle Akers had at an event at NBC in 2024. 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 and expansion to other cities 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 small 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. By the way, here is a worthwhile read about another underserved area in the space…college memorabilia.

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.