Whats the deal with Cam charging for Autographs today?

[Kurb]

Hearing mummers about this from various social media.

Anyone have the full info ?

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

i think it's an event with an admission fee where he's going to be signing.

don't think he's running a cash register at his table

[UNCrules2187]

Newton is appearing at an autograph session at which he’ll charge $125 to sign a picture, $150 to sign a football and $175 to sign a jersey, with another $50 on top if you want him to personalize it.

Scott Fowler isn't too happy about it:

“The Panthers pay Newton plenty of money,” Folwer writes. “Charging for autographs in Charlotte seems a little cheap.”

However, Newton is defended by the place the Huddle loves to hate, PFT:

I get where Fowler is coming from, but I can’t agree. I wish we lived in a world where everyone asking for an autograph was an innocent kid who wanted a memento to savor the thrill of meeting his hero, and where every athlete was delighted to sign for every fan who asked. But the reality is we don’t live in that world. We live in a world where people who ask athletes for autographs turn around and sell them on eBay, and a world where famous athletes can’t go out in public without being mobbed by autograph hounds.

In the real world we live in, a famous person’s autograph is a valuable commodity, and the sports autograph market is a multimillion-dollar business, and the athletes whose autographs are being sold are doing nothing wrong at all if they choose to share in the proceeds.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/12/cam-newton-takes-some-heat-for-charging-for-autographs/

[csx]

If an adult want an autograph they are going to sell most likely then I have no issue with collecting money.

Give it to kids for free

[CRA]

Yeah....I bet if a small kid bumps into Cam around town he would gladly give it to him for free. He gives them out for free at camp as well.

I wouldn't sign for adults for free. This event is perfect for those guys. You want it, pay for it.

I don't think Smitty signs for adults does he?

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

he signed a contract with a memorabilia company that's paying him to be there.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevilll

I don't think Smitty signs for adults does he?

he does not.

[UNCrules2187]

Yeah....I bet if a small kid bumps into Cam around town he would gladly give it to him for free. He gives them out for free at camp as well.

I wouldn't sign for adults for free. This event is perfect for those guys. You want it, pay for it.

I don't think Smitty signs for adults does he?

Yeah, PFT also mentions how Cam is pretty generous with autographs / memorabilia most of the time:

It’s also important to point out that Newton has shown many times that he’s a generous man. Not only does he sign autographs for free at training camp (as most NFL players do), but when he scores a touchdown he usually gives the ball to a fan in the stands. When Newton scored his 13th touchdown last season, setting a new NFL record for quarterbacks, he could have kept that ball for his own collection, or made plenty of money selling it to a sports memorabilia collector. Instead, he handed it to a girl in the stands. (The girl later gave the ball to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.)

[SCP]

Meh, all players do this. Cam signs plenty of free autographs. IMG recommended he do this.

[4Corners]

that's absurd to go waste $200 on a fuging grown man's signature. Sure, it would be cool to have an autographed jersey or helmet or something but that's way to much money to spend.

Also, it's the company/organizers who are charging for the sigs, not Newton himself.

I don't have a problem with them doing it, I just have a problem with spending $200 on it.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

also avoid reading the comments on the original observer article if you don't want your eyes to bleed

[Panthercougar68]

also avoid reading the comments on the original observer article if you don't want your eyes to bleed

Too late. I'm already heading to the emergency room because I punched my computer too many times after reading them.

[Panthercougar68]

Autographgate

[X-Clown]

also avoid reading the comments on the original observer article if you don't want your eyes to bleed

Same thing with the PFT article...

Where's Scott Fowler's column judging the Steelers paid signings that occur at Southpark every year?

[Zod]

Personally, I don't get it. Lets say they make 50 grand from autographs today. The promotions company is getting at least 40 percent of that. So Cam gets say 30 grand.

30 grand.

In the grand scheme, the hit it has taken in the court of public opinion is not worth what he gets paid for a tenth of a game of football play.