Let's play monopoly article.

[spuds1961]

Let's Play Monopoly

Okay, I have been a collector forever but lately it seems like I have no clue as to what I want to buy. My title sums it up, and I am not talking about the board game, but it could be considered a bored game, see what I did there...

I used to be mostly a baseball collector with lots of hockey and then some football thrown in. Well I switched to mostly football when I moved to Mississippi as it seemed like that is what most people in this region collected. I love the Topps football products and I always bought tons of Chrome and Platinum retail products. Sadly, coming in 2016 I will not be able to buy those brands as Panini was given the football exclusive... Boo! I do not really like Panini football products on the whole as they put out too many sets with most of them looking similar and the price point is not what it should be. I was willing to give Panini a try but it just doesn't do it for me. The brands I like that they put out are just rehashed similarities to Topps products that I already liked. Prizm is just a remake of Topps Chrome with the value of the cards being lower than its Topps counterpart. I really don't want to bash Panini but here is my problem with this brand: you have the football and basketball exclusive but yet you still feel the need to put out non-logo non-licensed baseball products. I think this is not right for the industry as:

1) The value is not as great as the actual licensed brands;
2) I think it dilutes the real baseball products that are out there; and
3) Pay the extra money and get the license you should actually want so that your cards might actually have some value to them.

The other thing that bothers me is these repackaged rebought products on the market, Superbreaks and the Leaf Best of Products are the 2 that come to mind... They are overpriced and show no initiative as to bringing anything new to the industry. I mean I can go on eBay and buy the same cards that are in these repackaged products or I could roll the dice and buy one of these overpriced repackaged products hoping to hit 1 of the few cards that might get you your money back. I just don't see how people actually buy these products, but I guess in today's collecting game, it is all left to the gambler's mentality that spurs people to buy.

On the other hand, there's the company I probably feel most sorry for, you people can agree or disagree with me and that's okay because it is your opinion. I am talking about Upper Deck, which in my eyes always put out a decent product. I like the work they do with their hockey cards as that is the exclusive they were left with, what's sad is their football products although not licensed are better than anything Panini puts out, they are reduced to being able to use only college logos which they can't even use this year and they still put out a great product such as SPX,SPA and Inscriptions. I am really upset with Panini if you haven't noticed as they are biting off more than they can chew and making the card market a joke.

You have 4 major sports, football, baseball, basketball and hockey, now it seems soccer has entered the field and that is huge because the international market has been left untapped for years. I actually did like the work Panini did on their Select brand of soccer and there is money to be made on the secondary market with soccer cards. However, those are just not my cup of tea although I admit if I followed soccer more I would be buying Select by the box load.

I will start to close this article,but I might ramble on I don't know as there are so many things I could go on about. I think the problem stems from the leagues themselves as they chose to have exclusive rights to certain sports, which I feel is wrong as competition breeds ingenuity. I mean when was the last time an insert set and not an autograph or game used card got you excited? I can't wait 'till all the current contracts run out and maybe the powers that be will see that as collectors, we the people like choice! I want all companies to have a license and use actual team names and logos! I do not want to see my Yankees cards with an airbrushed black hat on the front and a generic New York where the team name is printed. I hope this article brought some of what I think of the current state of the industry to light, I will try to do better next time, happy collecting and take care!

[*censored*]

Regarding Panini and MLB, licensing isn't as simple as you're making it out to be. MLb and Topps signed an exclusive deal. Panini could come in with a bid of eleventy billion dollars as soon as the agreement with Topps ends in 2020 and MLB still could just say "No thanks, we're still going to take Topps' lower offer." It's not a case of throwing enough money at it and getting it.

Additionally, the NFL, NBA, and NHL all work in tandem with the NFLPA, NBPA, and NHLPA when licensing their products. MLB and the MLBPA do not: both are free to sign any card agreements they feel necessary as individual entities. With that, you'll see things like Panini showing players (MLBPA agreement) but unable to show logos (no MLB agreement). Other companies are free to do other such deals as well (Upper Deck does to a degree with Jordan and LeBron, Leaf has a number of deals, etc.). If a company finds their product to be profitable, they're going to make it regardless. They've found enough consumers of it that it's worthwhile, and that fact might give MLB some pause before just blindly reupping with only Topps for another year or five. If they didn't try, they would just remain lonely and forgotten and sit there stranded on third base.

While yes, there is a monopoly in each sport, at least they offer a variety of products under than monopoly instead of cranking out boring, bland, repetitive crap in a single yearly set the way we saw from the late 60s to late 70s.

[spuds1961]

Regarding Panini and MLB, licensing isn't as simple as you're making it out to be. MLb and Topps signed an exclusive deal. Panini could come in with a bid of eleventy billion dollars as soon as the agreement with Topps ends in 2020 and MLB still could just say "No thanks, we're still going to take Topps' lower offer." It's not a case of throwing enough money at it and getting it.

Additionally, the NFL, NBA, and NHL all work in tandem with the NFLPA, NBPA, and NHLPA when licensing their products. MLB and the MLBPA do not: both are free to sign any card agreements they feel necessary as individual entities. With that, you'll see things like Panini showing players (MLBPA agreement) but unable to show logos (no MLB agreement). Other companies are free to do other such deals as well (Upper Deck does to a degree with Jordan and LeBron, Leaf has a number of deals, etc.). If a company finds their product to be profitable, they're going to make it regardless. They've found enough consumers of it that it's worthwhile, and that fact might give MLB some pause before just blindly reupping with only Topps for another year or five. If they didn't try, they would just remain lonely and forgotten and sit there stranded on third base.

While yes, there is a monopoly in each sport, at least they offer a variety of products under than monopoly instead of cranking out boring, bland, repetitive crap in a single yearly set the way we saw from the late 60s to late 70s.

Thank you for your reply, I pretty much agree with you, the exclusive player contracts is something I didn't touch on, I hate that ud has LeBron, Michael, Wayne and Tiger and Panini has Kobe and Kevin Durant, yes it is a selling point for these companies I just hate that you have to buy more than one product to try to get a certain players signature.

[yazfan71]

Steve, I really hate to say it, but I think you need to change your approach to the hobby. As much as I enjoy reading your box breaks, it seems more often to be disappointing you.

With my limited budget it made more sense for me to focus directly on singles rather than gamble on pulling a card for my PC or for something valuable enough to trade for something I want or need.

I'm not sure how you can possibly get bored, especially as a team collector of multiple sports. Not to mention with the history of the Yankees, Giants and Rangers you have so many cards to chase. And if you expand to memorabilia items as well, you'll have an unlimited amount of pieces to add to your collection.

[spuds1961]

Steve, I really hate to say it, but I think you need to change your approach to the hobby. As much as I enjoy reading your box breaks, it seems more often to be disappointing you.

With my limited budget it made more sense for me to focus directly on singles rather than gamble on pulling a card for my PC or for something valuable enough to trade for something I want or need.

I'm not sure how you can possibly get bored, especially as a team collector of multiple sports. Not to mention with the history of the Yankees, Giants and Rangers you have so many cards to chase. And if you expand to memorabilia items as well, you'll have an unlimited amount of pieces to add to your collection.

I agree Kelly, lately after I open my blasters and check the prices the better cards that were pulled are selling for it feels like it was a waste of time. I have pulled my fair share of decent hits from discounted blasters but I will give you an example of a diamond kings blaster I bought today. I pulled a cal ripken jr. red frame numbered 06/99 and a blake snell dual relic autograph numbered 072/199 plus other inserts and the regular cards, you would think the 2 cards I pulled would put me in the red but I will break even if I am lucky. I like the thrill of opening packs and pulling my own big hits but lately like you said I would be better off just buying what I collect.

[yazfan71]

Yeah Steve, I can see where the frustration has to be setting in. You pull a pair of decent hits, but neither one are PC guys and now you are left with the decision of whether to try and sell them to get money back to buy more or trade for cards you really want.

[footballbuzz]

good!