Emmitt Smith Announces New App to Combat Fake Sports Memorabilia

Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith announced Wednesday the creation of the Legit app, which aims to help authenticate sports memorabilia.

Smith sent out the following tweet about the app, which was created by Prova Group:

"

Proud to share that the company I founded, PROVA Group is helping verify sports memorabilia through the #LEGIT app available on @GooglePlay! pic.twitter.com/QZpeymuFNb

— Emmitt Smith (@EmmittSmith22) June 14, 2017"

According to Melissa Repko of the Dallas Morning News, the former Dallas Cowboys superstar is hoping to make fake autographs easier to spot.

Per Repko, Smith believes the Legit app can help ensure the sports memorabilia market remains fairly balanced:

"People pay significant dollars for these things; they pay their hard-earned cash because they believe in the athlete or the person that they're collecting items from. When you get taken advantage of, it's disappointing and it hurts the market."

The technology behind the app is that memorabilia is tagged with a chip that can then be scanned to verify the autograph or item is authentic.

The Cowboys have already taken to using the chip method by tagging game-worn jerseys.

Smith has been experimenting with the technology since 2002 and is hopeful it will become commonplace in the collecting community, according to Repko.

The 48-year-old Smith is the NFL's all-time rushing leader with 18,355 yards.

He was an eight-time Pro Bowler, three-time Super Bowl champion and league MVP during a 15-year career.