[hof collector 15]

Am I right in assuming that basketball card collecting isn't as popular as collecting baseball and football? If so, why?

I collected baseball when I was little and occasionally collect football these days but really love basketball. When I go to hobby shops or even retail stores like Wal Mart there is easily 2-3x more baseball and football then basketball. And there are some hobby shops that sell only baseball and football. Why is it that basketball card collecting isn't more popular?

Is the Beckett forums a good indicator as to how much more popular other sports are compared to basketball? The baseball forums has 70,500 threads and 605,000 posts, the football forum has 75,000 threads and 760,000 posts while the basketball only has 20,000 threads and 160,500 posts.

Beckett had a 20 question questionnaire and one of the questions was about the popularity of each sport in collecting and basketball if I remember right was third. Which really surprises me.

I'm biased but feel it has the most appeal. In my opinion you have the most popular athlete in all of sports to collect in Michael Jordan.

Second when you talk about rookie collectors. Collecting basketball gives you a better chance of getting one of the top rookies since you have less players to choose from. With football you have 7 rounds (I'm sure they don't have a rookie card for everyone, but still) and with baseball it's a crap shoot. You could pull a crappy rookie card and 10 years later find it in a shoe box and realize the guy is a hall of famer. You just never really know, with basketball it's more of a sure thing.

This question really just springs from me seeing how much more the football and baseball boards are being used then basketball. If I am wrong about this then educate me.

[will23c1982]

The Beckett basketball card forum is notoriously quiet.

On other message boards (which I won't name because I know my post will be deleted/edited), baseball and American football are still more popular than basketball, but by less of a margin.

Meanwhile, although there might be more baseball and football collectors, many of the basketball card collectors have the deepest pockets and it has perhaps the widest global appeal with many collectors in Europe (such as myself), Asia and Australasia.

[kenarm79]

A lot goes into this question. Football is the most popular sport in the country- hands down. You still have a lot of older collectors in Baseball. I've come across some that are in their 60s. Those sports have been around a lot longer so the collecting base is stronger.

You also have to take in consideration that Panini is the only licensed product on the market. At one point you had UD, Topps, Fleer, Skybox and Hoops fighting for space. Panini doesn't put out enough products to make a place like Walmart have large quantities. UD hasn't put out too many products recently and their stuff gets picked up quickly. Leaf is similar to Press Pass so people will let it sit in the stores.

Other than those reasons, I have no clue, lol. You are correct about MJ, but Jordan has been retired for 10yrs. I don't think that he's bringing in new collectors, he's just maintaining the ones that are left.

I think that Baseball is run by backwards thinking people. They were too stubborn to do anything about steroids until the Government got involved. They base their HOF off of who doesn't have a grudge or axe to grind (I still don't understand why Robbie Alomar wasn't a 1st ballot selection. His play on the field was second to none). There is no salary cap so the belief that a Pittsburg or a Kansas City will actually have a chance to win it all is ridiculous. The fans complain about so many missed calls, but it's like pulling teeth to get the sport to add tape reviews.

I honestly don't know if basketball fans are that much interactive. There are a lot of us, but most do not collect cards. Maybe in about 10-20yrs the tables will turn, lol.

[hof collector 15]

Kenarm you make a good point about it only being Panini. That slipped my mind. I realize people are short on cash so not everyone is busting boxes left and right but it seems like there are never box breaks on these boards. And I being someone who doesn't have cash I look forward to other people busting and live vicariously through them! Lol.

[vgqv]

Let me first say, out of all the major US sports, basketball is hands down #1 for me and always will be. I love to play it, collect it, watch it and I will always love my NY Knicks. But basketball will always come third to America's past-time, baseball and to what I now believe is the most popular sport in the US, Football.

Baseball goes back more than a century ago and has a deep rooted history. Think about it, before there were television's, kids were always outside and more than likely playing baseball. All you need is several friends, bat, baseball and several gloves (I'm sure the gloves would alternate from defense to offense; sharing is caring). And it's more than likely it's these kids, now old people, whom I see when I go to card shows today (wink wink) always looking at old baseball cards. It's pretty cool when you think about it.

Football has decades of history too but not as long as baseball. But I think it has passed baseball to be the most popular sport in the US, today.

I wouldn't judge the number of basketball collectors through this website because after years of continuous changing to the layout here, it has lost many of it's basketball collectors who were fed up with what they felt were unneeded & unwarranted changes. *Shrug*. I do agree though that basketball collectors have the deepest pockets and has more collectors worldwide. Basketball is definitely becoming a beloved sport internationally. But now that there is only one company distributing licensed NBA cards, it has certainly not helped the hobby in garnering new collectors. There is no comparison between the quality of older basketball cards to Panini's basketball cards. That in itself has split the hobby, I would say it's 3/4 to 1/4 in people who favor the older companies to Panini. Also, the concept of having exclusive rights to certain players has helped kill the hobby. I mean, when you buy a box of basketball cards today and cannot pull an autograph of Michael Jordan or LeBron James, there's something seriously wrong with that! I have several friends who all collect basketball cards, two out of the group also collect baseball, football and hockey. They are a rare breed, lol! I myself only collect basketball. I'm a baseball fan (Yankees) and football fan (Giants) but rarely do I ever bust baseball or football product. Unfortunately, that has happened recently and it was during the NBA lockout. There were no new releases and I was bored and busted some non NBA product

For me though, if I could have it my way. I would allow Panini to remain for the few people who enjoy their cards. But I would bring back Upper Deck & Topps. However, this isn't a perfect world and I'm not a millionaire.

[JMarchand1981]

I am not an expert but I will add my two cents here. I collect Baseball, Basketball and Football primarily. I dabble in hockey but I primarily pick up singles that I want or, as a set collector, I pick up wax of base sets that appeal to me. Basketball cards to me offer the best base set stuff. The values of basketball cards are based on the here and now. Ex: LeBron, like him or hate him, performs so you want an auto and a rookie of his. Football and the popularity of football cards reflects the love that America as a country has for the game. Baseball card collecting is based a lot on prospects. Look no further than Harper and Trout. I think it all depends on what water you want to dip your feet into. I like all three but this years basketball has two rookie classes making it a more entertaining open.

[mtadams2]

Basketball product has taken a step backwards of late, in my opinion. Panini not doing it any favors. I ONLY collected basketball for 15 years. The last 3 I've been predominantly football.

[Vols-1]

These TV ratings from last year pretty much tell the story.

"An astounding 75 of the 100 most-viewed events of the year were NFL games, including the top eighteen. Of the mere 25 non-NFL sporting events to make the list, six were NBA games (all during the NBA Finals), six were Major League Baseball games (all during the World Series), six were NCAA Tournament telecasts, and four were college football games (three BCS bowls and LSU/Alabama in November). The remaining three events were the Daytona 500 (8.7, 15.597M), the final round of The Masters (9.5, 15.257M), and the race portion of the Kentucky Derby (8.5, 14.539M)."

[vgqv]

These TV ratings from last year pretty much tell the story.

"An astounding 75 of the 100 most-viewed events of the year were NFL games, including the top eighteen. Of the mere 25 non-NFL sporting events to make the list, six were NBA games (all during the NBA Finals), six were Major League Baseball games (all during the World Series), six were NCAA Tournament telecasts, and four were college football games (three BCS bowls and LSU/Alabama in November). The remaining three events were the Daytona 500 (8.7, 15.597M), the final round of The Masters (9.5, 15.257M), and the race portion of the Kentucky Derby (8.5, 14.539M)."

This helps solidify everything I said in my post. Thanks for those quite startling & interesting numbers!

[Troubless]

Here's my two cents from an international perspective. Football might be number one in the USA, but despite the NFL's efforts with regular games outside of the US, there is little, if any interest for football elsewhere. Baseball might be big in Japan, but there is very little interest anywhere else. Basketball on the other hand is a global game. You only need to look at the NBA today which is almost unrecognisable from 20 years ago, with so many international players, some of which have had a real impact too. That's why the interest in the NBA has been growing steadily. "Linsanity" for instance was fuelled mainly by interest from Asia.

Of course card collecting may not be as traditional in other countries as in the US, but I've seen interest in the hobby grow on a regular basis in Europe and in Asia. Some of the main collectors of basketball cards are in Asia today. And with the US dollar losing ground against most of the asian currencies over the last years, their purchasing power has been increasing too. That's why I believe basketball cards have the biggest upside potential of all sportscards.