Students to help run new SU sports collectibles firm

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Oct 13, 2006 by Tampone, Kevin

SYRACUSE - Some Syracuse University (SU) fans bleed a bit more orange than most and for them, getting Donovan McNabb's old locker as a gift might be just the thing to make their day.

Or year.

Or lifetime.

Others would probably be just as happy with an autographed photo of the former SU quarterback, now in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles.

A group of SU students is helping to launch a company that will cater to both types of SU fans far and wide.

From framed photo collages to gameused artifacts, the company will have a wide variety of collectibles for Orange fans to ogle and buy. And yes, the inventory will include old lockers that once belonged to SU players and even pieces of the home court that the men's basketball team played on during its national championship season.

The real benefit, however, will be the experience students in SU's sport-management program gain by helping run the company, says Michael Veley, director of the Department of Sport Management in the College of Human Services and Health Professions.

"We're not playing with Monopoly money here," he says. "This is a real business. It's one thing to read case studies in a textbook. It's another thing to actually be out there and go through all the pains that any business owner would in a growing process."

The company, Syracuse Steiner Collectibles, is a threeway partnership among the sport-management department, the university's Department of Athletics, and Steiner Sports Marketing & Memorabilia, Inc.

Steiner Sports is a New Rochelle-based sports marketing firm. The company also has divisions dealing in collectibles and memorabilia from teams like the New York Mets and Yankees.

The firm's chairman and founder, Brandon Steiner, is a 1981 graduate of SU's Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Steiner Sports and the athletic department will split the revenue the company generates.

Veley says he and Steiner developed the concept for the company over the past year and hope to launch it in time for the holiday shopping season. The company will have retail space in the Carrier Dome, but Veley says it will primarily operate as a Webbased business.

"We're trying to get them some real-life experience," Steiner says. "Any time you can interact real work with what's going on in the classroom, it becomes real. That's what it's all about."

Although the overall success of the company depends partially on how well SU's teams perform, there is certainly a market for Orange collectibles, he adds.

"We know there's a very loyal clientele in Syracuse and around the country," he says.

Currently, about 40 students are working on market research for the company's launch, Veley says. The students have collected about 500 surveys from fans at SU football games and hope to gather another 500.

They are researching topics like pricing, what types of collectibles fans want, and which players interest fans the most. As the company grows, Veley hopes sportmanagement students will be involved with it throughout their college careers.

The 150-student program focuses on several areas including communications, marketing, business, and law. Students interested in communications could work in media relations and Web development for the company.

Those focusing on legal issues could work on the contract issues involved in selling sports memorabilia autographed by past SU athletes who now play professionally.

The hope is to develop a classroom practicum around the company so students will receive credit for their work, Veley says.

The experience will be a valuable one for students, says Gina Pauline, an assistant professor in the sportmanagement department. Pauline's students have been working on the company's recent market research.

"They can actually see the ... fruits of their work," she says. "They're learning the whole process from the ground up."