NBA License Up For Grabs In 2013?

[ooneil]

Monopoly is a board game. Its got zero to do with the definition of a Monopoly from the perspective of business and the market it operates in.

Australia Post is a monopoly - who did they force out of business to become a monopoly??

Panini is a monopoly for the simple fact that if i want to go buy some current NBA cards they are the only company i can buy them from.

 

[starbury33]

I would think UD is done given the current jersey scandal. Stern does not seem to be the kind of guy that would want that sort of thing associated with the NBA.

Topps has new ownership since Panini took the licence. They might jump in again.

Would love to see Fleer somehow making NBA cards again.

Fleer is UD now. So unless somehow it could go back to being the Fleer/Skybox company probably going to stay as an UD product.

 

[FabFiveFan]

Monopoly is a board game. Its got zero to do with the definition of a Monopoly from the perspective of business and the market it operates in.

Australia Post is a monopoly - who did they force out of business to become a monopoly??

Panini is a monopoly for the simple fact that if i want to go buy some current NBA cards they are the only company i can buy them from.

I can see what your saying in that Panini is the one company that you can purchase NEW NBA cards from, however, your comparison to Australia Post and any other monopoly is incorrect. Australia Post answers to themselves, thats it, so yes they have a monopoly on the postal service in Oz.

But at the end of the day Panini still has a higher power that it answers to, and no, I am not talking about the almighty cardboard God, he's even higher than that! They answer to David Stern! If Stern is not happy with the current arrangement then in a years time he will change it. Panini does not have any say in this, as Stern may decide that NBA is better served by having numerous producers of NBA products, but either way it is not Panini's choice directly as to what happens in 12 months time.

Panini is probably better looked upon as an employee/contractor of the NBA, yes admittedly a very big one, but still a company that has to abide by a whole pile of rules that the NBA would have laid down when the initial contract was put in place.

Like I have said before, I personally have not had any major dramas with Panini. Sure I would love to see ALL on card autos, no redemptions etc etc, but realistically these were the same complaints I heard when I first got back into the card collecting hobby back in 07/08 about Upper Deck, so it is not necessarily a Panini thing, more a hobby wide issue.

And to be honest, if Retro is what Upper Deck can come up with after having over 12 months to bring a product out, then I would hate to see what comes out when they have to release numerous products in a season. Given their current financial state (which is all their own doing, nothing to do with Panini) I cannot see how they would be in a position to compete financially next year. With any luck they sell off the rights to Fleer, Skybox and anything else they can flog off to Panini, which will give us collectors the chance at some of the other older releases which are clearly very popular with the collecting community.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

It doesn't matter how a monopoly has been put together, it is what it is.

If Wikipedia isn't good enough for you, then perhaps a dictionary is - or are you smarter than a dictionary too!?

mo·nop·o·ly/məˈnäpəlē/

Noun:

1. The exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.
2. The exclusive possession, control, or exercise of something: "men don't have a monopoly on unrequited love".

 

[FabFiveFan]

It doesn't matter how a monopoly has been put together, it is what it is.

If Wikipedia isn't good enough for you, then perhaps a dictionary is - or are you smarter than a dictionary too!?

mo·nop·o·ly/məˈnäpəlē/

Noun:

1. The exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.
2. The exclusive possession, control, or exercise of something: "men don't have a monopoly on unrequited love".

Never claimed to be smarter than Wikipedia or anyone else for that matter. I just tend to look at things in a shade of grey as opposed to black and white like a dictionary does.

If "Basketball Cards" are the commodity or service, then what are Upper Deck products like Fleer Retro, 11/12 Exquisite as well as Leaf Signature Series cards? Whilst they may not be NBA licensed, they sure are priced like they are, and they sure sell like they are, and these people who are buying Retro etc are possibly doing so instead of buying a Panini product, so the "exclusive control of the supply or trade" isnt really 100% accurate.

And if you are going to go to the next level and look at purely "NBA licensed" basketball cards, then Panini definitely does not have exclusive possession of anything except the current rights to supply the commodity. The exclusive possession of the actual supply of the commodity rests solely with the NBA, so if the NBA wants to take that right away from Panini, then Panini cannot do anything about it. Holding exclusive rights for something, especially for such a limited time, does not instantly give you monopoly status, as I cannot think of any other monopoly where that status can simply be taken away from them by someone, which is totally different to a new competitor entering the market.

Now obviously the NBA is a business and they want to ensure their brand is represented in the best possible way at all times, so if it becomes apparent that Panini is taking the shape of all other monopolies world wide (ie high prices, bad service, bad product etc) then I would be positive that the NBA would be quick to act, but given the resurgence in cards in general (I am absolutely NOT saying that Panini can take credit for this in any way) then the NBA will likely take a "If its not broken dont fix it" attitude and leave things the way they are. So in other words Panini still needs to make a positive impression on the NBA to keep its current position intact, again not many monopolies are put in this position.

 

[matty83]

Geez im finding it hard to read all these threads these days.
"i hate this", " i hate that", "son of a bing" "son of a boom"

Seriously to all the keyboard cowboys out there, STOP IT!
As if people argue over a word or a meaning of a word.
This is just so pathetic!

Bring back the fun days i say.

and FFS if you cant be nice then watch this

then type your response.

 

[inopethflames]

theres no chance u.d. gets it. its probably 99.5% panini keeps it as a sole provider. i wish they could make it so topps was allowed to make like 5-6 products. bowman, finest, & whatever else. i really miss finest refractors in basketball. always a good value product & it looked good.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Never claimed to be smarter than Wikipedia or anyone else for that matter. I just tend to look at things in a shade of grey as opposed to black and white like a dictionary does.

If "Basketball Cards" are the commodity or service, then what are Upper Deck products like Fleer Retro, 11/12 Exquisite as well as Leaf Signature Series cards? Whilst they may not be NBA licensed, they sure are priced like they are, and they sure sell like they are, and these people who are buying Retro etc are possibly doing so instead of buying a Panini product, so the "exclusive control of the supply or trade" isnt really 100% accurate.

And if you are going to go to the next level and look at purely "NBA licensed" basketball cards, then Panini definitely does not have exclusive possession of anything except the current rights to supply the commodity. The exclusive possession of the actual supply of the commodity rests solely with the NBA, so if the NBA wants to take that right away from Panini, then Panini cannot do anything about it. Holding exclusive rights for something, especially for such a limited time, does not instantly give you monopoly status, as I cannot think of any other monopoly where that status can simply be taken away from them by someone, which is totally different to a new competitor entering the market.

Now obviously the NBA is a business and they want to ensure their brand is represented in the best possible way at all times, so if it becomes apparent that Panini is taking the shape of all other monopolies world wide (ie high prices, bad service, bad product etc) then I would be positive that the NBA would be quick to act, but given the resurgence in cards in general (I am absolutely NOT saying that Panini can take credit for this in any way) then the NBA will likely take a "If its not broken dont fix it" attitude and leave things the way they are. So in other words Panini still needs to make a positive impression on the NBA to keep its current position intact, again not many monopolies are put in this position.

Sorry, I was responding to "Taffster74" with what I said, not you.

But anyway, you could probably try and poke holes in any "monopoly" if you wanted to - fact of the matter is they have a current monopoly on NBA cards.

 

[ozguy3825]

i would love to see like a high body to this scenerio. Someone oversees all companies, they sign the player and the card companies deal with them. That way Topps, UD and Panini can all release NBA products that r licensed and 1 product doesnt miss out on big name players as per MJ being UD etc.

 

[brandonlec]

I really think with the revenues Panini is getting in, they will buy up UD.
Panini knows that SPA, Exquisite and Black sell well... And from people I've talked to, they want to put those names under their own company.

-Brandon

 

[taffster74]

Brett, I'll clarify. The way everyone is saying "monopoly" in reference to the NBA license and Panini is insinuating that Panini forced out Upper Deck and Topps for the license - this is not what happened as I have explained numerous times here and at beckett over the last two and half years. In the general sense of a monopoly where there is one company providing goods, you can say that - yes - panini has a monopoly, but not by their own doing. However, if we get right down to the nitty-gritty of the matter, it is not a true monopoly in the sense that Panini forced out all other rivals - unlike Upper Deck with the NCAA/CLC license.