J.O. Sports Incorporated, a leader in bringing authentic game-used and autographed pro sports memorabilia to collectors, has reached agreement to become official partners with three National Football League franchises. The company will now be the exclusive provider of game-used equipment sourced directly from those teams.
The marketing agreement includes the distribution of game-worn jerseys, pants, helmets, sideline apparel, game-used footballs and other authentic memorabilia for the New York Jets, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos. It offers collectors and fans the opportunity to purchase highly sought- after and very personal NFL gear directly from a legitimate source, with ironclad provenance.
The three additional contracts join J.O. Sports’ existing marketing agreements with the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings and Oakland Raiders for game-worn and game-used gear.
All game-used items will be secured by the various teams’ equipment staff, then tagged and shipped to J.O. Sports’ Las Vegas office where they will be photo-matched to the specific game in which they were utilized. All will come with a letter of authenticity from the teams. Game-worn items will have the company’s revolutionary ThermoPatch applied to the inside. The patch is virtually impossible to remove and indicates the player, date worn and opponent. Each piece is then certified with a serial-numbered hologram, which is entered into J.O. Sports’ database.
“We are in the process of taking our JOSportsCo.com verification online,” said company president Jarrod Oldridge. “With this procedure, the collector can enter the serial number on each LOA to verify his or her item. At this point, we send each piece of memorabilia to our in-house photography studio. Once the collectible is photographed, it is again bagged and ready for sale.”
The agreements mean J.O. Sports will be receiving some of the special 2009 AFL Legacy game jerseys and helmets from the Jets, Broncos, Chargers and Raiders and offering them for sale later this fall. They will also have the first game-used items from Jets’ rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez and and be the only source for equipment from Broncos’ rookie Knowshon Moreno. J.O. Sports will have exclusive control over Chargers jerseys and helmets including the ultra-popular powder blue alternate jerseys. Nearly all jerseys and equipment will be unwashed, allowing collectors to do their own photo matching via grass and blood stains, along with helmet and hit marks.
“It’s one thing to have a piece of memorabilia with a letter of authenticity but it is another to have that same piece of memorabilia with the LOA and a photo of the item being worn with matching marks,” said Oldridge.
J.O. Sports also has non-marketing agreements which allow the company to purchase and re-sell game-used memorabilia from the Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons. The company even has over a dozen exclusive player contracts for game-worn and autographed memorabilia from the likes of Brian Westbrook, Andre Johnson, Chris Johnson, Steve Slaton and Marques Colston.
The game-used items will be sold exclusively on the J.O. Sports Inc. website (http://www.josportsco.com).
