Nearly $100M in fake sports memorabilia seized entering Super Bowl LVI

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Federal agents seized nearly $100 million worth of counterfeit NFL merchandise in the year leading up to Super Bowl LVI and expect additional challenges this week due to the size of Los Angeles, officials said Thursday.

Representatives from the NFL, local law enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center and United States Customs and Border Protection spoke about that challenge at an anti-counterfeiting news conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

"Our efforts and the bad guys' efforts aren't just a week around the game, but are going on all the time," special agent Mike Rose of Homeland Security Investigations told UPI. "A week after the Super Bowl, you can still find it.

"But [counterfeit sales] are especially [prevalent] the week or 10 days up until game day and with the fan experiences. The more potential customers you have, the more sellers you are going to have."

Since last year's Super Bowl, the local and federal agencies identified supply chain distributors and retailers and seized more than 250,000 counterfeit items worth a manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) of about $97.8 million. Those items included fake jerseys, hats, shirts, jackets and more.

The federal agencies, which call their annual, coordinated effort "Operation Team Player," seized $45 million worth of counterfeit NFL goods entering last year's Super Bowl. They seized a record-breaking $123 million leading up to the Super Bowl in 2020 in Miami.

This past year's total is the second-highest value of seized goods in the history of the operation.

Los Angeles' status as the United States' second-largest city, the overall distance officers need to blanket and the expensive cost of Super Bowl game tickets are among the challenges presented to consumers and those tasked with protecting their interest.

"The distance between everything is huge," Rose said. "We were out at a Santa Fe swap meet, San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and other places. There are so many people, so many potential customers and so many counterfeiters everywhere.

"The volume of people, customers and counterfeiters, has been a challenge. ... The amount of manpower that goes into it, even if you might not see it, is insane."

Several of the seized items were on display Thursday, including fake Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams apparel and even a phony Lombardi Trophy and Super Bowl rings. Rose said there are "truckloads" of other items seized on a regular basis. Federal agencies destroy most of the seized items.

Fake tickets are among the items fans must watch out for more now than in the past.

The least-expensive tickets for Super Bowl LVI continued to hover between $4,000 and $6,000 as of Thursday afternoon. That lofty price tag means many football fans are searching for deals, which lends itself to fraud, the officials said.

"With the kickoff less than four days away, fans are eager to support their teams and spend their hard-earned money on apparel, memorabilia or last minute tickets," said Steve Francis, acting executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations.

"Sometimes they are lured by a great deal that may be too go to be true," Francis said.

The officials cautioned fans to check for misspellings or a lack of contact information on advertisements for tickets and other goods.

They also said not to buy paper or hard-copy Super Bowl tickets, because real tickets are digital.

"Combating ticketing fraud is a priority for NFL," said Michale Buchwald, the league's senior counsel.

"The NFL has devoted significant resources to provide fans with options to securely purchase tickets to NFL games, including the Super Bowl."

Buchwald cited the league's ticket network, which includes Ticketmaster, Stubhub and SeatGeek. Each of those platforms uses tools to verify ticket authenticity for purchasers.

Profits from the sales of the illegitimate goods are often used to propel further criminal activity, officials say.

"Don't be fooled, intellectual property theft is not a victimless crime," Francis said. "The illicit proceeds resulting from the sale of counterfeit or unlicensed products are more often than not funneled back to support other criminal organizations."