The biggest news in card collecting lately is that Fanatics will become the exclusive trading card partner with the MLB/MPLPA, NBA/NBAPA, and the NFLPA by 2026 (confirmation of a deal with the NFL itself hasn’t yet come but seems inevitable). It’s certain to be a huge shakeup, and while we’re still a few years away let’s talk about the future. I think these are the most important things for Fanatics to focus on when they become a monopoly.
Affordability
Obviously, you can’t just walk into a Wal-Mart or a Target nowadays and buy any sportscards at all. But if a kid goes into their local card shop with 20 dollars today, they might get a Topps Baseball pack, a Score Football pack, and maybe a Panini Contenders pack. But that’s about it, the exorbitant prices are locking younger fans out of the hobby. I hope that with Fanatics taking over all 3 sports will have value packs that are easily available to purchase.
Consolidation and Clarity of Different Brands
Do you know the difference between Select and Prizm? Between Certified and National Treasures? Between Bowman Chrome, Bowman Chrome Sapphire, Topps Chrome, and Topps Chrome Sapphire? Between Donruss Elite and Optic? There are too many different products at too many varying price points, and there is no clear indication of what differentiates the brands. I hope that if Fanatics has multiple SKUs they give each brand clear identities and they are all easily distinguishable from each other.
Avoid a Bubble Burst/New Junk Age
Sports Card Collecting has risen so quickly over the past few years it seems like it’s headed for a huge crash, or at least a bit of a bubble burst. It seems like every Collector or Investor on YouTube is predicting it’s coming. The other day my local card shop got back over 200 Justin Herbert Optic Rookies from PSA Grading. The number of cards that are out there and what they are selling for just isn’t sustainable. If the bubble bursts cards are going to lose value overnight and may never recover. I don’t think it’ll be as bad as the 80s-90s cards, but is anyone going to care about a PSA 10 Zion Williamson card when there are almost 20,000 in circulation? I doubt it.
Okay, I’m not smart enough to know how to prevent a Bubble Burst and/or a new junk era. Especially when I’d like to be able to go buy a pack of cards for less than 10 dollars at Wal-Mart again. And based on the insanity of prices now, where people are selling hobby boxes online for 15 grand it almost seems inevitable. Maybe Fanatics can control prices better than Panini and Topps have been, maybe by only allowing online sales through their site? And banning re-sellers? Not sure if those things themselves would be legal.
Continuation of the Existing History
The hope here is that Fanatics either buys out or partners with Topps and Panini America. The Topps, Bowman, Donruss, Score, and NBA Hoops brands all have decades-long history. It would a shame to lose them all outright. Even Donruss Optic and Prizm have established themselves are important labels in the 21st century. Sure important labels like Upper Deck, Fleer, Leaf, and Pro Set are off the table, but if Fanatics has the rights to the current Topps and Panini brands their legacies can continue.
Please don’t change the “Best Base Rookie Card” to have
I’m still learning the hobby, but one of the few advantages of there being a trading card monopoly is it should be easier to know what Rookie card to chase. For non-autographed, non-memorabilia, non-numbered cards at least. Currently, for Baseball it’s the Bowman Chrome card or Topps Chrome card (this one is a little confusing to me). For the NBA and the NFL, the Panini Prizm card is the base card to look for. Hopefully, this can just stay the same once Fanatics takes over. I don’t want to be trying to figure out which Rookie card to get every year.
Reduce the number of Parallels and make the differences obvious
The number of parallels is getting out of hand. Donruss Optic Football has over 20 types of prizms last year. And how many times have you looked at Prizm brand card and wondered if it was a base Prizm card or a parallel Prizm card?
Simplify the different colors, reduce the number of variants overall to make them more special, and make it obvious when you have a base card or a refractor.
For the love of the earth, please don’t do NFTs
So, it looks like Fanatics is already doing NFTs. But as NFTs and the blockchain that supports them become more popular; it’s also becoming more obvious who much creating these NFTs and using cryptocurrency to pay for them is bad for the earth. Yes, physical card creation will still require some pollution and resource usage. But hopefully Fanatics can work on limiting the environmental impact.
Get rid of Redemptions
Luckily every auto I’ve ever pulled was an actual autographed card. But I’ve heard stories of people waiting months, even years for their redemptions. With the Player’s Association directly involved with the Fanatics deal, hopefully there’s more incentive for the players to sign cards. And honestly, with the amountof money Fanatics spent, they should be able to hire people to go directly to the players and get autographs.
So those are the changes I hope Fanatics makes. It seems like a longshot that they’ll do all these things or even some of these things. But for now, we can hope.