They won't be hoisting the Lombardi trophy this February, but the US Customs and Border Protection scored a major haul last week with their seizure of $21.6 million in counterfeit NFL merchandise ahead of Superbowl XLVIII. A striking move, especially since it's not every day that the Feds spend their resources toward ensuring that a private event goes off without a hitch. In this case, though, there's been massive worry about illicit activity centered around the annual event, from social media's widely-shared admonition against human trafficking to troubled rapscallion Justin Bieber's pot party plane.
So why do the Feds have their eyes on Superbowl-related treachery? $21.6 million is a staggering figure, and is surely just a fraction of the sum netted by counterfeiters. It's in the government's interest to inhibit evildoers in order to boost confidence in the market. Not only does the move deal a blow to fake merchandise producers abroad, which fits in with overall US trade policy interests, but increases American spending in American franchises. After all, what's more American than America?
3 comments:
Interesting article, that is a good question. What were the true motives behind US Customs and Border Protection concentrated on a private event that did more than likely did not result in a material amount in the retail revenue. A reason that came to my mind was this was the first Superbowl since Nike took over the rights to the NFL jerseys from Reebok. My guess is a large amount of the NFL merchandise was Reebok apparel that was trying to be sold on the black market.
This is very interesting and something I would never normally think about. Martin, that is a good observation in the idea of the brand change on NFL apparel. It's pretty crazy that they captured that much in counterfeit apparel.
Interesting story. In class we've briefly discussed the presence of black markets in different systems. I wonder if there is any instance in which allowing these kind of operations can help grow the economy. I understand the idea seems farfetched and counterintuitive, but it's difficult to measure all the different externalities. Is it possible that some of these externalities of the black market can actually aid the economy?
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