Saturday provided football fans with more signs of the apocalypse: adults ruining the NFL Training Camp experience for kids.
Adult fans scuffled at Pittsburgh Steelers camp in Latrobe, PA, while pushing their way toward players signing autographs. The exchange was brief but intense enough that Pat Freiermuth pulled a young fan over the rail and onto the field.
Down in Texas, the Houston Texans placed an autographed cap near camp entrance. A young fan won the footrace to the prize before an adult boxed him out at last second, snagged the cap, and celebrated. The Texans later made good by giving the young fan an autographed photo, but it’s not enough to wipe out the negative experience caused by an overzealous adult who forgot what it’s like to be a kid at an NFL Training Camp.
The problem isn’t that adults still collect autographs. The problem is that too many adults have forgotten that NFL training camp was supposed to be one of the few places where kids could meet their heroes.
When I was a kid, Buffalo Bills training camp was an informal experience held at St. Bonaventure University. Some players would sign autographs in the parking lot after practice, but you had to chase them down. One of my fondest memories was chasing down Jim Kelly while his brother was driving him from the practice field to the dorms. Jim, trying to avoid a crowd, found a Bic pen in the glovebox and signed my photo of him on the dashboard.
In the 2010s, I took my kids to all three training camp locations in Florida. In Tampa Bay, Gerald McCoy made a veteran move by stepping over the rail and sitting in the shaded bleachers with fans, instead of standing in the sun, while he signed autos. My wife and daughter didn’t think much of it, but it was unique. Down in Miami, I remember Dolphins fans along the rail were passing fan memorabilia back and forth, ensuring everyone in the area had an opportunity to get autographs.
In my experience, the NFL training camp vibes were communal and peaceful. Today, the experience feels like Lord of the Flies, which is ironic seeing how the NFL has recently championed “Back Together Weekend.” How did we get here? How did the NFL Training Camp Experience go from a fun experience, where youngsters can stand next to professional football players, to parents now having to compete with adults for the same moments that once belonged to kids.
There has always been a healthy autograph-collecting community. That’s not the problem. The problem is the explosion of resellers, investors, influencers, and content creators who increasingly view player access as something to monetize rather than remember.
When I was a kid, an autograph was something you stuck in a binder of trading cards or displayed on your wall. I lost my prized Jim Kelly dashboard autograph in a move many years ago. Today, getting a player autograph for many is an Instagram post or a TikTok video, a way to gain engagement and prove you “met” a player. We can also place blame on the sports memorabilia market.
Years ago, a signed helmet or a trading card was sentimental. Today, a player autograph can be an investment. Data shows the global sports memorabilia market was valued at approximately $33.6 billion in 2024 and is rapidly growing. What felt like a fading market in the last 15-20 years was refueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fanatics reported that its sports memorabilia business increased 77% year-over-year in the early months of the pandemic. Authentication services like Beckett and PSA are all over the internet and there’s no shortage of autographed memorabilia sales on eBay and Mercari.
Lastly, we can place blame on the rise in immersive adult fandom. As was the case with the Texans fan going Dennis Rodman on somebody’s kid, too many adults have an unhealthy obsession with their favorite NFL team. An NFL diehard used to mean watching games on TV, reading the newspaper, and calling into local sports shows. Today, NFL diehard fans travel to away games, fill their closets with the latest Nike releases, create YouTube channels and podcasts, buy VIP experiences, and chase player interactions at every turn.
Maybe I’m nostalgic. Maybe training camp was never as perfect as I remember. But I don’t remember adults boxing out children for a chance at a signature. I remember grown-ups stepping aside so kids could get to the front of the rail. That’s the NFL training camp I hope comes back. Because if football can’t preserve one of its simplest traditions, a kid meeting their hero, then we’ve lost something far more valuable than an autograph.
The 12th Opinion 
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