Female athletes were underrepresented at the autograph pavilion during the 2023 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago.
Complaints around the issue last year led to the late addition of LSU basketball star Angel Reese, who had just signed a deal with Leaf and was a few months removed from winning the national championship.
This year, Tri-Star, which runs the in-person signings at the convention, has pulled in the big names and will feature arguably the most celebrated American women’s championship team of all time. Eight members of the 1999 U.S. Women's World Cup team, which earlier this month celebrated the 25th anniversary of its dramatic victory against China at the Rose Bowl, will be among the featured signers for the event.
Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly, Michelle Akers, Joy Fawcett, Carla Overbeck, Brianna Scurry and Tisha Venturini will sign autographs for $41 each or $311 for all eight.
“It’s unquestionably the best value of anyone who is signing,” said David Ratliff, who runs an autograph business called Signed & Slabbed.
Tri-Star founder Jeff Rosenberg said he’s thrilled to have the 1999 team on site in Cleveland, as well as Cheryl Miller, of the best women’s college basketball players of all time. However, Rosenberg says the hobby has a long way to go.
Based on current ticket sales, the jury is still out whether the female athletes at this year’s show will stand out.
“For right now, we know that most collectors are men, and we’ve seen that women mostly collect women athletes,” Rosenberg told cllct. “I think, 10 to 15 years down the road that will change, and Caitlin Clark has helped immeasurably, but it’s still very much an uphill battle.”
So what will define success?
“It won’t just be straight-up profit and loss for us here,” Rosenberg said. “A lot of it will be what we see with our eyes.”
Miller will sign Saturday, July 27, and the U.S. women's national team will sign the next day.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.