Last week, news broke that former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan would be taking over the talk show spot on Live! left open by broadcasting legend Regis Philbin. Whether you watch the ABC show every day or not, it’s interesting to think about a guy like Strahan being the new go-to guy for wacky morning antics with Kelly Ripa.
Sure, Strahan’s done TV before: he’s a regular NFL analyst, and even starred on a short-lived (and apparently pretty bad) sitcom, Brothers. But this will be the most visible and broad appearances that Strahan has made since his days as the mascot for Campbell’s Chunky Soup.
While him being awarded the job hasn’t been formally announced yet, I was wondering whether or not there’d be a spike in value for Strahan-centric collectibles. So far, I haven’t been able to find any reports of Strahan’s memorabilia star beginning to rise in the wake of the announcement.
However, there is one way to get a very unscientific gauge of Strahan’s value in the world of collectibles: I’ve decided to compare the asking prices of Strahan-stuff to that of the other two famous defensive ends from the 2007, Super Bowl XLII Champion Giants, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora.
After searching Amazon’s sports collectibles shop, I see that all three players have listings for autographed helmets. A mini-helmet bearing Tuck’s signature—commemorating the 2008 and 2012 Super Bowl wins he participated in—is selling for $119. The lowest-priced Umenyiora-signed mini-helmet, which also celebrates his Super Bowl wins, is going for $113.
But while there are a few mini-helmets bearing Strahan’s signature, even the lowest-priced among them goes for more than both Umenyiora’s and Tuck’s. Despite not even acknowledging his role in the Super Bowl win from 2008, Strahan’s signed mini-helmet is selling for $195. And if you just look at the results page for him, Strahan simply has more autographed helmets being offered than Tuck and Umenyiora combined.
Whether or not his new role as Kelly Ripa’s sidekick will drive values even higher remains to be seen…
