Rinker on Collectibles

RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1776

The Sports World’s Approach to Gen Z and How It Related to the Collecting

The antiques and collectibles industry does not exist in isolation. Changes that impact other areas such as sports also impact it. I was reminded of this when I read a thought-provoking article entitled “Sports has a Gen Z problem. The pandemic may accelerate it,” by Rick Maese, a sports features writer for “The Washington Post.” [The full article is available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/11/24/gen-z-sports-fans/].

The sports community is concerned that it is losing large numbers of Gen Z future fans to the point where “it threatens to muddle the future of every league, every team and every sport.” Rather than watching sports on television, Gen Z members “are likely to be virtually somewhere else – an app, a game, a social media feed, perhaps, lost in a smartphone where the scrolling never ends.” If this sounds familiar to those who have Gen Z children or grandchildren, it should. If it does not, I offer Linda’s and my grandchildren as examples.

Maese points out that the sports world is concerned that if it loses a generation, “it destroys the value and connective tissue” between generations. The lost generation or even generations concept is applicable to the collecting community.

When I was young, everyone my age collected something. Although at the time collecting was considered a hobby, it became more serious as members of the pre-Baby Boomer and first Baby Boomer generations grew older. The focus was on the act of collecting, not on what was collected. Organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts awarded merit badges for collecting. My first three Boy Scout merit badges were for coin collecting, rocks and minerals, and stamp collecting.

Collecting began to decline with my children’s generation. They are part of Generation X, the generation that was born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s. Harry, Junior, collects, influenced in part by living with me and learning that adventure and fun is an integral part of collecting. His collecting focus is more limited (or specialized) than mine, but the key point is that he collects. My daughter Paulanne does not collect, at least not in the standard definition of the term. She lived with her mother who is not a collector.

The sports community understands that it has to make youngsters a “fan by the time they’re 18, or you will lose them forever.” Once lost, recapturing them when they get older will be extremely difficult. Senior level sports executives note “Why would they come back at 35 when they were never there in the first place?”

The antiques and collectibles industry developed a concept in the 1970s that when a generation reached 35 to 50 years of age, a nostalgia for their past would cause them to collect. Until recently, I firmly believed this was the case. I now am convinced that the concept is false. The members of the Millennial and Gen Z generations have become so distracted by other opportunities that collecting now plays a minor or no role in their lives. Of course, there are exceptions where collecting does play a major role; but, these exceptions are few and far between.

The sports community understands the battlefront for fans takes place at the teenage and early adult levels. Fans is the key world. Those who collect are fans of collecting. Yet, the antiques and collectibles field has never viewed them as such. Every activity needs a fan base. Antiques and collectibles are no exception.

The sports industry divides fans into two groups – fans and avid fans. In the sports field the number of fans who identify as avid fans “has dropped, from 42 percent a decade ago to 34 percent last year. Even though consulting experts in the sport field have noted and sounded the alert about the decline of avid fans for decades, it has only been recently that the sports community has begun to act to stop the decline.

During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the antiques and collectibles field had a wealth of avid collector fans. I met many in the course of my travels. They were the individuals who started collectors’ clubs, authored or edited specialized reference books, and touted their favorite collecting categories in trade periodicals and other media. It was a time when almost every collecting category had at least one White Knight. Many had a whole army.

The White Knights began dying off in the late 1990s and largely disappeared by the end of the 2000s. Those that still exist live in a much smaller community – no longer in the antiques and collectibles field as a whole but among a small sub-group with a specific collecting category. Where are the modern day White Knights such as Gene Florence, Jan Foulke, or Richard O’Brien, three White Knights that kept their favorite collecting categories front and center for decades?

[Author’s Aside: If you do not recognize the names of Gene Florence, Jan Foulke, and Richard O’Brien do some research. They were giants in their fields. In the case of Jan Foulke, she still is but known each year to fewer individuals.]

Sports fan experts point to the COVID-19 pandemic as an exacerbating influence. The pandemic has caused “youth sports to suffer and young people to spend more time than ever online.” The COVID-19 pandemic has had an even greater impact on collecting and the community associated with it. The cancellation of flea markets, shows, and other events has greatly diminished the return of collectors as the recovery process has begun. The recovery curve appears to be at least five years in length. It would be great if it took less. The difficulty remains that attendance may never fully recover to its pre-pandemic peak. Further, since dealers are mostly of an advanced age, the ability to replace them as they die, retire, or simply give up lessens by the month.

In his article, Maese summarized a power point presentation by Mark Beal, an assistant professor at Rutgers University School of Communication and Information presented to Major League Baseball. Beal noted: “technology shapes the way Gen Zers navigate the world. They’re globally conscious and care about diversity, equality and inclusion. They get their news from Instagram and You Tube, not a newspaper or cable news network. And, they want unique, authentic experiences—even better if it’s something they can share on their social networks.”

The NFL, NBA, and their stadium and television advertisers have taken this advice to heart. Read the signs in the stadiums, watch the advertising on sports cable networks and television, read the newspaper stories about the many political and social causes in which athletes are now involved. None of this happened by chance. It is all a deliberate effort to appeal to Gen Z and succeeding generations.

Is there a way the antiques and collectibles industry can react in a similar manner? I keep racking my brain for answers. I keep coming up blank. There is one wall that is too steep to climb. Unlike major sports leagues which are highly organized, the antiques and collectibles field has no central organization that speaks for the community as a whole. Antiques and collectibles are individualized. They always were and always will be. It is the nature of the beast.

Not wishing to end on a negative note, it is worth noting some of the areas that the sports leagues are using to attract Gen Z that can serve the collecting community. Connecting with friends is one method. The collecting communities within the antiques and collectibles industry should continue to explore the effective use of social media. I continually look at Facebook groups, only to be discouraged by how ineffective most appear to be. They still have not become a viable replacement for collectors’ clubs that meet face to face at least once a year.

Sport leagues have been advised to humanize their athletes. In a field where objects rather than humans dominate the literature, perhaps it is time to focus more on the human beings from auctioneers to collectors to dealers to show promoters to others that are the backbone of the industry. In addition, athletes now appear on cooking programs, dance programs, and other non-traditional athletic outlets. It is time to create a new corps of antiques and collectibles White Knights who can cross over into these new realms.

Finally, the antiques and collectibles industry needs to find ways to enhance its “cause marketing.” Auctioneer and show promoters are in the best position to do this. However, the area is wide open for those remaining collectors’ clubs and other organizations to do the same. The most important thing is to do something, no matter how inconsequential it may seem. Everyone needs to help convince Gen Z that there is excitement, adventure, fun, and social relevance in collecting. It can be done. I know it can.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Selected letters will be answered in this column. Harry cannot provide personal answers. Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned. Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI 49512. You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

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