Author: Spencer Reyes
Fanatics is one of the biggest sports retailers in the world, having the rights to produce and sell merchandise for the NFL, NCAA, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, MLS, US Soccer, and the Champions League.
This sports powerhouse purchased their old competitor, FansEdge, for $183 Million in 2012, and as of January 4th, 2022, Fanatics bought out Topps for $500 Million. Topps was founded in 1938 and started selling trading cards with pieces of bubble gum. They unintentionally started the sports card industry by promoting the game with their bubble gum sales. Topps has been known as the card producer for all major sports and movie franchises like Star Wars and have even continued their Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages trading card sets.
Just this past August, Major League Baseball has decided to not renew their contract with Topps and has given their right to make trading cards to Fanatics. Roughly four months later, Fanatics bought out Topps, and it seems as if the cards will look the same, but they will most likely include the Fanatics logo as well.
This purchase will help accelerate the sports trading card community as now MLB cards made before the 2022 season will increase in value as the only way to acquire any of these cards will be through resale. Card collectors will see a similar bump in the community in the next year, just as we all experienced in 2020. This time, retailers will be ready and prepared to limit how many cards or boxes a customer can buy per transaction or day. Hopefully, this will bring more sports fans to the trading card industry and not scare them away. Do not be surprised when Fanatics/Topps becomes the only card company available to purchase sports cards in the future.
SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE
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