‘A lot of history here’: Greater Cincinnati warehouse sells historic sports memorabilia

WEST END, Ohio (WKRC) – In a warehouse tucked away in Cincinnati’s West End, you’ll find pieces of court where some of the biggest games in NBA and college basketball history were played.

Legends of the sport like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James; superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic; and the courts they played on and lifted championship trophies on all ended up in the Artsman facility.

“There’s a lot of history here,” said Chris Rose, owner of Artsman. “A few of us had an idea to make basketball products out of a court. The idea kind of evolved, and we kind of fell backwards into something even better.”

Once the courts are no longer in use, that’s when Artsman comes in. They get in contact with the teams and league, and the courts are transferred from the floor of the arena to the warehouse in the West End, where they’re stacked up and then chopped up into pieces of memorabilia.

“We got the North Carolina championship court, and then we got Virginia’s, and then one after the other,” Rose said.

They also have basketball floors from women’s basketball, like the LSU and South Carolina Women’s College Basketball National Championship courts. They take the courts from a full-size 94-foot floor to merchandise like keychains, bottle openers, and framed photos.

They’re also planning to expand beyond just basketball to work with other professional sports leagues, like the NFL and Olympics, where they will use pieces of track to make merchandise.

“We have to be somewhat delicate with them too because we’re trying to preserve the history that each court contained,” said Michael Schottelkotte, Artsman’s lead carpenter.

Artsman is the only company partnered with the NBA and NCAA to sell this merchandise from game-used hardwood floors. And soon, the partnership will go global, with the Cincinnati-made Artsman merchandise appearing in stores worldwide. All coming out of a warehouse with less than 10 people working inside.

“When they touch it, when they feel it, they’re connecting with the sport,” Rose said. “Basketball is the one sport where all those memories are embedded in the wood.”