Anybody else bewildered by Contenders' popularity?

[danimal875]

I mostly collect baseball but I am at a loss why people love Contenders so much???

- Flimsy card stock, cards are usually bowed to a certain degree.

- Same repetitive and busy design every year

- Piles of autographs of non-factors in the hobby, never any autos of vets?

- Unimaginitive insert sets (usually necessary for low to mid-end)

- So may other products in it's price range that look twice as good and much higher in quality.

I am not trying make anybody mad but I would like hear some reasons other than its been in the hobby for awhile and it has an established collector base.

[isotopes4]

Same reason Bowman Chrome beats Bowman Sterling every year. Its just what people want. Also variations SP & SSP give it added value, and make it challenging to complete a master set

[da_bears]

Piles of autographs of non-factors in the hobby

Thats my reason right there. Sure there are other companies but 1. this is a classic 2. It allows MANY people that PC certain players to have a chance at autos. Dysert was a 7th rounder and I can get high end cards of his now and not having to stick to Leaf or Bowman for autos

[oldgoldy97]

I'm not surprised at all. Non factors today are hidden gems tomorrow (Julius Thomas, Marvin Jones, Tony Romo, etc).

[ChasescardCave]

I mostly collect baseball but I am at a loss why people love Contenders so much???

- Flimsy card stock, cards are usually bowed to a certain degree.

- Same repetitive and busy design every year

- Piles of autographs of non-factors in the hobby, never any autos of vets?

- Unimaginitive insert sets (usually necessary for low to mid-end)

- So may other products in it's price range that look twice as good and much higher in quality.

I am not trying make anybody mad but I would like hear some reasons other than its been and the hobby for awhile and it has an established collector base.
There are insert auto sets of vets and HOF's.

[ajw9356]

Set collectors push prices on short prints, plus print runs aren't released, so it's a lot like gambling and an addiction for a lot of people. Also a hobby mainstay for some time now which a lot of people like.

[armyatc22]

I'm not surprised at all. Non factors today are hidden gems tomorrow (Julius Thomas, Marvin Jones, Tony Romo, etc).

This made me spit out my OJ just now hahahahaha

[dlab85]

I'm not surprised at all. Non factors today are hidden gems tomorrow (Julius Thomas, Marvin Jones, Tony Romo, etc).

+1

One of the few sets that really allows for prospecting in football

[joem1cha3l]

I'm not surprised at all. Non factors today are hidden gems tomorrow (Julius Thomas, Marvin Jones, Tony Romo, etc).

This is EXACTLY why. Not surprised at all.

[coyne81486]

I'm not surprised at all. Non factors today are hidden gems tomorrow (Julius Thomas, Marvin Jones, Tony Romo, etc).

may i add kaepernick?

[BostonNut]

It's a throwback product. Those always sell well.

[ajw9356]

may i add kaepernick?

Kaepernick was in a ton of product, but people like Romo, Victor Cruz and Tom Brady, and kickers, late breakout players like Richard Sherman, various players not in other products that see the field.

[WhoDatNation]

I liked it this year bc of autos of Spencer Ware, Russell Shepard, Khiry Robinson, Ryan Griffin, and Michael Ford.

[brianshaft]

i used to be a much bigger fan because of the reason listed above-that there is a deep checklist of guys who don't necessarily get autos in other sets- but they have really missed on quite a few opportunities the past few years in my eyes. As a Pats fan, some of the guys that easliy could have been included JUST 2010-now that they missed- kyle love, brandon deaderick, nate solder, ras i dowling (ok he ended up sucking but was a high 2nd round pick in 2011), marcus cannon, alfonzo dennard, and just this year key rookie contributors chris jones, joe vellano, logan ryan, and duron harmon. Some pretty solid names in that list of guys (mostly) who have other rc autos, but not contenders. At least from a Patriots standpoint, the last 4 years have included "the ususal suspects" and nothing more. Very disappointing.

[YanksBillsFan]

Kicker autos. It's all about the kicker autos!

[cking]

Kicker autos. It's all about the kicker autos!

http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r561/booneman101/elam_zps3136cd15.jpg (http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/booneman101/media/elam_zps3136cd15.jpg.html)

[Frankp2311]

may i add kaepernick?

Victor Cruz as well

[1eyed_jack]

I can kind of agree with the OP, there's been a few years recently where I thought the set just looked kind of ugly to be honest

[ajw9356]

Kicker autos. It's all about the kicker autos!
There would be a couple like the Anderson bros I wouldn't mind having a RC auto of, I have some of Martin Gramattica from KSU. Some people, few, but some like them.

I can kind of agree with the OP, there's been a few years recently where I thought the set just looked kind of ugly to be honest

I agree, last years was pretty good except some of the players to be on card were changed to stickers, I liked 2010 as well.

[lionsfan20]

I don't want to be rude but if you don't understand why contenders is so popular then you don't know very much about the hobby. The list of reasons why this product is so popular is pretty long. Here just a few reasons:

1. Time tested design that is very nice and clean.
2. Deep check list great for prospecting and rare PC players.
3. Loaded with on card autos of rookies and even some vets and legends.
4. No watered down fake/event used hits to bring down value of product.
5. Tom Brady graded contenders rookie ticket(nuff said)

[1eyed_jack]

I don't want to be rude but if you don't understand why contenders is so popular then you don't know very much about the hobby. The list of reasons why this product is so popular is pretty long. Here just a few reasons:

1. Time tested design that is very nice and clean.
2. Deep check list great for prospecting and rare PC players.
3. Loaded with on card autos of rookies and even some vets and legends.
4. No watered down fake/event used hits to bring down value of product.
5. Tom Brady graded contenders rookie ticket(nuff said)


That's a different time though. There weren't 500 different rookies then like there are now.

Tom Brady ungraded Bowman Chrome Rookies sell for like $60-$100.

Cam Newton, Russel Wilson, Andrew Luck, etc....can win 10 straight super bowls, 10 straight mvps and their base chrome will NEVER sell for more than $20.

It's a different time now, and with all the products out there's so many choices.

I can certainly see the appeal of Contenders, and I know the history, but the hobby has changed so much in the last several years that it's one big mess.

It's crazy to think AJ Green is one of the best receivers in the game and I can buy a rookie on-card auto of his for under $40

[pjnjjsdad]

That's a different time though. There weren't 500 different rookies then like there are now.

Tom Brady ungraded Bowman Chrome Rookies sell for like $60-$100.

Cam Newton, Russel Wilson, Andrew Luck, etc....can win 10 straight super bowls, 10 straight mvps and their base chrome will NEVER sell for more than $20.

It's a different time now, and with all the products out there's so many choices.

I can certainly see the appeal of Contenders, and I know the history, but the hobby has changed so much in the last several years that it's one big mess.

It's crazy to think AJ Green is one of the best receivers in the game and I can buy a rookie on-card auto of his for under $40

Your compairing apples and oranges.
High round QBs from Bradys RC year were pumped out, just like Cam, Wilson and Luck, but slightly less product.

If Dysert, for some reason, breaks out like Brady in say 5 years, his Contenders will sky rocket.