IPR Center seizes $97.8M in counterfeit sports merchandise during annual Operation Team Player

LOS ANGELES — Today, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), the National Football League (NFL), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Los Angeles Sheriff Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced that more than 267, 511 counterfeit sports-related items, worth an estimated $97.8 million, were seized during Operation Team Player.

Operation Team Player is a year-round effort developed by the IPR Center to crackdown on the illegal importation of counterfeit sports apparel and entertainment merchandise.

“Protecting U.S. consumers from the unscrupulous sale of counterfeit products and counterfeit tickets remains a high priority for the NFL throughout the entire year,” said NFL Vice President of Legal Affairs, Dolores DiBella. “Through Operation Team Player, the collaborative efforts of the NFL, the IPR Center, HSI, CBP, and Los Angeles area law enforcement disrupt counterfeiting activity to help safeguard an authentic Super Bowl LVI experience. We remain tremendously appreciative for the support shown by our many law enforcement partners who have worked strategically across the country to protect sports fans this year.”

“The theft of intellectual property and trade in fake goods threaten America's economic vitality, national security, and the American people’s health and safety,” said Pete Flores Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations for CBP.

“We will not tolerate those who victimize fans by selling fake merchandise,” said Lieutenant Geoff Deedrick, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Counterfeiting and Piracy Enforcement Team. “Legitimate distributors, retailers, and other partners working with authentic brands, often lose business because of counterfeiting, resulting in significant economic loss to many communities.”

Special agents from HSI teamed with industry, CBP, Los Angeles metropolitan area police officers, and other public-private sector partners to identify online marketplaces, flea markets, retail outlets, pop-up shops and street vendors selling counterfeit goods during the weeks leading up to Super Bowl LVI (56). They seized items such as fake jerseys, hats, rings, t-shirts, jackets, tickets, souvenirs, and thousands of other sports related memorabilia prepared to be marketed as legitimate, authentic items.

Last year, IPR announced that enforcement actions related to Operation Team Player resulted in the $45 million worth of counterfeit sports-merchandise. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, much of the illegal activity moved online, pushing HSI’s efforts more towards commercial websites engaged in the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit goods.

Throughout the year, the IPR Center leads coordinated efforts with major sporting leagues to target contraband that impacts the economy, enables additional criminality, and poses potential health and safety hazards to the public.

For more than two decades, the IPR Center, working collaboratively with its public-private sector partners, has led the effort in the government's response to combat global intellectual property theft and enforce intellectual property rights violations. Established in 2000, the center relies on a multi-layered investigative approach, that combines partner resources and leverages authorities, to protect U.S. business trademarks and consumers around the world.

In fiscal year 2021, the IPR Center and its partners assisted in the seizure of 2,651 shipments of counterfeit goods worth approximately $822 million by policing the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods on websites, social media, retail stores and pop-up shops.

For more information concerning Operation Team Player visit @IPRCenter.