Dr. Brian Price returns to the hobby with President’s Choice Trading Cards
By Stephen Laroche | Beckett Hockey Editor
After two years of sitting on the sidelines, Dr. Brian Price is ready to get back into the hockey card game.
While details of his new company, President’s Choice Trading Cards are scant at this point, the hobby veteran briefly spoke with Beckett Hockey to confirm that new cards are on the way soon and more information will be release to the public once the Fall 2016 Sportcard & Memorabilia Expo opens next week.
Price’s announcement took hockey collectors by surprise as he revealed the decision to return via his personal blog. Noting that he had “missed manufacturing the kind hockey cards that collectors want to collect”, his new line of cards will launch on December 1, 2016 and includes a “timely special edition boxed product” that some collectors have speculated may revolve around the centennial season of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Price did not confirm or deny what the subject matter of the boxed set will be.
“We’re going to announce the first boxed set at the show and as far as all the other stuff that’s going to be done, that will be done on December 1 on the website,” he said. “There’s going to very little product available. If my loyal collectors are the only ones who buy it, all the stuff will still sell out.”
Back in the 1991-92 season, Price entered the trading card industry at the helm of the rejuvenated Parkhurst brand, which was a sub-licensor of Pro Set. By 1993-94, the company had come under the Upper Deck banner before breaking out on its own the next year. During this period, Price and his team issued a popular series of Missing Link sets which offered collectors a look at what could have been if Parkhurst set had been produced in certain seasons.
Following a two-year absence, Price was back in the hobby in 1998-99 as his new venture, In The Game, took over the Be A Player brand from Pinnacle. In subsequent seasons, In The Game expanded its lineup with other products, including the super premium Ultimate Memorabilia line, but it was shut out by the NHLPA in time for the lockout which cancelled the 2004-05 season. The company’s NHL license ended a year later, leaving it to rely on producing junior and minor league-themed products and signing individual players to deals.
After years of fighting for a chance to produce fully-licensed NHL trading cards and creating niche products, Price decided to move on and merged his brands with Leaf Trading Cards in 2014.
No stranger to controversy, Price has made some waves already with the name of his new company, which evokes comparison to branding used by Canadian grocery chain Loblaws Inc. for its own products. The company did attempt to stop him from using it via the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but its extended time to oppose expired on October 26. Since none of the products it produces are trading cards, Price appears to be on solid legal ground to utilize it and explained his decision to use the name of President’s Choice Trading Cards.
“First of all, as far as I’m concerned, I just wouldn’t take a flyer using someone else’s name unless I was on sound legal ground, which I am. They can do President’s Choice cookies and they can do the President’s Choice bank and do President’s Choice whatever, but if they wanted to do President’s Choice trading cards, they would have done it before me. They would have had it, but once I did it, they just don’t have the universal right over President’s Choice, so they threatened and did whatever and I just said, ‘hey, take your best shot’ and obviously, they did one extension and threatened to whatever they were going to do and so far they haven’t and I don’t think they’re on very solid ground now after the extension is over.
“I always had President on the back of our cards and my blog is Prez Sez, so I figured it was a natural extension. Panini is a sandwich, so what’s in a name? I just liked the sound of it, and that’s all there is.”
While extensive details and distribution methods for new President’s Choice Trading Cards products have yet to be confirmed, expect full information and card images from Beckett Hockey in the coming weeks.
Stephen Laroche is the editor of Beckett Hockey, Beckett Basketball, and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at slaroche@beckett.com or follow him on Twitter @Stephen_Laroche.
Guess the non-compete he signed when he sold out to Leaf expired…