Mint Musings: Steiner Offering Relief for Browns QB CollectorsMint Musings: Steiner Offering Relief for Browns QB Collectors – You may have heard about Steiner Sports’ unique promotion last week. It’s definitely something a little out of the ordinary as the company declared it would offer a $100 gift card to anyone wishing to turn in an autographed (under certain authentication terms) item featuring a Browns quarterback since the team returned to Cleveland in 1999.

When asked why the company decided to engage in such an unorthodox promotion centered around Browns QBs, Steiner Sports VP Steve Costello said, “I was thinking about how many Browns held the quarterback position over the years. From an autograph perspective—being in that field—I asked myself, how many collectors could have bought an autograph from any one of these 24 QBs over the years? Steiner Sports has always been a fun place with a creative spirit. I spoke to Brandon Steiner, our CEO, and said, you can’t do this fast enough and he immediately jumped on board.”

Collectors have apparently been in agreement. Costello described the reception to the promotion as “overwhelmingly positive,” with the company already receiving a few hundred submissions. Of the various players turned in, Costello revealed that Connor Shaw has topped the list of submissions, followed by Brandon Weeden, Brady Quinn and Colt McCoy. Costello said the response to the promotion was expected, given the amount of press coverage it received last week. He did note that he is, “Most amazed by how this has stretched far past Ohio. We have gotten submissions from all over the country, coast-to-coast.”

Collectors looking to take advantage of this offer only have a short period of time left. Submissions need to be postmarked by January 15, 2016 in order to qualify. You need only submit one proper Browns QB autographed item to be eligible for the gift card, but it’s limited to one per customer and one per household.

As for whether Steiner will attempt a similar promotion in the future, Costello said, “We’re always open to trying new things. As far as doing this with another team, you can’t say no, but of course there are not many teams in such an interesting state of play as the Browns.”

For my part, I hope Steiner does something like this again the future. It is definitely one of the more interesting, and effective, promotions that I’ve seen a memorabilia company come up with, and I have to commend Costello and Steiner for trying it.

In a day and age where so many collectors have their hopes shattered by a team or player that doesn’t quite pan out, it’s very rare to get a do-over on an item with a nice pay-off. I don’t know about you, but there are more than a few things in my collection that I wouldn’t mind having a mulligan on or at least having the chance to turn it into something new that would fit better with the rest of my memorabilia.


Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan as the producer of ESPN’s Mint Condition has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on the hobby in Mint Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
Kelsey Schroyer

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