St. Louis Arena - Can you imagine drawing 17,984 seats by hand?

Greetings!

This posting is directed at fans of the St. Louis Blues and/or anyone who loved the venerable and magnificent St. Louis Arena, aka Missouri Arena, aka Checkerdome, aka The Barn.

St. Louis Arena, circa 1940's


St. Louis Arena, circa 1940's or 50's


St. Louis Arena, circa 1970's


St. Louis Arena in 1980 when it was known as The Checkerdome


St. Louis Arena on the day it was imploded, February 27, 1999

To learn more abut The Arena, please see what our friends at Wikipedia and Ballparks.com have to say.
St. Louis Arena on Wikipedia
St. Louis Arena on Ballparks.com

The Arena was closed in May 1994 (imploded five years later in 1999) and shortly thereafter the city offered much of the contents for sale in an auction. I bought 3000 of the wonderful seats that had been installed prior to the Blues inaugural 1967-68 NHL season. The seats were still in great shape after 30 years of use, although the backs of the seats were incredible filthy from 30+ years of spilled beer and soda and popcorn and peanuts. (I will expand upon this story another day.)




We stored the seats in a dodgy part of town and we used a lot of pressure washers to clean them (I seem to recall we bought at least six). We had a lot of fun selling them to fans of the Blues and fans of the Arena itself, and it took about three years to sell almost all of the seats. We ran radio ads and newspaper ads, did the usual PR efforts and generally hustled as best we could. One lesson in life - selling the 1st 500 of anything is a whole lot easier than the last 500.

It may never have occurred to you, but two adjoining seats share the same arm-rest "bracket" such that when you separate the seats, you end up losing every other seat because it doesn't have its own armrest. So when I say we sold almost all of the 3000 seats, I really mean we sold 1500 individual seats.

I will tell the story of the seats in greater detail another day, but this story isn't actually about the seats!

It was important to us when we were removing the seats to make note of the location of each seat. Thus we asked the building officials if they had a floor plan that would help us in the process of identifying each seat location. What they were able to come up with was a wonderful (but undated) seating plan of the Arena.



I am reasonably confidant that this seating plan is from the early 1980's - it looks and feels even older but I believe the early 80's is correct because it shows EXACTLY 17,984 seats which is almost exactly the reported building capacity from that era.

What is so brilliant about this seating plan is the incredible level of detail - literally every one of the 17,984 seats is shown. And it has all been done by hand!!! I wish I could say I counted each seat, but it appears that someone did!



The one other thing that I love about this seating plan is that it refers to the St. Louis Arena as the "Missouri Arena", not a name the building generally went by. I would love to know the full story!

And if you want to see this 28" x 44" floor plan live and in person, it will soon be proudly hanging in Frankie G's on Telegraph Road in St. Louis. When I know it is on display, I will update this post so you can see it in person.

If you have any questions, feel free to call me at 416-315-4736 (Toronto) or email me.

Many thanks!

Scott

PS from Fall 2021: To purchase a reasonably priced 8" x 24" plaqued mounted version of the Blues poster that's ready to hang on your wall, please visit Heritage Sports Stuff.

Hey Phillies Fans - Vote for your favorite Phillies throwback uniform

Greeting Phillies fans!

We're going to have a little fun and would love your help!

We're doing a poll over the next six months and asking fans which of 12 uniforms they would most like to see used as the basis the the next "Throwback Uniform" worn by the Phillies. When we're done we will make the results public and share them with the powers that be at MLB and Majestic.

To take part, just click on your favorite uniform below - you can select up to three uniforms. Then hit "Vote" at the bottom and you're done!

And if you like this, please share the poll with your friends by emailing them this page's url (http://blog.heritagesportsart.com/2012/05/vote-for-your-favorite-phillies.html).



Just a quick word about the images used in the poll - The actual original watercolor paintings shown in this poll are the same images used in the well-known Phillies poster shown below,



and these actual original paintings - not reproductions, the originals - are available for sale in a beautiful framed format from Heritage Sports Art. These framed pieces would make an incredible, one-of-a-kind gift for a huge Phillies’ fan.

Thank you for being a Phillies fan and thanks for voting!

As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged.

Scott Sillcox

New home for "An Insider’s Guide to the World of Licensed Sports Products in 12 Parts: Practical Lessons from the Trenches"

Greetings!

In 2011 I posted a highly popular 12 Part series called "An Insider’s Guide to the World of Licensed Sports Products in 12 Parts: Practical Lessons from the Trenches". It proved so popular that it made sense to move the entire series from this blog to one dedicated to the world of licensed sports products.

So please come on over to the blog's new home.

And I am delighted to announce the latest addition to the Scott Sillcox family - a brand new, free, searchable Online Directory of North American Licensed Sports Products Companies - it’s called LicensedSports.net and it can be found here. This is a highly searchable directory of licensed sports products companies in North America, companies that have been licensed by various sports leagues. I am really proud of this new product, and best of all, it's completely free to the user!

If you're looking for a licensed sports products company, this directory likely has the answer.

Looking for companies that hold licenses for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL? You'll find them.

Looking for a company(ies) based in Massachussets licensed by the NHL which sells apparel? You'll find them.

Looking for a list of "all" NBA licensees? Or a list of NFL licensees? Or a list of Nascar licensees? You'll find some pretty thorough lists - maybe not every single licensee as they can change weekly, but as good a list as you'll find anywhere on the net!

And in most cases the directory gives you key contact info including email addresses, phone numbers and even Linkedin urls!

So come on over to LicensedSports.net and Search Away!

Thanks - Scott Sillcox
Email: ssillcox@rogers.com
Cell: 416-315-4736

Washington Nationals uniforms

Greetings!

The Washington Nationals were 2019 World Series Champions! For the first time since the franchise began as the Montreal Expos in 1969, the club won a World Series (4 games to three over the Houston Astros). And the last time a team from Washington won the World Series was in 1924 when the then-Washington Senators (now Minnesota Twins) beat the New York Giants 4 games to three. The Washington Senators also made it to the World Series and lost in 1925 and 1933, then never made it back before the franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961.

Just the quickest of blogs to let you know that I have recently loaded all the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos) uniform images, seven images in total, to Flickr and to our Heritage Sports Art site.

Heritage Sports Art: You can see all the Washington Nationals uniforms here.

Flickr: You can see all the Washington Nationals uniforms here.

These are highly detailed, original watercolor paintings, created to celebrate the history of the jerseys of the MLB Washington Nationals (formerly Montreal Expos) franchise. Each of these five original paintings, and more than 1500 other MLB, NFL, NHL, NCAA football and CFL uniform paintings, is available for sale at our Heritage Sports Art Washington Nationals web page.

Each original painting can be purchased in one of two formats - unframed and Classic Framed - but it appears that almost all of our customers seem to prefer the Framed version as shown below (please click on the image below to see a detailed image - in this case the original 2007 Washington Nationals uniform watercolor painting):

Many thanks for being a fan and as always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks -
Scott Sillcox

PS from Fall 2021: To purchase a reasonably priced 8" x 24" plaqued mounted version of the Nationals poster that's ready to hang on your wall, please visit Heritage Sports Stuff.

Tampa Bay Rays uniforms

Greetings!

Fall 2022: To purchase a reasonably priced 8" x 24" plaqued mounted version of the Tampa Bay Rays poster that's ready to hang on your wall, please visit Heritage Sports Stuff.

Just the quickest of blogs to let you know that I have recently loaded all the Tampa Bay Rays uniform images, four images in total, to Flickr and to our Heritage Sports Art site.

Flickr: You can see all the Tampa Bay Rays uniforms here.

Heritage Sports Art: You can see all the Tampa Bay Rays uniforms here.

These are highly detailed, original watercolor paintings, created to celebrate the history of the jerseys of the MLB Tampa Bay Rays franchise. Each of these four original paintings, and more than 1500 other MLB, NFL, NHL, NCAA football and CFL uniform paintings, is available for sale at our Heritage Sports Art Tampa Bay Rays web page.

Each original painting can be purchased in one of two formats - unframed and Classic Framed - but it appears that almost all of our customers seem to prefer the Framed version as shown below (please click on the image below to see a detailed image - in this case the original 2007 Tampa Bay Rays uniform watercolor painting):

Many thanks for being a fan and as always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks -
Scott Sillcox

Arizona Diamondbacks uniforms

Greetings!

Just the quickest of blogs to let you know that I have recently loaded all the Arizona Diamondbacks uniform images, four images in total, to Flickr and to our Heritage Sports Art site.

Flickr: You can see all the Arizona Diamondbacks uniforms here.

Heritage Sports Art: You can see all the Arizona Diamondbacks uniforms here.

These are highly detailed, original watercolor paintings, created to celebrate the history of the jerseys of the MLB Arizona Diamondbacks franchise. Each of these four original paintings, and more than 1500 other MLB, NFL, NHL, NCAA football and CFL uniform paintings, is available for sale at our Heritage Sports Art Arizona Diamondbacks web page.

Each original painting can be purchased in one of two formats - unframed and Classic Framed - but it appears that almost all of our customers seem to prefer the Framed version as shown below (please click on the image below to see a detailed image - in this case the original 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks uniform watercolor painting):

Many thanks for being a fan and as always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks -
Scott Sillcox

PS from Fall 2021: To purchase a reasonably priced 8" x 24" plaqued mounted version of the Arizona Diamondbacks poster that's ready to hang on your wall, please visit Heritage Sports Stuff.

The greatest, most unique sports gift ever

Greetings!

There is a danger to blowing one’s own horn too loudly, but I have to take three minutes and tell you about what I truly feel is one of the greatest sports gifts anyone could give or receive. You can see what I am talking about here at Heritage Sports Art – fantastic, beautiful original artwork of NFL, MLB, NHL, CFL and NCAA college football uniforms past and present.

When I say “the greatest sports gift ever”, I realize that’s one heck of a bold statement – yet I stick by it - these gifts as just about as good as it gets. These pieces of original watercolor art celebrate sport and all that's good about sports – they celebrate your favorite team – they are tasteful and attractive – and as I will explain in a moment, they are all “somewhat famous” art.

And when I say “gift”, I am thinking that one of these pieces of art, when beautifully framed, would make a remarkable and highly memorable graduation gift, wedding gift, major birthday present (ie a 30th, 40th, 50th or 60th birthday present), anniversary gift, Christmas present, or a gift for achieving a major accomplishment in life. It could even be a gift for your spouse or for your own home or office.

You may not yet be convinced, and that’s fine. Until you see the art on the Heritage Sports Art website, and until you see it framed, you may not quite grasp how beautiful and unique a gift this artwork is.

(By the way, I also have a two minute video on You Tube that tells the "Greatest sports gift ever" story and shows you what this artwork looks like all by itself, and what it looks like framed. Check it out!)

So let’s start at the beginning…

I am talking about is an original watercolor painting of a great uniform that was worn by your favorite team – below please see just four samples of the more than 1500 original pieces of uniform art available for sale at the Heritage Sports Art website.

The Heritage Sports Art collection of original artwork contains more than 1500 pieces of original watercolor art including originals for all NFL + MLB + NHL teams as well as 14 of the leading NCAA football teams. In addition to being really beautiful, tasteful art, this is actually “somewhat famous” art. You might well ask – what does Scott mean by “somewhat famous”? What I mean is that this art was used in a huge family of products celebrating the evolution of team jerseys – products such as plaqued posters, framed posters, clocks, coffee mugs, fridge magnets, collector plates, mousepads, playing cards, fan-frames and more. And because the artwork has adorned so many products – almost every piece of art has been seen on tens of thousands, or in some cases hundreds of thousands, of jersey evolution products currently in homes and offices across North America.

So to reiterate - what Heritage Sports Art is selling is the actual, original, watercolor art used in the manufacture of a large number of great NHL products including the three shown above. When you buy the 1968-69 Red Wings jersey artwork, for instance, there is only one painting of that jersey in the entire collection and when you buy it, no one else can own that particular piece of jersey artwork. In fact, we only have 16 pieces of Detroit Red Wings jersey artwork in total, and you would own one of them! The same goes for the original artwork of the 1934 New York Giants uniform – it’s one of only 16 pieces of Giants’ art in the collection. Or the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies uniform – it’s one of just 17 Phillies' jerseys that we painted. And so on for each of the 1500 original paintings in the collection – each piece of art is absolutely one-of-a-kind, unique and as explained above - somewhat famous.

We frame the original art in really attractive manner. Included in the frame is an engraved plate that tells the story of the art, as well as a jersey evolution poster for that team which shows how that particular original piece of art was used in that team’s jersey evolution poster. This really makes for a highly attractive wall hanging and we continue to be delighted and amazed to hear from people who have bought from us and when they take delivery, they email or call us almost immediately and tell us how it is even more appealing and more attractive than they had thought when they bought it online. And remember, your purchase comes with a 30 day, no-questions-asked, money back guarantee so if you are not 100% completely satisfied with you purchase for any reason, ship it back to us and we will gladly refund your payment. And also, our prices including UPS shipping right to your door.

So I would like to encourage you to have a close look at the original art collection at Heritage Sports Art – I sincerely believe are looking at a gift so nice it will become an instant family heirloom. These are so beautiful that you’ll find yourself sneaking downstairs late at night to have another look. This is save-the-family-photo-album-and-then-this-framed-piece-of-art-from-a-fire nice. I don’t like doing a hard sell, it’s not my nature, but keep in mind that since all of the art is original, the sooner you act, the more choice you have.

Thank you being a huge sports fan and for reading this blog. If you have any questions, please call me at 416-315-4736 or email me at ssillcox@rogers.com – I’m a real person and I’d love to tell you everything I can about this great art and why it really is “The best sports gift ever”.

Thanks!
Scott