This is a fascinating sale. When Fanatics secured the exclusives with the sports leagues for cards last year, I thought it was a massive mistake, because I surmised that they underappreciated how important the heritage aspect (largely Topps) still was to sports cards. Little did I realize, it was a strategic move, to undercut Topps' market value, allowing Fanatics to acquire them at a heavy discount.
It seems that Fanatics wanted Topps all along, but didn't appreciate their billion dollar valuation. Depriving Topps of their core licenses solved that issue, allowing them to acquire Topps at a stee discount.
I still think Fanatics is looking at 2020 as the realistic trend for the sports card category, which is unrealistic in the short OR long term in my opinion. As an observer, I'm far more bearish on it. But then again, I'd have never predicted the category would still be chugging along in the way that it has. I think paying a premium for limited printed things is a bit silly. In spite of my personal opinions or tastes, sports card collectors seem to have bought into a kind of "Franklin Mint" approach to appreciation, both with "chase cards", now generally called other things I guess (parallels, etc) and of course slabbing and grading.
The idea that ANY Tom Brady or Lebron James card could ever sell for six figures seems silly on its face, but that IS that market as it stands. There is a kind of logic, I suppose. In a world where 90% or more of all printed sports cards will continue existing into the future, the only true "rarities" are the ones that the manufacturers create, or ones that extremely specific grading can sort out.
Like everyone else, I get worried when a Fanatics type of company gets involved in something built on real fandom, as their aim will likely be "how can we create something that will be worth $10k or $100k THIS year? How they'll view lower-revenue heritage Topps brands like Wacky Packages is tough to say. Hopefully they continue to leave it alone, knowing that it feeds a passionate, albeit humble fanbase, and that has value, even if it doesn't move the dial on a grand money scale.
But yes, almost certainly get ready for the NFT's.
