Johnny Manziel may have been burned in the autograph memorabilia scandal last year by one of the dealers for whom he signed in an effort by the dealer to boost the sales market for the items.
After seeing that a memorabilia dealer posting on Reddit predicted Todd Gurley’s suspension two weeks ago and mentioned it in a Q&A session six months ago, I decided to go back and read through the dealer’s original interview with the Reddit community.
In that AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) interview with the Reddit community, the memorabilia dealer was asked whether he would ever be a source for the media against one of the players with whom he worked. That’s when he said it was a memorabilia dealer who leaked news of the Manziel signings to the media to boost interest in the autographs.
Q. Would you ever be an unnamed source for a media conglomerate?
A. Probably not. I know the guy that leaked the Manziel stuff. It wasn’t hard for the other dealers to figure it out. None will have anything to do with him. The player I did last week won’t return his texts anymore either. It was a mistake in the long run but it made him a ton of money. He had the most Manziel stuff at the time and it when he leaked it, the stuff started selling like hot cakes.
So there you go: the media leak created a large marketplace for the memorabilia seller who then profited from the Manziel autographs. If you don’t mind burning bridges in the short-term, it’s a profitable strategy.
If you remember the timeline correctly, on Aug. 4 ESPN reported that Manziel was paid a flat, five-figure sum to sign autographs for a dealer. Over the following week, many other alleged paid signings by Manziel were reported. Though the dealers confirmed to ESPN that they paid Manziel for autograph signings, the dealers never cooperated with the NCAA. Manziel denied ever receiving payment for the autographs. Because the NCAA did not have proof he accepted money, they could not punish him. The result was Texas A&M only suspended Manziel for one half of the team’s season-opening game last year.
Usually when you make a business deal with someone, you trust that they will serve you properly. But the memorabilia dealers have all the leverage in the situation; the autograph dealers are not breaking any laws by getting autographs from players or selling them. It’s only against NCAA rules for players to sign for money or knowing that the items will be sold for money, meaning only the player can lose.
Here’s another thing to keep in mind: a person who is willing to pay you to break rules probably will not have a problem selling you out for their personal gain.
Lastly, the guy who was the source of the original Manziel report is a broker named Drew Tieman. Say it was him who leaked the news, why would he have been motivated to burn his bridges in the memorabilia industry for one big payday? A source told LBS several months ago that Tieman moved on to a new scheme/business, so he probably felt the leak was worthwhile.
