Interesting interview with Michael Rubin and Fanatics' plans for cards...

[Triple B]

His confidence in his plan to grow the sports cards market seems pretty strong...

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co..._ojRp6ybQcnkDA

[rms13]

His confidence better be high with all the money they spent acquiring Topps and the various league licenses.

[kyle1707]

Originally Posted by rms13

His confidence better be high with all the money they spent acquiring Topps and the various league licenses.

They better pray illegal gambling I mean group breaking never gets stopped

I just watched Layton do a 300 box super bowl break

$14’900 a spot. Not sure how many spots

But Layton alone the last few weeks with flawless immaculate mosaic etc

Has opened million dollars

Ducked up the hobby so bad.

The amount fanatics paid. They are screwed if group breaking ever gets stopped

[panamamyers]

I mean he's right.
When is the last time you saw a Topps commercial on TV? or anywhere for that matter?
There is unbelievable room for growth.

[NYRE2PECT]

Pokey-Man, had to chuckle.

I would agree - Topps seemingly didn't market (compared to other industry leaders).

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

Originally Posted by kyle1707

They better pray illegal gambling I mean group breaking never gets stopped

I just watched Layton do a 300 box super bowl break

$14’900 a spot. Not sure how many spots

But Layton alone the last few weeks with flawless immaculate mosaic etc

Has opened million dollars

Ducked up the hobby so bad.

The amount fanatics paid. They are screwed if group breaking ever gets stopped

They don’t want breaking to stop at all, but they want to be the ones doing the breaking. They’ll need to get their fingers in every revenue cookie jar in the hobby to reap a profit any time soon. So they’ll either start taking a bigger cut from breakers, or just bring them in as under their umbrella and sell the spots on their site. I’m guess we’ll see both, at least in the short run.

[rfgilles]

Originally Posted by Triple B

His confidence in his plan to grow the sports cards market seems pretty strong...

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co..._ojRp6ybQcnkDA

The article is light on details and a fluff piece. Every business guy says there is room for tremendous growth.

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by kyle1707

They better pray illegal gambling I mean group breaking never gets stopped

I just watched Layton do a 300 box super bowl break

$14’900 a spot. Not sure how many spots

But Layton alone the last few weeks with flawless immaculate mosaic etc

Has opened million dollars

Ducked up the hobby so bad.

The amount fanatics paid. They are screwed if group breaking ever gets stopped

Remember when there were many people on this board stating breaking was net positive for the industry? Collectors will still be able get boxes if they want. Not the main cause for run up on case costs. Value of a single box will be fine. Etc..

[rms13]

Originally Posted by panamamyers

I mean he's right.
When is the last time you saw a Topps commercial on TV? or anywhere for that matter?
There is unbelievable room for growth.

People still watch TV with commercials?

[SupermanBrandon]

Originally Posted by rms13

People still watch TV with commercials?

Nope. Go ask NBC on how the Olympic ratings are doing. Hint for those that don't know: THEY ARE IN THE GARBAGE!

[rms13]

Originally Posted by SupermanBrandon

Nope. Go ask NBC on how the Olympic ratings are doing. Hint for those that don't know: THEY ARE IN THE GARBAGE!

But I thought that was because of China. But yes making TV commercials is not the best way to spend your marketing budget unless it's for the super bowl

[mfw13]

It's interesting that he conflates collectors with people interested in "alternative investments". While undoubtedly there is some overlap, those are by and large different types of people with different hobby needs/wants.

Because while there may be 50-100 million people interesting in gambling/investing on sports cards, there are nowhere close to that number of people who actually collect them.

If he's serious about increasing the size of the collector base, then the number one thing he has to do is increase availability/distribution. Get back to the days where cards were available at every supermarket/drugstore/gas station.

And since MLB is your partner, make cards much more available at MLB & minor league stadiums. Have more card giveaways....heck....get vendors roaming the aisles selling them.

[Asian62150]

Originally Posted by mfw13

It's interesting that he conflates collectors with people interested in "alternative investments". While undoubtedly there is some overlap, those are by and large different types of people with different hobby needs/wants.

Because while there may be 50-100 million people interesting in gambling/investing on sports cards, there are nowhere close to that number of people who actually collect them.

If he's serious about increasing the size of the collector base, then the number one thing he has to do is increase availability/distribution. Get back to the days where cards were available at every supermarket/drugstore/gas station.

And since MLB is your partner, make cards much more available at MLB & minor league stadiums. Have more card giveaways....heck....get vendors roaming the aisles selling them.

Yeah. Gotta get the kids/next generation involved.

Sounds like Luber and Rubin have a plan to print certain products to the moon so it's available for the kids, while also having certain limited products that appeal more to the higher-end collectors.

From Luber interviews, it sounds like he understands not to water down parallels/1 of 1s.

They're saying most/all of the right things now, but we'll see how they execute when the time comes.

[eye4talent]

Originally Posted by mfw13

It's interesting that he conflates collectors with people interested in "alternative investments". While undoubtedly there is some overlap, those are by and large different types of people with different hobby needs/wants.

Because while there may be 50-100 million people interesting in gambling/investing on sports cards, there are nowhere close to that number of people who actually collect them.

If he's serious about increasing the size of the collector base, then the number one thing he has to do is increase availability/distribution. Get back to the days where cards were available at every supermarket/drugstore/gas station.

And since MLB is your partner, make cards much more available at MLB & minor league stadiums. Have more card giveaways....heck....get vendors roaming the aisles selling them.

Stadium vendors selling cards… I like this idea!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[ThoseBackPages]

Topps Total should return

[Pacmeyer]

10 fold increase in customer base?

There will never be enough people interested in paying for little pieces of cardboard, or digital images of pieces of cardboard, or crypto denominated in pieces of cardboard.

I'm guessing those overpriced licenses will be up for grabs again in a few years.

[BoofBonser26]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

Topps Total should return

Classic Topps Total - $20 a box, one parallel, few inserts. Just a ton of base cards.

[panamamyers]

Originally Posted by rms13

People still watch TV with commercials?

I don't really watch any tv.
Let me phrase it differently.
When is the last time you saw any mention of Topps outside of the avenues that you visit on purpose to get news at least somewhat related to Topps?
Anywhere? I have never seen Topps advertised anywhere in the last 15 years.
Billboard, in a store, magazine, newspaper, tv, radio, green sheet, car wrap, hot air balloon, banner being pulled behind a plane, blimp....nothing zero zilch nada.
A customer needs to go out of their way to find out about it

[msucollector4]

Originally Posted by panamamyers

I don't really watch any tv.
Let me phrase it differently.
When is the last time you saw any mention of Topps outside of the avenues that you visit on purpose to get news at least somewhat related to Topps?
Anywhere? I have never seen Topps advertised anywhere in the last 15 years.
Billboard, in a store, magazine, newspaper, tv, radio, green sheet, car wrap, hot air balloon, banner being pulled behind a plane, blimp....nothing zero zilch nada.
A customer needs to go out of their way to find out about it

They could run a sort of Topps Now thing where they are available to buy during a game you are attending.

So, for instance, you attend a Braves vs Nats game and Soto or Acuna have a monster game you can scan some sort of QR code given out at the game to have the opportunity to buy the card from that game. Could be a cool idea that both increases exposure to people at games that dont collect or people that collect but dont attend games.

There could also be a similar set up for games on TV (maybe just nationally televised ones?).

[freshdcards]

Topps ran radio commercials all season on Yankee radio broadcasts - they were centered around National Baseball Card Day - at least one read every game

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by mfw13

It's interesting that he conflates collectors with people interested in "alternative investments". While undoubtedly there is some overlap, those are by and large different types of people with different hobby needs/wants.

Because while there may be 50-100 million people interesting in gambling/investing on sports cards, there are nowhere close to that number of people who actually collect them.

If he's serious about increasing the size of the collector base, then the number one thing he has to do is increase availability/distribution. Get back to the days where cards were available at every supermarket/drugstore/gas station.

And since MLB is your partner, make cards much more available at MLB & minor league stadiums. Have more card giveaways....heck....get vendors roaming the aisles selling them.

Agree with everything here, as would anyone whose been around the last couple of decades.

History has repeatedly shown the easiest people to influence in the hobby are those who flip, so these should be Fanatic’s first targets to quickly increase their bottom line. Perhaps Fanatics will have cards that are literally scratch-off tickets.

If Fanatics follows what Topps did starting in 1995 with Bowman is to work to convert collectors into flippers. One of Topps’ strategies back then was to offer a $125 set buyback guarantee. But nowadays the same result is achieved via shill bidding.

Will be interesting to dissect their actions moving forward, will be equally interesting to see the vernacular they choose to use (industry vs hobby, collector vs flipper, etc). It does seem they’ll work to eliminate, reduce or control hobby middlemen which will bring about much needed hobby change.

[panamamyers]

Originally Posted by freshdcards

Topps ran radio commercials all season on Yankee radio broadcasts - they were centered around National Baseball Card Day - at least one read every game

Not here in Houston.
Haven't heard nor seen a peep from them since maybe an SI for Kids issue back in 1995.

[Chiefnocahoma]

Topps has commercials on MLB network the last couple of seasons. Also had Bowman as main sponsor of Top 100 prospect shows.

[JRX]

They will focus on NFT ponzi schemes, there's no way they produce 10x the amount of cards to go along with 10x the customer base unless he's already secured the amazon for deforestation.

[SupermanBrandon]

Originally Posted by JRX

They will focus on NFT ponzi schemes, there's no way they produce 10x the amount of cards to go along with 10x the customer base unless he's already secured the amazon for deforestation.

They will dive head first into NFTs and Digital cards