MLB, NBA, NFL unions strike trading card deals
The sports trading card industry is reportedly getting a major shakeup.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the player unions of MLB, the NBA and NFL have reached agreements with a new company controlled by the online retailer, Fanatics, whose founder was Michael Rubin, the current coowner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils of the NHL.
The agreement makes Fanatics the official licensee for the trading cards of the three leagues. Rubin will be in charge of the new company that will produce the trading cards, the Journal reported.
The agreement ends the 70-year relationship that trading card giant Topps had with MLB. Meanwhile, the NBA and NFL had deals with Panini America for their trading card rights.
The Journal also reported that each of the three unions will have a stake in the company that will produce the trading cards.
The Fanatics deal with the Major League Baseball Players Association is set to start in 2023, though the current deal with Topps runs through the 2025 season, the Journal reported. The NBA’S agreement with Panini runs through 2025 and the NFL’S is through 2026.
The Journal reported that MLBPA executive director Tony Clark wrote in a memo that the new deal is more than 10 times bigger than any previous agreement. Clark also wrote that it, along with a series of other agreements the MLBPA has reached, will total almost $2 billion through 2045.
According to the Journal, Topps paid the MLBPA $20.4 million in 2020 as part of its licensing agreement, which was the most of any MLBPA licensee. The NFLPA, meanwhile, received $24.2 million from Panini, the Journal reported, citing the NFLPA’S latest filing.