[arena_guy]

Why has Panini decided not to make unlicensed hockey products after they lose their license? It sounds like they're just going to bow out of the hockey market for now. Or, do they plan to make unlicensed hockey products? I haven't heard anything about whether they would or not. They have tried unlicensed products with baseball. I'm going to miss Panini in this hobby for sure.

[madmack29]

I would guess that getting the only official football license will keep them busy.

There is already one company making unlicensed hockey products. Those offerings have a niche, but the main set and rookie collectors won't be buying much of those sets.

[hckydv7]

Why has Panini decided not to make unlicensed hockey products after they lose their license? It sounds like they're just going to bow out of the hockey market for now. Or, do they plan to make unlicensed hockey products? I haven't heard anything about whether they would or not. They have tried unlicensed products with baseball. I'm going to miss Panini in this hobby for sure.

Panini does have a license for Baseball-- from the Players association only.
No license from MLB= no logos,team caps, team names on card.

Hockey cards are done jointly by the NHL and the NHLPA-- so you could not have a license from one and not the other.

I personally do not like the Panini baseball cards b/c of what they cannot show.

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I would guess that getting the only official football license will keep them busy.

There is already one company making unlicensed hockey products. Those offerings have a niche, but the main set and rookie collectors won't be buying much of those sets.

Who?

[madmack29]

Panini does have a license for Baseball-- from the Players association only.
No license from MLB= no logos,team caps, team names on card.

Hockey cards are done jointly by the NHL and the NHLPA-- so you could not have a license from one and not the other.

I personally do not like the Panini baseball cards b/c of what they cannot show.

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Who?

ITG does not have a license - if you look at their cards there is a statement about not being affiliated with NHL or NHLPA.

[hckydv7]

ITG does not have a license - if you look at their cards there is a statement about not being affiliated with NHL or NHLPA.

Correct-- by they do have a license from the CHL and individual agreements with the legend players they use-- so no unlicensed aspect to them.

[arena_guy]

Panini does have a license for Baseball-- from the Players association only.
No license from MLB= no logos,team caps, team names on card.

Hockey cards are done jointly by the NHL and the NHLPA-- so you could not have a license from one and not the other.

I personally do not like the Panini baseball cards b/c of what they cannot show.

---

Who?

*by unlicensed I mean to say no logos, team names, etc.*

OK, I don't know much about all the licensing deals/requirements, so you're saying that the bolded above puts the kibosh on something like this? So they'd have to have both NHL and NHLPA licenses to even put unlicensed stuff? Panini can't just strike deals with individual players (using all non-logo, non-team name material)?

There is already one company making unlicensed hockey products. Those offerings have a niche, but the main set and rookie collectors won't be buying much of those sets.

It's true. Sports cards area a niche market in general, unlicensed stuff even more so. However, I would still buy an unlicensed Prime Ties card, for example, with no logos. Kind of what I'm getting at with this. Lots of cool inserts will go bye-bye.

[hckydv7]

*by unlicensed I mean to say no logos, team names, etc.*

OK, I don't know much about all the licensing deals/requirements, so you're saying that the bolded above puts the kibosh on something like this? So they'd have to have both NHL and NHLPA licenses to even put unlicensed stuff? Panini can't just strike deals with individual players (using all non-logo, non-team name material)?



It's true. Sports cards area a niche market in general, unlicensed stuff even more so. However, I would still buy an unlicensed Prime Ties card, for example, with no logos. Kind of what I'm getting at with this. Lots of cool inserts will go bye-bye.

If they have a license from the NHL and the NHLPA, then they are NOT an unlicensed product.

Unlicensed means not done with the permission of the League and PA

If the insert-- such as prime ties-- is done within the confines of a licensed product it is also licensed.

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Even the Baseball stuff Panini does is done under a license but only from the MLBPA that is why no logos etc.

I think that it would be really hard for PAnini to do a unlicensed hockey product. Would be hard to get enough players on board to make it worthwhile and they would probably get sued to try to stop them.

Remember, they only got a license before from the NHL and NHLPA because it looked like UD was not going to survive.

[arena_guy]

If they have a license from the NHL and the NHLPA, then they are NOT an unlicensed product.

Unlicensed means not done with the permission of the League and PA

If the insert-- such as prime ties-- is done within the confines of a licensed product it is also licensed.

---

Even the Baseball stuff Panini does is done under a license but only from the MLBPA that is why no logos etc.

I think that it would be really hard for PAnini to do a unlicensed hockey product. Would be hard to get enough players on board to make it worthwhile and they would probably get sued to try to stop them.

Remember, they only got a license before from the NHL and NHLPA because it looked like UD was not going to survive.

Again, I'm not sure as to the minutia of the licensing deals, but this is what it says on the front of every 2012 National Treasures Baseball that Panini put out:

"Panini America, Inc. has independently acquired all game-used material used in these trading cards. Panini America, Inc. is in no way affiliated with either Major League Baseball or Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., nor have these trading cards been prepared, approved, endorsed, or licensed by either Major League Baseball or Major League Baseball Properties, Inc."

In hockey, we have Prime Ties, Prime Colors, Treasured Steel, and many more innovations that should still be present in the hobby. The length of the exclusive wasn't revealed, so it's disappointing to see these ideas just sit on a shelf. Hockey is a smaller market than baseball, so it's probably not worth their while to try it, but I would like to see Panini have some sort of presence with a high-end release here and there if they could pull it off like they did with baseball.