Selling Football Memorabilia
I never would have thought of trying to sell football memorabilia
as a way to make money. But after I read this story... well,
you'll see.
This was an entry in my Most Interesting Money Maker Contest.
Others are listed on the page Interesting
Ways to Make Money.
Steve Everly
Alabama
Steve, I don't know if you are familiar with the college
football atmosphere here in Alabama but most everyone is either
an Alabama or Auburn fan and they both hate each other. And to
make things worse they play each other every year usually the
last game of the season for state bragging rights. A couple of
friends and I were talking about the game that was coming up.
One friend said that he went to a Super Bowl game once were he
saw a guy standing outside the stadium and he had wads of cash
coming out of his pockets. He had 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper with
each team on the paper and a box at the bottom of the sheet.
Inside each box was the score of the super bowl and the words;
"I was there at Super Bowl XXXV."
It didn't take us long to start planning our trip to the
Alabama / Auburn game. We went to my friend's uncle, who owned
a printing company, and had several sheets printed up with Tide
on one side and Tigers on the other side. Under each side was
a small block to print the score. Across the top were the words,
"I was there at the battle in Birmingham!" We bought
a stick and two ink stamps with the idea of stamping the score
on the sheets and being able to sell them to fans right after
the game. We rented a moving truck and drove to the game.
We were parked right outside the main gate where most people
went in. We taped the sheets with the blank score on them so
people knew going in where to go to get their "bragging
rights sheet" right after the game. Someone had told us
that we had to have a vendor permit that cost 15 dollars and
that you had to have it before Saturday. If you did not have
the permit, the police would shut you down and you couldn't purchase
the permit because it came from city hall and they were closed
on Saturday. Sure enough the police came around checking permits
and we had ours.
Alabama won the big game that year and we started out selling
the sheets at $3 each. It was amazing to say the least - people
were lined up buying 6 and 7 sheets at a time. It seemed like
no one could get enough of them. We were the first vendor that
fans saw selling souvenirs that had the score on them. I think
that Alabama won at the last second by a field goal. People had
hundred dollar bills in their hands and were buying all they
could!
After about an hour or so of selling the sheets things
begin to slow down. We had just a couple of hundred or so left.
We were listening to the post game show and heard something we
never expected. The Alabama coach was retiring that year and
that was his last game as the coach at the University of Alabama.
Right away the sheets were being marketed as the commemorative
edition for "the last game" and the same ones that
had been selling for $3 now were now selling for $5. I bet we
could have sold another 1,000 or so but in just a few minutes
we were completely sold out!
Not only did we make a lot of cash that day but I had a
lot of fun with my friends. We call it here in the south killing
two birds with one stone. My buddies still make fun of me because
of that day. Even though I'm a Tennessee Volunteer fan, which
is normally an enemy of Alabama, that day with all of the cash
rolling in I was yelling, Roll Tide Roll!
This story is yet another great example the entrepreneurial
spirit, which Steve clearly has. In addition to this account
of selling football memorabilia, his story on how to make money
taking photos at a basketball game can be found on this page:
Make Money With a Camera.
Note: Yes, the contest is over, but I'll announce new
competitions in the newsletter. The subscription form should
be to the right, so sign up now if you haven't already. You can
also send stories of odd ways you've made money any time.When
and if I put one on the site I'll send you an e-book of your
choosing.
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