no97

So how about this scenario - I know that I've posted about the guy here who got prison time for selling counterfeit jerseys. I just found out that they are now selling a group of those at a local resale shop (no idea of the price, but I think I'll stop to check it out on Monday). Interesting development that I'll have to check out...

I think you misunderstood my point. I'm not debating pro hockey's viability in Houston in the past. I'm debating its viability in the present. The Aeros are long gone. Any NHL team in Houston, even if they use the Aeros name, will have to start from scratch. They'd have to compete with the Rockets for fans, ticket sales, merchandise sales, tv ratings, and local corporate dollars. The Rockets, being the more entrenched of the two teams, would have a marked advantage in all of these areas. Um, what? I mean, I know what you're getting at (the loss of the WHA Aeros) but it's not like there isn't a current team that's top-10 in the AHL in attendance named Aeros playing an an NHL-ready rink right now (Toyota Center opened in 2003 with 17,000 seats for hockey). The rest of your premise is correct - that they'll have to battle with the Rockets for market share - but, and this is a big but, they are also in a top-10 media market in this country with a track-record for supporting hockey. It's not like putting a third team in Atlanta, or replacing a failing Coyotes team with another franchise. I honestly think Houston could give it a go, if, and only if, the NHL put some contingencies on it, like they did in Winnipeg. And that may be the new norm - guaranteeing a certain level of ticket sales. Maybe not as high a level as the 'Peg was required to support, but maybe a place like Houston would be required to sell 7,000 season tickets with 1-3 year commitments.

Inflation is not flat (hence the "~"). I used this: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ And put an 2 in there rather than a 3. Sorry - should be $232. I'll edit my post.

Assuming they wouldn't sell them at a loss, maybe we should all be "freaking out" about the price of authentics since this indicates just how huge the league's markup really is. At least $100 profit on a $250 product? Must be nice. Let's look at this logically, shall we? First, let's take a look at inflation. I bought my first NHL authentic in 1990 for $135. Inflation is ~ 3%, and over the last 20 years, that means the cost of a $135 item would make that purchase roughly $232. $269 isn't that much of a stretch with that perspective now is it? Now consider the other big factor brought up - profit margin. Sure, making $100 sounds nice, and we could all get rich if we sold authentic jerseys all day long. The problem is that not a lot of them are sold - just like cars - so that when they are sold, the dealer has to turn a decent profit. See, the dealer is taking the risk of spending $150 by buying them from Reebok. Then has to have them sit around in his showroom or store until someone wants to buy it. Let's say he buys 10 authentic jerseys at $1500 from Reebok and sets the price at $269. Sure, if he sells them all, he's going to realize a nice profit of $1190. But what if only 3 sell at full price because Joe Thornton got traded from the Bruins to the Sharks? Suddenly he's got $807 in the bank, and is still $693 from breaking even. Selling for cost still makes that owner a profit, but how many people post trade are going to want a Bruins Thornton authentic jersey at that point? Maybe he can sell them for $100 and just eek out a profit. Maybe he has to sell them to TJ Maxx at $50 a piece and never gets out from under it. Or, maybe he gets lucky - in that he doesn't buy Thornton jerseys. Maybe he buys Steve Yzerman jerseys. Still, it may take that guy a whole year to sell those 10 jerseys. And in that time, he's out the $1500 until he can sell ~ 6 of them.

Might want to revisit this bit of info from a shop owner in my town who "got jerseys" for other guys... http://www.justice.gov/usao/mn/press/apr022.pdf Hope that works out well for you

Want to know the definition of "complete 'effin moron"? THE EXACT SAME MALL that this clown sold this crap at now has a new store selling NBA China rip-offs. This story has been all over the news here for the last month, yet this guy can't wait to join him... These people deserve what they get.

anyone really concerned about a knock off is/must be young and worried about trivial crap like what other people think. Or if youre older,you possess no wisdom and worry about really stupid crap. I have a couple knock offs and they are fine. The numbers are a tad big but its obvious what team is being represented and they are better quality than over priced pseudo replicas sold in America. Sure its nice to have what is considered the real thing but paying 300 for a football jersey is pretty stupid....I do hope to get one eventually, but for now knock offs are fine. One day I'd like to buy my own cable. But for now stealing my neighbors is fine. One day I'd like to have my own Porche, but for now, I can't afford one from the authroized retailer so I will just buy one on the black market from a chop shop. It's the same thing, right? I mean, I don't care whose intellectual property is being respected or paid for or anything, I just care that I can hit my pricepoint on the things I want, because gosh darn-it, I am entitled! I'll post the quote from last page again and the guy who got 6 months in the federal pen for selling this stuff: But that's OK, you totally deserve that "cheap" shirt... Don't worry at all about the drug dealers or terrorists that are profiting off the sales, or the guy next door who owns the legitimate sports store thats going to lose his house since he lost all his jersey business to the counterfeit guys... Again, it's all about you, deserving a cheap shirt...

A guy here in my town just got sentanced to 6 months in FEDERAL PRISON for selling Chinese fakes at his store: http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100027639/ Note, from the article:

But you own the rights, correct? And that allows you to use them as you see fit (like telling Infared he can't make t-shirts or bumber stickers, etc. and sell them), right? 'Cause then you'd want a cut... And if you sold the rights, whoever bought the rights would deserve a cut too? Why does it have to be about the artist? How about the investment if I decided to buy your logos? Why sholdn't that be protected?

I hated when this store opened, as they sold the crap posted in this thread, so I'm glad the owner got his: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/190887/group/homepage/

Re-read the origional article. They aren't talking about renovating the Trop, rather tearing it down, selling the land and using the money generated from the sale (where that land (the land the Trop currnetly sits on) is turned into retail space). The renovation you're refering to on the Trop are renovations that have already been done just to get the Trop even close to modern standards for a MLB ballpark... As others have noted, for a stadium that's barely 20 years old, it was outdated the moment it opened... Moose