I stopped by WakeMed Soccer Park to take in the firesale of RailHawks assets. But are these really collector's items? I'll explain in a little bit.
A few notes that weren't necessarily clear from the Craigslist ads:
- Not all items are silent auction: In fact, most you can walk out with today. Game-worn jerseys are $12. Shorts were $5. Scarves were also $12.
- Swoops is part of a package deal: If you want the mascot suit, you have to log onto eBay and buy the trademark. How's that for a BOGO? Buy the trademark, get a suit (and yes, that is Swoops' decapitated head in a bag pictured above).
- It's like a yard sale, but everything's in the actual locker room. So if you want to go inside the locker room and buy some crutches -- yes those are for sale too -- you can walk out feeling and limping like a 2010 RailHawks defender!
- Maybe four people came in yesterday, according to one of the guys handling the money. In my 45 minutes there today, I saw no fewer than six.
But as far as whether or not this will be fans' last chances to buy anything with the name "RailHawks" on it, that's certainly up for debate given a conversation I had over there.
To surmise, here's how it went:
Me: It'd be nice to have something — to show people years from now when I tell them I used to cover this thing called the RailHawks and they don't understand.
Employee: Oh, I don't know if you'll have to tell them.
Me: What's that?
Employee: Yeah, you may not have to tell them what they are.
Me: That's a very interesting and vague comment to make.
Employee: (ignoring me)
I decided not to press further (not that I pressed much to begin with). Any employee, whether it be player, coach, ticket sales or helping out with the firesale, shouldn't have to be the one answering questions about a franchise's future.
It should be the outgoing owners. The guys who have put the community through a sale and operated the franchise within the Triangle for the previous two years. But after their track record of unreliability, I don't see the point in continuing to ask the same folks.
But back to that comment: maybe we jumped the gun here about the brand being dead? This in addition to the fact Swoops is now packaged with the trademark could point to an effort being made by Traffic Sports, the incoming owners, to purchase the team's namesake and not have to re-brand the entire franchise.
Granted, they'll still need to get new jerseys, pennants, et cetera as those are for sale (cash-only please!). I have left a message with Aaron Davidson, the president of Traffic Sports and CEO of NASL to confirm if his group is trying to buy the RailHawks online.
As of 5:20 p.m. on Friday, the bidding for the RailHawks' (using eBay terms) "All rights, title, and interest of the seller in the Carolina Railhawks brand, including the common law trademarked team name and all associated logos, symbols, designs, slogans, and mascot, and the internet domain name www.carolinarailhawks.com" is up to $1,075.
You'd think Traffic would've paid more in a behind-closed-doors meeting if the old owners had agreed to release the RailHawks trademark.
Either way, it's a franchise's identity for sale. On eBay. Hilarious.
