The shipment arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport from Guangzhou, China on October 30, declared on paperwork as plain metal hair pins. Inside were 75 counterfeit Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rings, and the poor craftsmanship gave them away before they were even properly inspected.
Customs and Border Protection announced the seizure through its Houston field office under the headline “Flag on the play.” Officials put the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the haul at at least $750,000 had the rings been authentic. The National Football League, which holds the trademark rights to the rings, verified that the items were fake.
“Legitimate American businesses are often harmed by these global criminal organizations. The sale of fake goods often funds money laundering, drug trafficking, and other illegal activities,” said Leslie Fleming-Luczkowski, CBP acting director of field operations.
What a real one costs
The genuine article is a serious piece of jewelry. Sports Illustrated puts the production cost at $30,000 to $50,000 per ring, with the NFL contributing $5,000 toward the first 150 rings and the winning team paying the rest. Last season’s Kansas City Chiefs rings reportedly ran about $40,000 apiece, and still ended up with a typo, listing the Miami Dolphins as the No. 7 seed when they were actually the No. 6.
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Designs have grown more extravagant over the years. The 2018 New England Patriots ring packed 283 diamonds, a record at the time, and 9.85 carats of stones, while the 2022 Los Angeles Rams went even bigger with a 20-carat ring.
A long-running federal crackdown
The Houston parcel is a small piece of Operation Team Player, the federal government’s largest anti-counterfeiting effort, which is run jointly by Homeland Security Investigations, CBP and the major sports leagues under the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. In the year leading up to Super Bowl LIX in February 2025, the operation seized $39.5m worth of counterfeit sports merchandise, about 214,507 items ranging from jerseys and hats to jewelry. Since the program launched in 2013, it has pulled $455m in fake merch off the market.
Nearly 90% of all intellectual-property seizures by CBP originate in China or Hong Kong. The Guangzhou shipment fits that pattern: express consignment, a bland manifest, a well-known brand reproduced at volume.
Homeland Security Investigations has been notified of the Houston case, and CBP has handed over information on the importer.
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