Steiner Sports since Saturday has sold $2.5-3M of "products related" to Yankees SS Derek Jeter’s 3,000th career hit, according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. Steiner Sports Chair Brandon Steiner, whose company has partnerships with Jeter and the Yankees, said, “I thought this would be big, but it’s huge.” Steiner “likened the volume of Jeter sales” to the Yankees' ’09 World Series championship. He said that the demand for sales caused the company's “phone lines to crash three times Saturday.” Sandomir reports Jeter Sunday night signed “about 1,000 items, mostly balls and photos, for Steiner, and he will sign more products, including commemorative bats, later this month.” In addition to Steiner Sports’ sales, “about $3 million in 3,000th-hit goods were sold at Yankee Stadium over the weekend.” Modell’s Sporting Goods CEO Mitch Modell said that T-shirts “were leading sales at his stores, but he would not give sales figures.” Sandomir notes business has been “very strong” for the 24 MLB licensees that have produced 3,000th-hit merchandise. Execs from all the licensees attended Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Phoenix, and MLB Senior VP/Licensing Howard Smith said, “They’re all walking around with strange smiles on their faces.” Smith added, “This has exceeded all our expectations. Nobody has reported run-of-the-mill sales” (N.Y. TIMES, 7/14).
WE HAVE A WINNER: USA TODAY’s Bruce Horovitz notes several marketers, including MillerCoors, Modell’s and Steiner Sports, are “offering wads of cash” to Christian Lopez, the Yankee fan who caught and returned Jeter’s 3,000th hit ball. Miller High Life “offered to pay the estimated $14,000 tax bill for memorabilia and tickets that Lopez got as a thanks from Jeter and the Yankees.” Modell’s “has dubbed this ‘Christian Lopez Week’ at Modell’s, and will donate 5% of Yankee merchandise sales to Lopez” with a minimum guarantee of $25,000. Steiner Sports also is “auctioning sports memorabilia on its site, with profits going to Lopez” and a minimum guarantee of $25,000 (USA TODAY, 7/14). CNBC.com’s Darren Rovell noted Miller High Life, which “recently had a campaign to make its beer the official beer of fans,” also has offered “to throw a party for Lopez with free beer for him and his ‘legal-drinking-age friends’” (CNBC.com, 7/13). Meanwhile, Topps said that it will “produce a trading card featuring Lopez that will be included in sets later this year” (NEWSDAY, 7/14).
