Well I heard the news about Panini being the sole producer of NFL cards in 2016. I read this forum as well as Facebook and other forums. I have to say this news doesn't affect me that much. If you read my introduction earlier I mainly collect Dallas Cowboys from 1960-1994. Having just gotten back into collecting I have a lot of catching up to do from those years. Past that I buy singles and don't do a lot of unopened. When I first got back in 3 years ago I bought a lot of unopened in Football, Basketball and Baseball, but never got great hits and got away from that. I would rather spend $100-$200 on an auto of a Cowboy great I need versus an unopened box and getting an auto of some practice squad player. So again this doesn't change my collecting any, but that being said here are my thoughts:
Topps had a sole license in the 70's and 80's and we got stuck with a lot of boring crappy sideline photos because they didn't want to have to airbrush helmets(in the 70's before they got fully licensed). Although I have nostalgia for many of these Topps sets they were boring and usually white bordered except for 1985 and 1986 to name a few. In 1989 Score and Pro Set came on the scene and blew Topps away. They had glossy cards, action photos and a photo on the back. Plus they included rookie cards of actual rookies. My point is we need competition. It forces companies to innovate and step up thier game. I don't think this is good to just have one company producing cards. A lot of people were commenting they werent going to collect Football cards anymore which I think is extreme. Also most people seemed to complain they are going to miss Topps higher end sets. I think that is what is part of the problem with Topps. Thier higher end sets are nice but thier flagship set has been the same boring white bordered cards year after year. I couldn't tell the difference without turning it over and checking the date on the back. Panini has nice higher end sets as well like Playbook but thier lower end sucks and I hate what they have done with basketball. When I got out of collecting in 1993, me like many others were frustrated with how many companies and releases there were every year. Especially with a teenagers budget it was too costly and confusing to keep up. Getting back in 3 years ago I thought there would be less companies and less releases. Well there are less companies but way too many releases. I heard that the cap from the NFL was 17 per company and now with Panini being the only one they are going to let them have more releases than that. I would like to see three companies producing cards: Topps, Panini and Upper Deck. I think they should only be allowed to produce 3 releases a piece each season. Less is more. This would also force them to spend more time on each release making a better product from the base cards on up. That is my two cents.
Topps had a sole license in the 70's and 80's and we got stuck with a lot of boring crappy sideline photos because they didn't want to have to airbrush helmets(in the 70's before they got fully licensed). Although I have nostalgia for many of these Topps sets they were boring and usually white bordered except for 1985 and 1986 to name a few. In 1989 Score and Pro Set came on the scene and blew Topps away. They had glossy cards, action photos and a photo on the back. Plus they included rookie cards of actual rookies. My point is we need competition. It forces companies to innovate and step up thier game. I don't think this is good to just have one company producing cards. A lot of people were commenting they werent going to collect Football cards anymore which I think is extreme. Also most people seemed to complain they are going to miss Topps higher end sets. I think that is what is part of the problem with Topps. Thier higher end sets are nice but thier flagship set has been the same boring white bordered cards year after year. I couldn't tell the difference without turning it over and checking the date on the back. Panini has nice higher end sets as well like Playbook but thier lower end sucks and I hate what they have done with basketball. When I got out of collecting in 1993, me like many others were frustrated with how many companies and releases there were every year. Especially with a teenagers budget it was too costly and confusing to keep up. Getting back in 3 years ago I thought there would be less companies and less releases. Well there are less companies but way too many releases. I heard that the cap from the NFL was 17 per company and now with Panini being the only one they are going to let them have more releases than that. I would like to see three companies producing cards: Topps, Panini and Upper Deck. I think they should only be allowed to produce 3 releases a piece each season. Less is more. This would also force them to spend more time on each release making a better product from the base cards on up. That is my two cents.
