Behind a table flooded with a colorful assortment of fake NFL jerseys, hats and scarves -- as well as two dozen sham Super Bowl rings and a pair of fake Super Bowl trophies -- the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center announced yesterday that it seized nearly $28.1M of counterfeit sports-related items over the past year.
Through “Operation Team Player,” an initiative run by the IPR Center in conjunction with major U.S. sports leagues, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations confiscated about 94,000 shipments containing goods that violated intellectual property rights.
Homeland Security Investigations agents have already combed through Las Vegas for fakes this week in the lead-up to Super Bowl LVIII as well, reportedly seizing about 4,600 football-related counterfeit items worth nearly $1M over the past few days, CBS News reported.
“Criminals thrive on major sporting events like Super Bowl LVIII,” said Katrina Berger, the Exec Associate Dir of Homeland Security Investigations. “They profit from manufacturing and selling things like unlicensed and counterfeit apparel, merchandise and tickets, and fans usually don't even know they're being swindled.”
The $28.1M mark is an increase on last year’s $22.7M but is much less than the estimated $45M and $97.8M worth of counterfeit merchandise confiscated by the same operation in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
“Over the last year alone, the NFL has enforced against hundreds of thousands of counterfeit e-commerce listings, ads, sites and sellers,” said NFL Senior Counsel Bonnie Jarrett.
Nicky Wolcott is covering the Super Bowl as an editorial intern for SBJ. The Univ. of Maryland junior was selected by the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism to represent the school in Las Vegas. This marks the third year of the partnership between Maryland and SBJ.
