Topps out---Fanatics in

[Americards]

Originally Posted by NYRE2PECT

Agree, well except for die cuts.

some die cuts have many corners

[Mandy1320]

Originally Posted by 1000 Sport Zonk

What are the chances Fanatics will change the size of cards ever so slightly that new storage materials will need to be made and purchased?

That is possible, for sure, and it scares me.

[wood minis]

Originally Posted by WallyG71

I think this new deal is the opposite of what Panini has in place right now they have an MLBPA but no MLB. Topps would still have an MLB but no MLBPA so basically they can't make anything with the players likenesses. I guess they could make big logo cards as much as they want

Right, but Fanatics would start out having to do what Panini is doing unless they can acquire the MLB contract earlier, which is part of why buying Topps shouldn't be off the table.

[NYRE2PECT]

Originally Posted by Americards

some die cuts have many corners

Fair!

[Dbacksbaseball]

As I said on page 69 last night, and fell in line perfectly with todays news, Fanatics is here to take over.

The last 4 years the hobby has been insane and greed put the hobby dead on the map.

This is an addicts game now. The problem was the Card Dealers (Wholesalers and retailers) were making more then the Casinos (Producers- Topps Panini etc). A new casino saw that plain as day and just came to town and pulled the rug out from under everyone. I can almost guarantee Fanatics will be D2C (Direct to Consumer).

Going to get some people real tense.....but in 2003 Sports Card Forum was the hopping place to be. Fast Forward to 2013 Blowoutforums was the place to be. 2023 is Fanatics forum going to be the new forum home of the industry? I hope not, but its a full scale takeover.

Time will tell.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by WallyG71

I think this new deal is the opposite of what Panini has in place right now they have an MLBPA but no MLB. Topps would still have an MLB but no MLBPA so basically they can't make anything with the players likenesses. I guess they could make big logo cards as much as they want

Topps can in theory make cards of anyone not in the mlb pa.

[Pacmeyer]

Originally Posted by wood minis

Right, but Fanatics would start out having to do what Panini is doing unless they can acquire the MLB contract earlier, which is part of why buying Topps shouldn't be off the table.

Interesting article on Topps being blindsided. Lots of theories can be drawn from it.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...ing-card-deal/

[JRX]

The New York Times reported that plans for the new trading card company are apparently already well underway and that MLB and the players union will each have seats on a board of directors that will run it.

Game over, fanatics will have the license to all sports for the foreseeable future. Any future company would need to buy out the players and owners.

[Dbacksbaseball]

Originally Posted by JRX

The New York Times reported that plans for the new trading card company are apparently already well underway and that MLB and the players union will each have seats on a board of directors that will run it.

Game over, fanatics will have the license to all sports for the foreseeable future. Any future company would need to buy out the players and owners.

Already been announced the both the MLB/NBA and their respective players get a cut of the pie. This is a given.

[wood minis]

Originally Posted by Pacmeyer

Interesting article on Topps being blindsided. Lots of theories can be drawn from it.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...ing-card-deal/

My take away is simply that the rich want to get richer. MLB & the MLBPA are interested in making more from trading cards.

Not including Topps, a longtime partner, in the negotiations and releasing the news to torpedo their going public is about as ruthless as it gets.

[beavers]

Originally Posted by wood minis

My take away is simply that the rich want to get richer. MLB & the MLBPA are interested in making more from trading cards.

Not including Topps, a longtime partner, in the negotiations and releasing the news to torpedo their going public is about as ruthless as it gets.

Yes but that is only one side to the story. It is also quite reasonable to assume that Topps was being arrogant and trying to get a larger payday themselves, which made the league and players look elsewhere, and ultimately led to their unseating.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by Pacmeyer

Of all the companies Fanatics should buy it would be Collectors Universe not Topps.

This. But I thought Fanatics already did slab cards?

[OscarOne]

Originally Posted by wood minis

My take away is simply that the rich want to get richer. MLB & the MLBPA are interested in making more from trading cards.

Not including Topps, a longtime partner, in the negotiations and releasing the news to torpedo their going public is about as ruthless as it gets.

Go watch that BALCO doc on netflix...and you can see the type of person running MLB. Ruthless should not be a shock. They are terrible, morally corrupt people.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by beavers

Yes but that is only one side to the story. It is also quite reasonable to assume that Topps was being arrogant and trying to get a larger payday themselves, which made the league and players look elsewhere, and ultimately led to their unseating.

Topps wasn't actively negotiating. Also, I don't think topps would have considered giving the players and owners ownership stakes in the company.

[jlklemp]

Originally Posted by JRX

It won't matter, come 2026 they can't make any licensed baseball cards.

Exactly! If Topps hadn't run everyone else out of the baseball card space with their previous exclusive deal, those other companies would've been making licensed products this whole time and nobody would consider them NOT to be real, true baseball card manufacturers. It seems whomever has the license is the real, true company. 25 years down the road when Fanatics loses the license, everyone on here will be like "NOOOOOO, Fanatics has to show that they are THE baseball card company! They can't let so-and-so company do this!!!"

[Raleigh504]

With Fanatics taking over, who says they will do two series for flagship? With the way technology is today, I found it annoying that Topps couldn't get people who were traded in their correct uniforms before release or even a new year. They edit minor league jerseys but not MLB it seems. Hopefully they will release multiple series like the old days (you could in theory do it each month) that include their own set of separate inserts. Only drawback would be autos but I am sure they could figure something out with that.

[Dbacksbaseball]

Originally Posted by OscarOne

Go watch that BALCO doc on netflix...and you can see the type of person running MLB. Ruthless should not be a shock. They are terrible, morally corrupt people.

I mean....lets be real here as well. Topps is no Angel either. They treat their customers like Dog #@#@#@#@ regularly.

You could say this is years of Karma slapping them in the face and it wouldn't be a reach.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by Raleigh504

With Fanatics taking over, who says they will do two series for flagship? With the way technology is today, I found it annoying that Topps couldn't get people who were traded in their correct uniforms before release or even a new year. They edit minor league jerseys but not MLB it seems. Hopefully they will release multiple series like the old days (you could in theory do it each month) that include their own set of separate inserts. Only drawback would be autos but I am sure they could figure something out with that.

It takes time to manufacture / package / and ship physical cards. I'm sure if a big name gets traded, F will have an auto / new patch card on their website for $$$$$

[JRX]

Originally Posted by jlklemp

Exactly! If Topps hadn't run everyone else out of the baseball card space with their previous exclusive deal, those other companies would've been making licensed products this whole time and nobody would consider them NOT to be real, true baseball card manufacturers. It seems whomever has the license is the real, true company. 25 years down the road when Fanatics loses the license, everyone on here will be like "NOOOOOO, Fanatics has to show that they are THE baseball card company! They can't let so-and-so company do this!!!"

There were periods when there were other manufacturers and a lot of people still considered topps the real one because they went back to 1951.

[Rooftop]

Distributors are to blame as much as anyone.

Fanatics are going to cut them out and keep their markup for themselves.

[wscws2008]

I can only hope that Fanatics doesn’t repeat the sins of the past but I am not hopeful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by JRX

Topps can in theory make cards of anyone not in the mlb pa.

Right....at least until 2025 ends.

So I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Topps continue to product a few Heritage/Archives/Ginter/GQ/Museum style retro products featuring retired players exclusively.

Given the number of HOFers, as well as the number of popular retired non-HOFers, they could easily put together some 300-500 card sets.

For example, my team, the Giants, probably has 15-20 retired players that Giants fans would love to see in a set.....Mathewson, Hubbell, Ott, Bobby Thompson, Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Kruk & Kuip (the announcers), Will Clark, Robbie Thompson, Barry Bonds, Rich Aurillia, Rod Beck, Lincecum, Matt Cain, etc.

[Wildcat55]

Originally Posted by JRX

Topps wasn't actively negotiating. Also, I don't think topps would have considered giving the players and owners ownership stakes in the company.

This will soon be another B-School case study about complacency killing an established business. Topps became complacent and thought that 70 years of history guaranteed them the future business. What Fanatics is doing is textbook.

Reminds me of a quote that’s pretty applicable now…

“Number 1: Cash is king. Number 2: Communicate. Number 3: Buy or bury the competition.” – Jack Welch

[DaBaddestHic]

I really don't like this news but I'm not gonna rehash the same things that have been said multiple times in here. I read the first 55 pages fully then skimmed some over that, especially once it got to MLS/star wars talk haha.

But a few things I'm thinking about that I didn't see mentioned:

- If Topps goes away, so do pack odds, I think. Panini doesn't post odds, and I don't think UD does either. This isn't a huge deal I guess, but I like having those listed (so I know how excited to feel when I hit something big) and it helps when people are calculating production numbers. Are people able to figure out print runs on Panini products right now?

- If Topps and Panini do just lose their ability to produce cards or don't get bought up, I hate to see the memorabilia stashes just vanish. Putting aside debates on how authentic they actually are, there's some rare stuff in their inventories. It'd be a shame for it all to get dumped into products for one year and leave nothing for futures years, or even worse, just go missing. It already sorta sucks that old gear has been cut up to be put into cards, I wouldn't want to see more of that since the current inventories are lost.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by Wildcat55

This will soon be another B-School case study about complacency killing an established business. Topps became complacent and thought that 70 years of history guaranteed them the future business. What Fanatics is doing is textbook.

Reminds me of a quote that’s pretty applicable now…

“Number 1: Cash is king. Number 2: Communicate. Number 3: Buy or bury the competition.” – Jack Welch

Yup, though to be fair, topps probably thought a 70 year partnership would have at least gotten them a face to face where mlb stated their intentions.