Non-Sport Update Ending Publication

CicadaMound · 11-15-2025, 06:13 PM

Non-Sport Update, Beckett's nonsports magazine, published its last issue this month. I don't have a copy myself, I've always just picked up the new issues as I saw them at one of the comic stores I go to. Just as the nonsports hobby's picking up again, too - end of an era.

So this leaves The Wrapper and the Pop Culture PSA Magazine as the last nonsports periodicals standing, as far as I can tell. Despite the horrible mismanagement by Beckett in later years, I still enjoyed the articles, updates about upcoming sets, and promo cards from all sorts of companies - it's important to have that stuff all in one place, and now it's just a little harder.

Dacubs2 · 11-15-2025, 06:49 PM

That's a bummer, although, I'll have to admit, it's probably been over a year since I looked through an issue

cmixer · 11-15-2025, 06:50 PM

IMO, there are too many "channels."
Everyone wants hobby information on their own Instagram, their own YouTube, their own brand and platform. Too few people want to collaborate to create a centralized hub of information. The closure of NSU is kind of a big deal. Will this lead to the closure of Beckett monthly or be a blow to the Philly Non Sports Card Show?

Also, someone educate me ... is the Pop Culture PSA Magazine monthly? And does it pretty much only cover PSA-related stuff? (Thanks in advance.)

HiltonL · 11-16-2025, 01:06 AM

This makes me sad. I think I'm subbed for another couple of years still

As for Philly, that was another Roxanne project and with her passing, I can easily see the show folding up. That said, I think the show still turns a profit, so not an immediate stoppage in my opinion

jdandns · 11-16-2025, 02:50 AM

An era ends with the passing of what is easily greatest of all non-sport card related publications ever established.
Bummer.

maneonemo · 11-16-2025, 05:02 AM

Hopefully the NSU forums stay operational long enough to get web archived.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmixer

Everyone wants hobby information on their own Instagram, their own YouTube, their own brand and platform.

With very few exceptions (your blog being one of them), there's almost no genuinely interesting information being produced, no reporting integrity, no real due diligence being done. Sure, people post content, but very little of it actually furthers the understanding of the hobby, or even considers whether the content is worth anyone's time.

finfangfan · 11-16-2025, 09:08 AM

It’s likely most of the news reported in NSU already dropped online before publication so likely people were only buying the magazine for the “free” cards.

Kind of surprised it lasted as long as it did.

DynaEtch · 11-16-2025, 04:16 PM

Wow, bummer to see such a mainstay in the hobby go. It sure did outlive most, if not all, of the other non-sport magazines, most of which folded in the 90s, like Cards Illustrated and Tuff Stuff Collect. The writing was on the wall big time for this though. Print magazines really must be struggling. Besides the articles in NSU it was a price guide but there are way more accurate ways to gauge prices by eBay sold listings, and more extensive checklists online.

I am getting major old-school vs new-school vibes in nonsports cards as a hobby. Old school nonsports- simpler sets, print magazines like NSU, promo cards, official card set binders to build sets in, etc. New school- Topps Chrome, breaking, Fanatics, influencers, parallel driven/gambling sets. It’s almost like different universes. I’m not surprised to see NSU not continue on in the latter, new-school era. Credit to Beckett for a least continuing it to this point.

Xazark · 11-16-2025, 05:18 PM

I only just renewed for another 3 years a couple of issues back. Have to admit the content was lacking in the last year or more, very few actual stories of interest to me and the majority of the pages were advertising / card pricing.

Having said that I am definitely going to miss receiving the copy every couple of months, there are not many magazines anymore with everything online and I very much looked forward to receiving my copy for the small tidbits of info, even if the majority of it wasn't of interest to me. I will especially miss the promo cards, I have been introduced to many random sets via those promos so its sad to see them go.

gerry609 · 11-16-2025, 06:47 PM

That's total BS as they (Beckett) had cold called me with a special price to renew my subsrciption a few days ago.

dd316 · 11-17-2025, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmixer

Will this lead to the closure of Beckett monthly or be a blow to the Philly Non Sports Card Show?

With record attendance the last 2 shows I imagine this would have little impact.

Rictor · 11-17-2025, 09:33 AM

This was such a niche magazine, it's surprising it lasted as long as it did. Wizard Magazine, for example, the biggest magazine serving the comic book community, stopped publishing in 2011. Print magazines are just not that in demand any more. I personally miss flipping through them.

What keeps a magazine alive isn't circulation numbers it's advertiser dollars, and those are now spent on things like Google search, where it's easier to see and track the results of your spending.

A bigger loss, in my opinion, are local newspapers and local journalism. There's no one tracking or reporting on local politics anymore, just the state and national stuff. Local politics have much more impact on our daily lives and there's no oversight anymore to prevent corruption.

DynaEtch · 11-17-2025, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maneonemo

Hopefully the NSU forums stay operational long enough to get web archived.

With very few exceptions (your blog being one of them), there's almost no genuinely interesting information being produced, no reporting integrity, no real due diligence being done. Sure, people post content, but very little of it actually furthers the understanding of the hobby, or even considers whether the content is worth anyone's time.

While there is a lot of noise out there, and facts often go unchecked and people can post anything…..I do think online content generally is leaps and bounds above anything else for this hobby in terms of sheer depth and helpful info.

To take an example, I collect marvel- compare the content you can find in say forums or a FB marvel group about marvel cards generally, content for new releases here on BO, nslists/beckett for checklists, watching countless box breaks on YouTube etc…just gotta be selective in what you search out I guess. The content in a small, let’s be honest very corporatized of late article, in the middle of pages of ads, in non-sport update simply does not compare to the info you can find online. You don’t generally open a NSU and find super technical info about, say 90s promos which I collect, but you may find the info online. Instead you may find a preview advertising an upcoming set (or one thats already been released) where the info has already been online for some time.

I would’ve loved to see a more gritty magazine about the hobby- with technical, in depth information about covering all of nonsports vintage until now…things like promos, uncut sheets, sealed boxes, error cards, sketches…spotlights on people’s collections and super collectors out there (like Beckett used to do way back in sports)- make it more community based- not just mainly just ad preview articles for upcoming sets. Instead of a dated price guide which won’t be that accurate….some actual content on the market and its trends. You could probably read a whole year of NSU magazines and barely know whats actually going on with the market. What 92MM Platinum or Topps Marvel Mint, or Disney Chrome cards are doing, etc. If anyone reads Overstreet for comics, it has more of that market analysis…but that’s just an annual release and dated by the year it comes out.

Unfortunately a gritty magazine, dense content mag like that won’t really exist..predictably, it’s more what the corporatized Beckett NSU has become, with a few articles between numerous ads.

NSU was a hobby mainstay for decades, but nonsports the hobby is so much bigger than a magazine. Apparently Beckett print magazines still exist in sports cards in 2025, which is also hard to believe. Writings also gotta be on the wall for them.

BlowoutBuzz · 11-17-2025, 11:24 AM

I would not be shocked if Beckett cut back more at some point soon.

lahmejoon1 · 11-17-2025, 02:48 PM

I recently just found The Wrapper from someone who posted on the CU forum. I ordered a sample issue and really enjoyed it.

In the issue, it discussed an operating loss on the magazine - it seems a couple of mainstay advertisers have left, so it's creating some financial issues for the periodical. Personally, I thought it was great receiving an old-school periodical in the mail and just subscribed.

finfangfan · 11-17-2025, 02:54 PM

It’s not a good sign if one of the articles in the card magazine is devoted to a discussion of the magazine losing money.

IN THIS ISSUE… An Inside Look On How to Lose Money Publishing a Trading Card Magazine.

Investigative card reporting at its finest!

In other news, I think a lot of wannabe influencer breakers in the modern era are also losing money. But that’s another issue entirely.

11-15-2025, 06:13 PM	#1
CicadaMound Member Join Date: Jul 2019 Location: Ohio Posts: 573 CicadaMound	Non-Sport Update Ending Publication Non-Sport Update, Beckett's nonsports magazine, published its last issue this month. I don't have a copy myself, I've always just picked up the new issues as I saw them at one of the comic stores I go to. Just as the nonsports hobby's picking up again, too - end of an era. So this leaves The Wrapper and the Pop Culture PSA Magazine as the last nonsports periodicals standing, as far as I can tell. Despite the horrible mismanagement by Beckett in later years, I still enjoyed the articles, updates about upcoming sets, and promo cards from all sorts of companies - it's important to have that stuff all in one place, and now it's just a little harder. __________________ Twitter: @Lamplighter42 IG @Lamplighter.42 Looking for autos/relics of cartoon voice actors - one role as confirmed on IMDb is enough to qualify.

11-16-2025, 02:50 AM	#5
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,300	An era ends with the passing of what is easily greatest of all non-sport card related publications ever established. Bummer. __________________ Would it spoil it for everyone else?

11-16-2025, 04:16 PM	#8
DynaEtch Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 9,560	Non-Sport Update Ending Publication Wow, bummer to see such a mainstay in the hobby go. It sure did outlive most, if not all, of the other non-sport magazines, most of which folded in the 90s, like Cards Illustrated and Tuff Stuff Collect. The writing was on the wall big time for this though. Print magazines really must be struggling. Besides the articles in NSU it was a price guide but there are way more accurate ways to gauge prices by eBay sold listings, and more extensive checklists online. I am getting major old-school vs new-school vibes in nonsports cards as a hobby. Old school nonsports- simpler sets, print magazines like NSU, promo cards, official card set binders to build sets in, etc. New school- Topps Chrome, breaking, Fanatics, influencers, parallel driven/gambling sets. It’s almost like different universes. I’m not surprised to see NSU not continue on in the latter, new-school era. Credit to Beckett for a least continuing it to this point. __________________ ~~~ '90s trading cards === Golden Era ~~~

11-17-2025, 11:24 AM	#14
BlowoutBuzz Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 14,026	I would not be shocked if Beckett cut back more at some point soon. __________________ www.blowoutbuzz.com >>><<< Got something cool or interesting that might be worth a story? Know someone whose collection could be profiled? Send me a DM.

11-15-2025, 06:49 PM	#2
Dacubs2 Member Join Date: Nov 2023 Posts: 1,017 pharmkid97 pharmkid97	That's a bummer, although, I'll have to admit, it's probably been over a year since I looked through an issue

11-15-2025, 06:50 PM	#3
cmixer Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 2,099	IMO, there are too many "channels." Everyone wants hobby information on their own Instagram, their own YouTube, their own brand and platform. Too few people want to collaborate to create a centralized hub of information. The closure of NSU is kind of a big deal. Will this lead to the closure of Beckett monthly or be a blow to the Philly Non Sports Card Show? Also, someone educate me ... is the Pop Culture PSA Magazine monthly? And does it pretty much only cover PSA-related stuff? (Thanks in advance.)

11-16-2025, 01:06 AM	#4
HiltonL Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Sammamish, WA Posts: 2,445 Labman68 HiltonL	This makes me sad. I think I'm subbed for another couple of years still As for Philly, that was another Roxanne project and with her passing, I can easily see the show folding up. That said, I think the show still turns a profit, so not an immediate stoppage in my opinion

11-16-2025, 09:08 AM	#7
finfangfan Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 11,341	It’s likely most of the news reported in NSU already dropped online before publication so likely people were only buying the magazine for the “free” cards. Kind of surprised it lasted as long as it did.

11-16-2025, 05:18 PM	#9
Xazark Member Join Date: May 2016 Location: Australia Posts: 1,336 stormernumber1 stormernumber1	I only just renewed for another 3 years a couple of issues back. Have to admit the content was lacking in the last year or more, very few actual stories of interest to me and the majority of the pages were advertising / card pricing. Having said that I am definitely going to miss receiving the copy every couple of months, there are not many magazines anymore with everything online and I very much looked forward to receiving my copy for the small tidbits of info, even if the majority of it wasn't of interest to me. I will especially miss the promo cards, I have been introduced to many random sets via those promos so its sad to see them go.

11-16-2025, 06:47 PM	#10
gerry609 Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Planet Earth Posts: 2,149	That's total BS as they (Beckett) had cold called me with a special price to renew my subsrciption a few days ago.

11-17-2025, 09:33 AM	#12
Rictor Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 1,915 rictor1 rictor	This was such a niche magazine, it's surprising it lasted as long as it did. Wizard Magazine, for example, the biggest magazine serving the comic book community, stopped publishing in 2011. Print magazines are just not that in demand any more. I personally miss flipping through them. What keeps a magazine alive isn't circulation numbers it's advertiser dollars, and those are now spent on things like Google search, where it's easier to see and track the results of your spending. A bigger loss, in my opinion, are local newspapers and local journalism. There's no one tracking or reporting on local politics anymore, just the state and national stuff. Local politics have much more impact on our daily lives and there's no oversight anymore to prevent corruption.

11-17-2025, 02:48 PM	#15
lahmejoon1 Member Join Date: May 2018 Location: California Posts: 169 lahmejoon	I recently just found The Wrapper from someone who posted on the CU forum. I ordered a sample issue and really enjoyed it. In the issue, it discussed an operating loss on the magazine - it seems a couple of mainstay advertisers have left, so it's creating some financial issues for the periodical. Personally, I thought it was great receiving an old-school periodical in the mail and just subscribed.

11-17-2025, 02:54 PM	#16
finfangfan Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 11,341	It’s not a good sign if one of the articles in the card magazine is devoted to a discussion of the magazine losing money. IN THIS ISSUE… An Inside Look On How to Lose Money Publishing a Trading Card Magazine. Investigative card reporting at its finest! In other news, I think a lot of wannabe influencer breakers in the modern era are also losing money. But that’s another issue entirely.