Fanatics is the new King of Cards
- Thread starter GarnettFan4Life
- Start date
GarnettFan4Life
OZCT Supporter
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ading-card-deal-with-fanatics-replacing-topps
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fanatics-topps-baseball-trading-cards-mlb-11629401528
hopefully we'll see some action on the aus site!
https://fanatics.com.au/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fanatics-topps-baseball-trading-cards-mlb-11629401528
hopefully we'll see some action on the aus site!
https://fanatics.com.au/
GarnettFan4Life
OZCT Supporter
I'm not gonna decide yet until we hear more info on a wide variety of topics.
Is there any more consolidation? Heard on a pod that Josh Luber (StockX) was involved so how does this factor in?
How does the Upper Deck aspect go now with the recent re-hire of the Arena Designs team?
Can Fanatics sign Jordan and Lebron now when the UD contract is up and would they even want to move to Fanatics brand?
What is the print run going to be? What is the price of new brands - Fanatics boxes seemed reasonably priced from what I read people were ordering over the last year or two no?
And more news to follow - only just the shock at the moment of changing. Plus it's 2025-26 when it affects us NBA collectors isn't it? A lot to happen in the mean time.
I'm leaning towards good news given the recent display of WE DON'T GIVE A FUCK disclaimer on the back of cards where they were so disrespectful to collectors in not giving even event worn materials of the player. Insanity. They had morons in the office. Or maybe they knew it was coming and just shrugged.
UD is Jordan's Personal memorabilia company..........he owns part of it so he can control his image/likeness and the amount of stuff he has to sign each year.
If I were giving odds on MJ having anything to do with Fanatics (competition in the mem space) id say it would be lower than 0% chance.
Not 100% related but the English club I love (Aston Villa) have had a merchandise arrangement with Fanatics for a few years now in distributing club attire etc and it's been a shit show. The fans hate it and can't wait to get away from it. Has me nervous about this.
GarnettFan4Life
OZCT Supporter
ihateupants
OzCardTrader
Are we sure this is the end of Topps / Panini etc. I could see fanatics just controlling the licence and creating deals with each of those companies to continue to print - just no more monopoly's on each sport eg topps = baseball, panini = nba etc.
I would love to see some official upper deck and topps basketball again.
Or maybe I'm just being optimisiting / reading it wrong.
I would love to see some official upper deck and topps basketball again.
Or maybe I'm just being optimisiting / reading it wrong.
Fanatics has set up a new company and has done a deal with the 3 players unions to be able to license the players and have a stake in the company.
The MLB and the NBA have also signed up and will have a stake in this company.
So this means that once the licences are up for these sports, these would be taken over by this new Fanatics owned company which is partly owned by the leagues and the players unions.
The question is this new company won't want to set up and build all the IP from scratch so will they buy Topps out and all the IP, will they do it to Panini or both?
Interesting times ahead.
It's probably too early to say whether it's going to be good or bad but I'm leaning towards bad. They will want to "disrupt" the hobby imo. Not sure exactly what that will look like but the hobby will be different to what it currently is imo. The word "disrupt" generally means out with the old and in with the new. Sillicon Valley loves the word. As if all 'disruption' of pre-existing industries is a good thing( it's finacially rewarding for the disrupters. Not so much for those being disrupted).
I mostly interpret disruption as less jobs and more monopolies. Presumably card stores face an uncertain future in the US depending on how Fanatics distributes its product. I really dislike the idea that Topps can no longer make baseball cards. No more Topps Now either. No more Topps anything potentially - unless they deem soccer( currently shared with Panini), UFC and Formula 1 as profitable enterprises.
I feel mostly sad about it and I suspect those who are going to take charge will do their utmost to make the 'hobby' mostly about investing.
I mostly interpret disruption as less jobs and more monopolies. Presumably card stores face an uncertain future in the US depending on how Fanatics distributes its product. I really dislike the idea that Topps can no longer make baseball cards. No more Topps Now either. No more Topps anything potentially - unless they deem soccer( currently shared with Panini), UFC and Formula 1 as profitable enterprises.
I feel mostly sad about it and I suspect those who are going to take charge will do their utmost to make the 'hobby' mostly about investing.
ihateupants
OzCardTrader
To be honest it would be nice if we could actually get a hobby shop in Australia to sell SRP... Cherry seem to sell everything at inflated secondary prices and as far as I know they are the Panini Distributor here, so you know... why are they selling secondary - but I dont fully know the in's and out's so if I am doing them a diservice, I stand to be corrected.
I bought some clothes from Football Fanatics about 8 years ago. I think the t-shirts were around the $40USD mark and were either produced in Pakistan or Bangladesh. The quality varied immensily. My Colts t-shirt was in the bin within 12 months after minimal wear but my LA Kings t-shirt is still with me. They both cost $40USD but were clearly made with different material. One flimsy and stretched after a few washes and the other much more robust and still in decent nick. I have a New York Rangers long sleeve t-shirt hanging up untouched( got too fat to wear it) plus a Green Bay Packers T and Toronto Blue Jays T which for some reason I have never worn( they are a bit 'loud'). One has faded so I can't see where it was manufactured but the other is from Honduras. Looks like they are made from all over the world hence the varying quality. Hopefully they will source their cardboard and chromium from the same place.
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