Fanatics and Topps Strike a Deal for College Sports Cards

Fanatics Collectibles has established a wide reach in the sports trading card market over the past year and continues to grow, mainly through sports licensing deals. The trading cards and collectibles division of Fanatics is entering the college sports trading card market through its subsidiary Topps with a new basketball and football product line coming later this year. The brand said the deal is the "most comprehensive, officially licensed college student-athlete trading cards programs ever." Topps secured exclusive long-term trading cards rights with more than 35 preeminent college partners starting as early as 2023. This includes a majority of the Power 5 Conference schools such as Alabama, Oregon and Kentucky. "This collection is the first offering of officially licensed collegiate cards featuring current athlete NIL rights," Dave Leiner, Topps global vp and general manager, said in a statement. "We're thrilled at the opportunity to launch these comprehensive programs that combine premier student-athletes and elite institutions to create a best-in-class collegiate trading card product for fans and collectors." Trading cards get a degree in NIL The trading cards will feature official university trademarks with name, image and likeness (NIL) rights from both current student-athletes and former players. These agreements will take effect between 2023 and 2025. Beginning in the fall, Fanatics and Topps will release its first sets of college football and basketball trading student-athlete NIL cards through nonexclusive deals struck with more than 100 schools including Duke, North Carolina and Syracuse. Fanatics and Topps also agreed to NIL trading cards deals with nearly 200 student-athletes across college football and basketball, including 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, Stetson Bennett, Bo Nix, Caleb Williams, Dereck Lively II and Aliyah Boston. “Fanatics has been closely monitoring the ever-evolving NIL landscape, and we felt this was the perfect time to launch multiple, strategic college trading card programs that will allow schools and current student-athletes to create new levels of direct engagement with fans across hundreds of the top programs nationwide,” said Derek Eiler, evp of Fanatics College. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em Launched in 2021, Fanatics Collectibles has been on a licensing binge since its inception. The brand has signed exclusive licensing deals with the NBA and its players association, MLB, MLBPA and the NFLPA. All parties hold equity in the company. After losing its 70-year partnership with MLB to Fanatics, Topps joined the empire in a $500 million acquisition at the top of the year. Topps now sits as one of two entities under the Fanatics Collectibles umbrella with pop culture-inspired Zerocool. Fanatics also launched Candy Digital, a digital collectibles firm that creates NFTs. The brand agreed to NIL deals with several college basketball stars for an NFT line earlier this year. Monopoly money Of the four major sports players associations, only the NHL is not with Fanatics. The league and its player association signed a recent long-term extension with Upper Deck. By 2026, Fanatics will have exclusive rights to the NBA and MLB. The NFLPA signed with Fanatics, but the NFL as a league has yet to join. With the college move, Fanatics further strengthens its hold on the sports collectibles category. With the near monopoly that Fanatics holds on the trading card market, the moves the brand makes in the future will have a significant impact on its industry, shaking up a once dormant product. Few trading card companies have touched college sports in the past due to the various licensing roadblocks, but with the rise of NIL in college sports, that has changed drastically. The addition of college sports creates an untapped market with potential marketing and financial opportunities that never existed before. The goal for Fanatics Collectibles has been to transform its product from a CPG category to more of a financial asset. As the category has risen in value, trading cards have evolved beyond bubble gum prizes to adult collectibles. “Our primary goal as the torchbearers for card manufacturing across all the major sports—baseball, basketball, football—and now culture is to grow the market and to grow the whole industry,” co-founder and chief vision officer of Fanatics Collectibles Josh Luber told Adweek. “In order to do that, we have to truly become a marketing company. And we have to market the entire industry." Fanatics Collectibles parent company Fanatics was valued at $27 billion in March after raising $1.5 billion in a new round of funding. Fanatics Makes Culture and Entertainment Collectible With Zerocool

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Fanatics and Topps Strike a Deal for College Sports Cards

The brands are getting a degree in NIL marketing

Rafael Canton

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Rafael Canton