Apparently this issue became a big deal at least in regards to the memorabilia side mainly because Eli and the Giants are near the tops when it comes to supplying game-used stuff for purchases.
Cowboys have more interest and popularity overall but Giants stuff sells the most in regards to demand for NFL merch.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...5&postcount=19
http://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/sna...bilia-industry
Giants got dragged into the lawsuit because they forgot to delete one email between Eli and the equipment manager out of all the emails deleted on this topic. Had they also deleted that email, there would have been no known concrete or strong evidence of what Eli was doing for the scam.