[jephthah1]

I was thinking about how the hobby has changed and progressed over the years—moving from a simple base card set, to inserts, serial #'d, parallels, GU, foil cards, intricate die cuts, autographs, etc.—and I began to wonder, where do we go from here? What can the hobby do that is new and innovative? Short of entering into the ridiculous and going over the top, has it already done it all? So I ask you, as collectors...what would you like to see in the future?

[Stanton]

I haven't even had one since I don't really bust any product, but having redemptions he good for more than one year would be nice. I've thought about buying boxes from like 2009\10 and cringe at the thought of that being one of my "hits" that I would never get to see. As for progress, if they are going to expire quickly make redemptions upgrade to auto jerseys or mini helmets or something haha. I mean, just because a player can't hold up his end of the agreement in a time period, don't make your consumers wait forever to receive their purchase.

[mooncricket916]

Don't know about new and innovative but I would like to see the hobby move backwards in a sense. No more autos /9999! I'd like to see jsy and auto cards more rare like they were back in the late 90's/early 2000s you know? They would be more appreciated that way I think. Who cards about a rookie auto that is numbered to 10k like platinum does and some others. Also NO MORE event worn jsys! That takes away from the coolness of pulling a game used jsy. What's cool about a jsy a guy put on and took right off again so that the company could use it? A lot of people might disagree with me but that is my thoughts for what it's worth...

[butterworth1326]

Instead of booklets, folder cards with full number/name plate/logos patches and other side portraits with autos

[jephthah1]

I haven't even had one since I don't really bust any product, but having redemptions he good for more than one year would be nice. I've thought about buying boxes from like 2009\10 and cringe at the thought of that being one of my "hits" that I would never get to see. As for progress, if they are going to expire quickly make redemptions upgrade to auto jerseys or mini helmets or something haha. I mean, just because a player can't hold up his end of the agreement in a time period, don't make your consumers wait forever to receive their purchase.

I have been collecting since the mid 90's and I just bought my first unredeemed redemption card about 3 months ago. However, I wish I had thought it through because the card is from 2012, and I have never seen the redeemed product. I was able to claim it but Upper Deck states that it is unavailable due to the athlete not having signed yet. If they eventually have to replace it, I doubt that they will replace it with anything I want, so I hear ya. I have higher hopes for my second redemption, purchased this month through Panini. They say it will arrive within 3 months. We'll see.

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Don't know about new and innovative but I would like to see the hobby move backwards in a sense. No more autos /9999! I'd like to see jsy and auto cards more rare like they were back in the late 90's/early 2000s you know? They would be more appreciated that way I think. Who cards about a rookie auto that is numbered to 10k like platinum does and some others. Also NO MORE event worn jsys! That takes away from the coolness of pulling a game used jsy. What's cool about a jsy a guy put on and took right off again so that the company could use it? A lot of people might disagree with me but that is my thoughts for what it's worth...

You read my mind! One of the things I have not enjoyed is the depreciation of standard insert cards and RC's due to all the GU and autograph stuff. I remember when 1998 Ultra first hit the streets, people were going crazy for Manning, Moss, and Taylor rookies. No auto, no serial #, just the card. 1999 COLLECTOR'S CHOICE--Ricky Williams...I saw those go for $20-$25. Heck, I paid (gulp) $36 for a 1995 SP Jamal Anderson RC. I know things will never be like they used to be, nor should they be; however I would love to see someone return the hobby to a purer form. Otherwise, just do away with standard base cards, start autographing everything and be done with it. Oh, and you are right about another thing--event worn jerseys are garbage. Give me something with a little dirt and blood on it. I'll buy that all day long.

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Instead of booklets, folder cards with full number/name plate/logos patches and other side portraits with autos

Hahaha...hey...go big or go home, right? I like the way you think.

[mooncricket916]

Yeah man those were the days! Nobody even cares much about a base card and have read lots of threads about people throwing them in the garbage! I super collect so hard to find his base cards around now or much people that even will trade base cards. A lot of members here won't even bother. Nothing bad, just a style of collecting but if the hobby went back to the basics cards would be much more appreciated. I'm not saying get rid of the autos and jsys, just make them more of a hit and less of a regular thing. Like I said, what's special about an auto /999? Cut that back to say /100 and stuff would be a lot more collectable. I remember way back when..I'd pull a jsy and go ballistic because they were very uncommon. Hell, pulling an inserts was cool back then!

[butterworth1326]

Yeah man those were the days! Nobody even cares much about a base card and have read lots of threads about people throwing them in the garbage! I super collect so hard to find his base cards around now or much people that even will trade base cards. A lot of members here won't even bother. Nothing bad, just a style of collecting but if the hobby went back to the basics cards would be much more appreciated. I'm not saying get rid of the autos and jsys, just make them more of a hit and less of a regular thing. Like I said, what's special about an auto /999? Cut that back to say /100 and stuff would be a lot more collectable. I remember way back when..I'd pull a jsy and go ballistic because they were very uncommon. Hell, pulling an inserts was cool back then!

I feel you on this. I got into a habit a few years ago of throwing away cards. Base are essentially worthless these days and even higher /xxx are too. But the amount of rookies that never make it flood product too. I have some nice rookie autos /10, /5 etc and below that aren't worth postage to ship it....

[Harv72b]

Regarding the redemption cards expiring thing...the good news is, Panini has put an end to that starting with their 2014 releases. The bad news is they did it by inserting "rewards points" instead of traditional redemptions. The points never expire, but until they massively rework their reward store they're never going to be redeemed either, at least not by me.

Biggest, and I mean biggest thing for me is, stop putting out 3,000 different sets every year. Okay, slight exaggeration but you know what I mean...a big part of the reason that autos and (actually) game-used cards aren't so special anymore is not the print run of each card, it's that between all the different sets and parallels they're printing half a million of all of them. "Oh, hey--you pulled an Eddie Lacy on-card rookie autograph #'d 1 of 1? So did I!" Enough, already! When each set contains half a dozen (or more) "1 of 1"s for every player, and there are 50+ sets being released, exactly how special is your "unique" hit? Oh, and incidentally, scaling back the number of sets (and therefore cards) being printed every year will also have the effect of cutting back the number of redemptions, as players won't be swamped with demands for 30,000 "genuine" autographs on tiny little stickers.

I'll echo the complaint on "event worn" stuff, but it's gotten even worse than that. My "rookie relic" hit from a 2014 Score blaster consisted of a little rubbery Texans helmet stuffed into a Jadaveon Clowney card...they're not even bothering with making the players touch the "relics" anymore. It's a sad, sad day when I can honestly say that the best experience I've had from 2014 football cards so far has been with Leaf products.

To answer the core "what will they do next" question, a few guesses would be:

-More in the way of "unique" cards which aren't really. Tiny changes to produce more "variations", different ways to create even more parallels, eventually culminating in a product where literally every single card in every single pack is a "1 of 1".
-"Voice cards" which include a short recorded message spoken by the player on the card. I'm actually shocked they haven't done this yet (have they?), as there have been musical greeting cards using basically the same technology for well over a decade now.
-New materials used in the making of the cards. As much as I hate to admit it, I genuinely love the clear acetate designs some of the higher-end sets are using, and wish more would go to it.
-"Condition sensitive" releases made of less sturdy stock material. "Variations" are basically just intentionally printed "error" cards, so why not intentionally print thousands of cards which will end up being worn down to nothing through minimal handling, driving up the cost of the few which survive in mint condition?

I could go on, and if anyone from a major card manufacturer is reading this then I would be happy to do so privately for a handsome fee.

[jephthah1]

Biggest, and I mean biggest thing for me is, stop putting out 3,000 different sets every year.

But don't you think the amount of releases have already decreased dramatically since the turn of the century? How many companies have folded or been absorbed into another? That has certainly had an effect on amount of product released. I think perhaps we are more aware of how much stuff is out there because almost all of it is serial numbered, whereas in the past it was simply an un-numbered insert or RC. With that said, I will agree that the idea of fewer releases is desirable, and I would welcome such a move. On a side note, personally, I would like to see Panini go away. Their product just seems...cheap. Everything from them feels like a dressed up "Score" card.

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-"Voice cards" which include a short recorded message spoken by the player on the card. I'm actually shocked they haven't done this yet (have they?), as there have been musical greeting cards using basically the same technology for well over a decade now.

-Would I buy a card that had Mike Alstott shouting, "AAAAAA TRAAAAAIIIIIINNNNNNNNN". Heck yeah I would.

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-"Condition sensitive" releases made of less sturdy stock material. "Variations" are basically just intentionally printed "error" cards, so why not intentionally print thousands of cards which will end up being worn down to nothing through minimal handling, driving up the cost of the few which survive in mint condition?

I really like this idea but my fear would be the market becoming flooded with these particular cards getting over graded and/or slabbed. Then they wouldn't be all that special anymore. Still, it's an innovative idea.

[thumey]

I liked the predictor cards from Collector's Choice in the early to mid 1990's. If a player did a certain thing during a game on a certain day, you could redeem that card for a special card of that player. UD Hockey had award predictors that gave you a set of cards of award winners if your guy won an award. I had one of Gretzky for MVP which he won and I got a nice 15 card set of award winners from that year. It books really nice!