Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

When Brandon Steiner lived with an SU football player as a freshman during the 1977-78 school year, he became infatuated with this roommate’s team-issued gear. He enjoyed wearing it, too, often sharing with his roommate. 

His interest sparked a business idea. Steiner realized people were interested in exclusive gear that wasn’t as accessible. He was friends with many players on the football team, so he sold some of their gear to students. Steiner saw there was a bigger opportunity to sell memorabilia, something that wasn’t common at the time. Steiner founded his memorabilia company CollectibleXchange in the 1990s.

“I wanted to do something that was different and unique,” Steiner said. “When I had the opportunity … I really wanted to get going.”

In his senior year, Steiner attended the first football game in the Carrier Dome in 1980, and his class was the first to graduate in the stadium, too. The Dome is where his favorite moments in life happened, he said. 

That’s why he approached Syracuse Athletics with a pitch to sell and distribute pieces of the old Dome’s roof after its destruction and replacement in 2020. SU gave graduating students a piece of the roof after their graduation was relocated to the quad instead of the Dome, like most years. But Steiner realized there was a market — beyond the Class of 2020 — who was interested in purchasing pieces of the roof.

“Rather than turn (the roof) into garbage, we don’t want to fill in a landfill.” said Deputy Athletics Director and Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Goodrich. “It was actually a pretty cool idea to have Brandon take it and cut it all up into pieces.”

In September, Syracuse unveiled a renovated Dome following a $118 million project that included the removal of the famed bubble roof. The new, hard-top roof included a window for natural lighting and is no longer pressurized. 

Steiner made parts of the roof into plaques and signed momentos, even printing photos of the Dome on the fabric or configuring the cloth into No. 44 in a framed collage. For $285, fans could purchase a framed piece of the roof with a photo of the stadium signed by Jim Boeheim.

“Every day when I come to my office, I have a piece of Dome hanging on my wall and a smile on my face,” Steiner said.

Steiner’s had a good relationship with Boeheim for years. He sells SU men’s basketball collectibles, like pieces of the floor from the 2003 championship season and basketballs signed by Boeheim. Every year he donates collectibles to the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation for fundraising auctions. 

He’s collected, authenticated and auctioned Syracuse lacrosse, football and basketball memorabilia along with signed photos and game used equipment.

Steiner’s also branched out into a variety of professional sports teams by making connections with pro athletes. He has pop culture collectables, too, like a Ringo Starr-signed Beatles album. 

In the future, Steiner wants to expand by printing diplomas on pieces of the Dome roof. 

“I definitely would take that opportunity,” Otto’s Army President Jonathan Danilich said. “That sounds like a really, really cool thing.”

The Dome underwent extensive renovations prior to its recent first home game with fans back. Daily Orange File Photo

Unauthenticated pieces of the roof still float around on eBay for about $90, but Steiner has been SU’s “exclusive” roof memorabilia provider, Goodrich said. Steiner was the only private individual who received pieces of the roof, he said, and therefore is the only one who’s licensed to sell it.

For Steiner, the Dome has always had a special significance. It’s memorable, and he wants to make sure the community has a chance to cherish that.

“When you leave Syracuse, you realize how much (the Dome) means and how prominent it is,” Steiner said.

“I make (SU memorabilia) one of my top sellers because I put a lot of love and energy into it because it put a lot of love and energy into me” Steiner said. “So whenever I can give back, I’m all about it.”

Published on March 9, 2021 at 10:26 pm

Contact Skyler: skrivera@syr.edu | @skylerriveraa