2016 Industry Summit News and Announcements Recap
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By Ryan Cracknell | Hobby Editor
The Industry Summit has wrapped for another year under the sunny skies and breathtaking views of Honolulu, Hawaii. And while there was plenty of fun to be had for attendees, a lot of work was done as well. Even if you weren’t there, as usual, the Industry Summit brought with it some news that will impact the hobby in the year ahead.
Here’s a quick recap of some of the things from the 2016 Industry Summit that you might have missed.
Leaf Trading Cards Address Highlights:
- Daisy Ridley autographs coming in 2016 Leaf Pop Century.
- Not planning on producing draft-style baseball products in 2016.
- New hockey brands include Genesis, Sportkings Hockey, Masked Men and Pearl.
- 2016 Leaf Signature Series Wrestling to have Andre the Giant and Vince McMahon Sr. cut signatures.
Panini America Address Highlights:
- NASCAR license formally announced with four releases in 2016.
- 2016 Flawless Soccer on the way.
- New brand coming this year — Donruss Optic. It’s an optichrome take on Donruss baseball, basketball and football.
- Revamping the Panini Roundtable program for hobby shops.
Topps Address Highlights:
- National Baseball Card Day returning this summer (no formal date yet).
- 2016 Bowman Chrome and 2016 Bowman Draft will have different configurations.
- Topps Supreme Baseball will not return in 2016.
- Have reached deal with Dodgers rookie Kenta Maeda.
Upper Deck Announcements:
- New photography-centric line, UD Portfolio, coming for hockey in 2015-16. Will include redemptions for 2016-17 rookies.
- Champ’s Hockey returning.
- Early schedule for 2016-17 NHL products: MVP (August), Team Canada Juniors (August), O-Pee-Chee (September), Artifacts (October), UD Series 1 (November), Black Diamond (November), Trilogy (December).
- Upper Deck held a private session for select dealers where they went into more detail on some upcoming products.
2016 Industry Summit Exclusive Cards:
- Beckett Media honors industry legends and leaders.
- Cryptozoic promo cards for Gotham, Orphan Black and The Flash.
- Decision 2016 promo cards.
- Leaf produced special White Boxes with an exclusive cut signature and one-of-one Proof card from an existing Leaf product.
- Panini Black Boxes.
- Topps Autographs and Industry Summit Stamped one-of-ones.
- 2016 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Industry Summit Autographs.
Other 2016 Industry Summit Panels and News:
- Beckett Media acquires Non-Sport Update Magazine
- Mike Berkus to be honored at 2016 National Sports Collectors Convention
- Adapt or Die
- Future of Sports Collectibles Licensing
- Lloyd Kee of GTS Distribution and Angelo Exarhakos of Universal Distribution honored with Partners in Progress Award.
No doubt, the Future of the hobby is bright and in good hands.
My wife and I thank Beckett, Panini America, Topps, Upper Deck, Leaf and GTS for making this the best and most productive Industry Summit EVER!
Ryan,
Thanks for sharing. It was great being there, but I know a number of shops didn’t attend.
Mike