Darren Rovell

1 week ago | sports.yahoo.com | Darren Rovell

The most valuable contracts in sports history remain in the hands of federal authorities as a settlement over Jackie Robinson's 1945 and 1947 paperwork is expected to be formally reached in the coming months. Mykalai Kontilai, the man who bought Robinson's first professional baseball contracts for $2 million in 2013, was recently found guilty of securities and wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison.

1 week ago | cllct.com | Darren Rovell

The most valuable contracts in sports history remain in the hands of federal authorities as a settlement over Jackie Robinson's 1945 and 1947 paperwork is expected to be formally reached in the coming months. Mykalai Kontilai, the man who bought Robinson's first professional baseball contracts for $2 million in 2013, was recently found guilty of securities and wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison.

1 week ago | cllct.com | Darren Rovell

The most valuable space in sports merchandising is the 30,000-square-foot store at Augusta National, where Masters patrons reportedly spend $1 million an hour buying up anything with the Masters name or logo on it. The reason? Buy it now or never get it. Unlike every other item in sports retail, there’s no online sales. So when the Masters stopped phone orders in 2003, the two partners of MMO Golf sought to exploit the gap.

1 week ago | cllct.com | Darren Rovell

Roughly 30 people showed up to a home on the north side of Augusta, Georgia, early Saturday morning hoping to get Masters badges they paid $2,750 per day for. Before arriving, most had anticipated their fate. They had read that ticket brokers were getting short squeezed, which means they charge a price in advance and rely on being able to backfill badges for cheaper, only to find that wasn’t happening.

2 weeks ago | cllct.com | Darren Rovell

"It is a fine ship, but I shall await my journey's end before I pass judgment on her."Archibald Gracie's note to his great uncle, written on this day in 1912, expressed those thoughts about the Oceanic, a ship he sailed on during his trip to Europe. Unfortunately, Gracie never got to complete his judgment of the ship, because he wrote the letter from the ship he was sailing back on: the Titanic. The letter, dated April 10, 1912, was postmarked in Queenstown on April 11 and in London on April 12.