Now as a youngling when i collected basketball cards there were brands like Fleer, upper deck, hoops, etc. Now, who are Panini and are their cards respected i.e. are they the fleer ultra or hoops of the current generation?
This question has probably been asked 1000 times so a simple response or link would be great.
Panini have done wonders for the Hobby. After Fleer went arse up, we were basically left with Upper Deck, who cornered the market, and sold high end shitty products, and screwed almost every redemption process they received.
Plenty of differing opinions. Panini have the NBA license and plenty of people dont like them.
I do, but it is a shame that there is not more variety in the market now. I tend to rate their low end sets higher than I rate their top end sets. Pas and Present i really like. Last years premium Black product I really didnt like.
Panini as an international company have been doing sports cards since about 1998 (primarily for Euro-soccer leagues EPL, Bundes Lege, La Liga BBV) and select euro-basketball leagues, but their bread and butter was (and still is to an extent) sticker sets. mid-late 1980's they had a license to produce international NBA sticker sets exclusively for the european market. This contract lasted up until the late 1990's.