OPERATION TEAM PLAYER

Operation Team Player is an ongoing operation that begins after every Super Bowl and runs through the next one targeting international shipments of counterfeit sports merchandise entering the United States.

The Operation is run by the Home Land Security-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), which coordinates its investigations with several law enforcement agencies.

At a June 30th , press conference held in Tampa, Florida, representatives from Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), the National Football League (NFL), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that in the past year169,000 counterfeit sports-related items worth $45 million had been seized under Operation Team Player.