Question for promoters that have had autograph guests
 

I was wondering when you hire an athlete to sign at a show do you pay them for a set number of autographs, per autograph or by the amount of time they spend signing for you before/after the show and for the public?

Thanks

It's a lot more complicated than it used to be. While I have not promoted in a long time, I have stayed involved with the business aspects.

At one time, you would simply hire an athlete for a flat fee. A minor player may be as little as $100 if you were not charging for his autographs and he was local, especially if it was on behalf of a cause. Think someone like Ron Hodges or Alan Knicely. It ranged on up from there, but you usually paid the guest a flat fee plus travel and then sold individual tickets. If you ran out of people willing to pay for a signature, you'd have him sign stuff...photos,balls, whatever. I once saw this happen as a couple of inexperience dealers took a bath on having Stan Musial in a small southern town.

These days, you usually commit to a price and a number of pieces. Anything above that the athlete gets paid extra.

The numbers now are huge. $50K+ is not unheard of for a four hour signing for a big name. You have to really know what you are doing to make a go of it.

Thanks for the info. I'm thinking more of the lesser known fan favorites that work for cheap. ha ha

If you are doing this in/around SF post on here or PM me as I would be interested in going to a local show.

We do signings with many former players in the MD/DC/VA area and some players are on a "piece deal" where they are paid to sign X number of autos without a time restraint. Some players are on a "time deal" where they are there for a set time and will pretty much have a pen in their hand the entire time and will be signing items either for the public or us since time is money in this scenario.

Thanks

I'm helping someone that's trying to get a regular show going about once a month. We have them maybe every three or four months now. It might be a while before they get an autograph guest, but I'll post any show info.