Athlete Paid Signings

Hey everyone, cool site! Pretty new to all and figured it was a great place to ask something I've wondered about for years, but didn't know who I could ask until I found this site. Two questions on athlete signings:

1) I know there is a huge variety (popularity, age, retired/active, etc), but approximately how much does it cost a company to conduct a private signing??

2) Do they sign per time amount or per item?

Any particular examples of certain players or even reliable numbers would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you :)

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Permalink Reply by Rich on February 5, 2013 at 8:27pm

Here's my unhelpful input :)

1) It varies DRASTICALLY by player.

2) I think typically by time, but I think that also varies. For older athletes, paying by time alone might be problematic. A signing I went to w/ Bobby Hull two years ago comes to mind.

I'm trying to remember the details, but one major dealer who was Aaron Rodgers' first private signing following Super Bowl 45 threw out some very large figure - it might have been $150,000. BUT the whole signing was a huge undertaking. Many, many dealers were involved (including reps from Steiner, MM, Denver Autographs, Waukesha Sports Cards, JSA, etc) and actually traveled to his place in Chico, CA, loaded up a huge room full of stuff (helmets, photos, footballs, canvases - every sort of memorabilia submitted by fans), and watched him sign away for, I believe, 3 hours. I might have some details wrong, but I don't think I'm too far off target.

On the other hand, Rodgers was the hottest football player in the league at that point, and a signing of that scale isn't the most common of events.

You could always contact one a smaller dealer (i.e. not Steiner, MM, Tristar, etc) and ask them for some price ranges. We have a couple of local memorabilia dealers who have local players in all the time, ranging from top stars like Rodgers, Clay Matthews and Bart Starr to smaller names like rookies Jerel Worthy and Casey Hayward. And everyone in between. As long as you let them know you're not competition, they might give you some help on what to expect.

www.legendsofthefield.com

http://www.waukeshasportscards.com/category-s/1840.htm

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Permalink Reply by Paul B on February 5, 2013 at 11:04pm

Very helpful Rich, thank you so much for taking the time and effort!! That's very interesting to read for sure, and certainly more than I would have imagined! I can picture that being a huge undertaking for sure haha. Thanks again Rich, great idea about contacting the smaller companies to find out.