Sports Card Betrayal
Sports cards are something you wouldn’t expect to fall in the investment category. They are essentially trading cards linked to sports in some way, whether there is a player, team, or stadium on the card, though it’s mostly players. These cards hold value depending on how people and other collectors view the player, and the value can always change, which brings out the investing aspect. For example, if you bought a 2000 edition of Tom Brady’s sports card, it would’ve been dirt cheap because he was a rookie at the time, and a terrible one as he was one of the last players drafted. That card is now worth 3.1 million dollars as it was sold in an auction, leaving the collector with a ton of money off of something considered a hobby. Of course, you can also lose money in this business, but it’s something fun for people who are huge sports fans.
Recently, there was a major shockwave in the industry. The sport that is especially known for its sports cards is baseball, America’s pastime. For the last 70 plus years, one company has dominated the baseball card industry. That company is Topps, whose positive relations with the MLB for the past few decades has earned them the licensing rights for the highest level of baseball in the world. That run ended last week as the MLB announced a landmark decision to give their exclusive trading card license to Fanatics, a company you’ve likely bought a sports jersey from. This was a blindside hit for Topps, who didn’t know about this even with the Fanatics deal negotiations taking place for the past few months. The deal doesn’t just take away a good part of Topps business; it also destroys their plans of going public. Topps was about to go public through a SPAC with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Group, but the partners immediately backed out of the 1.6 billion dollar deal once the news arrived. This leaves a lot of questions for the company and their future, and it’s a fraction of what they were a couple of years ago when they were the main card manufacturer for every main US sports league. Do you own any Topps sports cards?
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
