Why is football not as collectable as basketball or baseball

[SearchPatrol]

I do think that football cards are the most collected, just not the most invested. I know where I live, (Madison, WI) base cards of football players sell the best. Football collectors are team collectors. They want their team and no other. Packer collectors would never buy Packer cards AND invest in Justin Fields cards at the same time. I also notice that when trading with dealers nationally. It was always easier to trade football teams with each other. One dealer would send Packer cards this way and we would sent Cowboy cards to them.

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by SearchPatrol

One dealer would send Packer cards this way and we would sent Cowboy cards to them.

I used to do this, base-for-base, but I think everyone is so "hit"-centric these days it's near impossible.

[SearchPatrol]

Let me add just one more thing. Football collectors tend not to buy multiples of the same card, unlike investors. I think that makes a huge difference in the secondary market.

[Zauron]

k13 still showing off his dumb takes huh

He's the same guy saying Trout is overrated, etc.

Football is pretty dead IMO in the non-QB stuff. I remember 2 years ago Josh Jacobs stuff was hot, now it's cooled way off. Saquan Barkley, I hardly see anyone wanting to collect him.

Look at the WR's. Demaryius Thomas looked like he could have a great career and immediately fell off and was out in a blink of an eye. Julio Jones stuff is fairly cheap for the caliber of WR he is. Larry Fitzgerald is a guaranteed HOFer with high career totals and his raw Topps Chrome rookie went for under $100. Heck you can get a PSA 9 Randy Moss Topps Chrome rookie for $90.

Why do I bring that up?

An Allen Iverson Topps Chrome CSG 6.5 rookie sold for $100. A PSA 9 for $330. A Ray Allen Topps Chrome PSA 9 went for $125. I would argue both players were below in overall play than Moss, Iverson would be close, but they both sell for the same or more than Moss.

Football is incredibly undervalued compared to basketball, and questionable compared to baseball in some aspects.

[dizzydolse]

Football is the best sport to gamble on, which is why it is perceived as America's biggest sport. More people fall in love with the actual sport of baseball in this country though, because it really is a way better game. Basketball has the international thing going for sure. As far as hobby popularity though, the money will go to what people actually feel passionate about.

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by dizzydolse

Football is the best sport to gamble on, which is why it is perceived as America's biggest sport. More people fall in love with the actual sport of baseball in this country though, because it really is a way better game. Basketball has the international thing going for sure. As far as hobby popularity though, the money will go to what people actually feel passionate about.

Strongly disagree you claiming baseball is the better game. Strongly.

[regularp]

Originally Posted by SearchPatrol

I do think that football cards are the most collected, just not the most invested. I know where I live, (Madison, WI) base cards of football players sell the best. Football collectors are team collectors. They want their team and no other. Packer collectors would never buy Packer cards AND invest in Justin Fields cards at the same time. I also notice that when trading with dealers nationally. It was always easier to trade football teams with each other. One dealer would send Packer cards this way and we would sent Cowboy cards to them.

If football was the most collected, prices would be higher.

[blackbears86]

Originally Posted by dizzydolse

Football is the best sport to gamble on, which is why it is perceived as America's biggest sport. More people fall in love with the actual sport of baseball in this country though, because it really is a way better game. Basketball has the international thing going for sure. As far as hobby popularity though, the money will go to what people actually feel passionate about.

I don't think it's a perception: the NFL has clearly higher viewer numbers than baseball. It is the biggest sport in the US. (I'm sure others can chime in here with the actual numbers)


I like both sports, but I can miss several baseball games in a row and just check highlights and I'm good. With football: unless I'm working, my butt is on the couch every Sunday from 1-7 pm from Sept-Feb.



don't get me wrong, baseball is a great sport, but it's something I can put on and do other things around the house and occasionaly check the score. The NFL is must see.

[Bowman1951]

Originally Posted by k13

Everyone knows not to collect 99.9% of players by now and it shows.

Woah, woah, woah. People can COLLECT whatever they want. I love my hometown team guys and still buy plenty of their cards for pennies on the dollar.

I think what you meant to say is "invest" or whatever people call it these days.

[f2tornado]

Originally Posted by Bowman1951

I think what you meant to say is "invest" or whatever people call it these days.

It's not like the other sports have more blue chips. There are only so many Mike Trout/Griffey Jr or MJ/LeBron types out there. While QB is by far the most popular position for football collectors these days, I'd argue football collectors have broader positional appeal relative to other sports. Nobody is clambering for Dikembe Mutombo cards and he is #2 on career blocks. I don't see many Ivan Rodriquez collectors in spite of his 13 Gold Glove awards. Now meet Aaron Donald, JJ Watt, Charles Woodson, Troy Polamalu...

Yes, the NBA, MLB, Soccer, and even Pokémon have more global appeal which helps the hammer prices on some stuff. NFL careers tend to be shorter which limits stat accumulation that gives players in other sports late career boosts. A guy like Albert Pujols can hang around MLB for several years barely attaining par replacement value. That typically doesn't happen in the NFL aside from some career clipboard holding specialists. Speaking of Pujols, one of the most feared hitters for a decade, his PSA 10 SPx auto recently fetched $3600. A LaDanian Tomlinson PSA 10 Contenders auto recently fetched $3100. That's not a huge difference for a card produced the same year.

[RW3FAN]

I think this all can depend on where you live.

Seattle, tons of Seahawks collectors.
Yet I don't know a single basketball collector. Gee, wonder why?

[FantasyMagic]

Players in football don’t last long enough.

Also, when a player gets injured it takes them awhile to get back and sometimes the player that replaces them ends up being just as good.

I loved watching Leveon Bell. He was replaced by James Conner one year and he seemed just as good. It like there are just a few guys in football who are truly spectacular and irreplaceable at a given time; whereas, in basketball the next man up is almost never as good as a starter.

For basketball you can bank on a star lasting for 10 years and baseball even longer. Football it can be like 3-5 years for a RB.

[banosd]

I thought resellers of Select Football was what brought Target down this year, retail football is huge

[ArmyDC]

There are more positions in football that no one collects. Very few defensive players rookies are worth a ton.. not sure how many times I pulled a /25 kicker rookie from Unparalleled..

[Zauron]

Originally Posted by f2tornado

It's not like the other sports have more blue chips. There are only so many Mike Trout/Griffey Jr or MJ/LeBron types out there. While QB is by far the most popular position for football collectors these days, I'd argue football collectors have broader positional appeal relative to other sports. Nobody is clambering for Dikembe Mutombo cards and he is #2 on career blocks. I don't see many Ivan Rodriquez collectors in spite of his 13 Gold Glove awards. Now meet Aaron Donald, JJ Watt, Charles Woodson, Troy Polamalu...

Yes, the NBA, MLB, Soccer, and even Pokémon have more global appeal which helps the hammer prices on some stuff. NFL careers tend to be shorter which limits stat accumulation that gives players in other sports late career boosts. A guy like Albert Pujols can hang around MLB for several years barely attaining par replacement value. That typically doesn't happen in the NFL aside from some career clipboard holding specialists. Speaking of Pujols, one of the most feared hitters for a decade, his PSA 10 SPx auto recently fetched $3600. A LaDanian Tomlinson PSA 10 Contenders auto recently fetched $3100. That's not a huge difference for a card produced the same year.

You're comparing Tomlinson's best card by far to Pujols mid range PSA 10 cards.

2001 SP Authentic PSA 10 Pujols auto fetched $5k

Topps Chrome Traded PSA 10's fetch $3k.

Albert Pujols PSA 9 Bowman Chrome auto fetched $25k. A PSA 7 went for $7k. So don't compare Tomlinson to Pujols.

[hairyangryfella]

Because it's played by pussies in pads and helmets... :P

Also, Panini suck. I absolutely refuse to buy anything player worn - and that's all you get from them, including for vets. Mitchell & Ness tags in a Flawless card? Hard pass.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by FantasyMagic

Players in football don’t last long enough.

Also, when a player gets injured it takes them awhile to get back and sometimes the player that replaces them ends up being just as good.

I loved watching Leveon Bell. He was replaced by James Conner one year and he seemed just as good. It like there are just a few guys in football who are truly spectacular and irreplaceable at a given time; whereas, in basketball the next man up is almost never as good as a starter.

For basketball you can bank on a star lasting for 10 years and baseball even longer. Football it can be like 3-5 years for a RB.

Lots of RBs like Conner come and go in 1-2 years. Hes probably done. Bell was done as soon as he left Pittsburgh.

[f2tornado]

Originally Posted by Zauron

So don't compare Tomlinson to Pujols.

I showed an example of a player who played a decade for one of the most crappy fan bases in the NFL and who won no championships can, at times, compete with a 2x world champion including a decade with one of MLBs most-storied franchises. My bad.

Hard to find a perfect card comparison since each sport has its own nuances. A raw Tomlinson Topps Chrome will price match a raw Chrome Pujols but the LT Chrome is SP. The base Topps Pujols will outsell the LT but flagship Topps is stronger for baseball.

Either Tomlinson is grossly overvalued, Pujols is undervalued, or maybe there's more to football than QBs.

[Zauron]

Originally Posted by f2tornado

I showed an example of a player who played a decade for one of the most crappy fan bases in the NFL and who won no championships can, at times, compete with a 2x world champion including a decade with one of MLBs most-storied franchises. My bad.

Hard to find a perfect card comparison since each sport has its own nuances. A raw Tomlinson Topps Chrome will price match a raw Chrome Pujols but the LT Chrome is SP. The base Topps Pujols will outsell the LT but flagship Topps is stronger for baseball.

Either Tomlinson is grossly overvalued, Pujols is undervalued, or maybe there's more to football than QBs.

I just proved Pujols outsells Tomlinson. A Tomlinson Chrome sells for $450 and is limited to 999, Pujols does sell for the same raw but his cards trump Tomlinson in sales for nearly everything else.

I would say compare Miguel Cabrera to Tomlinson.

Also, nearly everybody is going to be outshined by a basketball player. Ray Allen probably sells more than Tomlinson, at least his chrome rookie was on par with Randy Moss when I was comparing those two earlier.

[SearchPatrol]

Originally Posted by regularp

If football was the most collected, prices would be higher.

Prices are high for common cards. Go to a large cards show and make up 1000 cards boxes of all sports teams. Football will be king, no doubt about it. Just because the price isn't high, doesn't mean it's not collected. People want football cards but will gladly take the cheapest cards. Since rosters are so large with great turnover, they want quantity over quality. Investors don't want risk, that's why football investing is less prevalent. Even when I use to set up at cards shows in Milwaukee, Packer singles sold the best.

[k13]

You set up in Milwaukee and Packers sold....duh

[mfw13]

It's pretty simple:

1) Football is largely a US-only market
2) For the most part, only GOAT QB's have much value over the long term

Therefore, you just don't have very many collectable players in football....

In the 60+ years since the NFL came into existence you've got....

Sammy Baugh, Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Gale Sayers, Joe Namath, Walter Payton, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Tony Dorsett, Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady.

And you can pick up autos of some of those players for less than $50, and most for under $100.

[whoshotjr]

Originally Posted by FantasyMagic

Players in football don’t last long enough.

Also, when a player gets injured it takes them awhile to get back and sometimes the player that replaces them ends up being just as good.

I loved watching Leveon Bell. He was replaced by James Conner one year and he seemed just as good. It like there are just a few guys in football who are truly spectacular and irreplaceable at a given time; whereas, in basketball the next man up is almost never as good as a starter.

For basketball you can bank on a star lasting for 10 years and baseball even longer. Football it can be like 3-5 years for a RB.

I think the salary cap makes RB take a hit. Career path of a very good player:

- be underpaid in rookie contract
- sign a big deal to make up for it
- get cut a couple years into the big deal, as a rookie is a better value
- If healthy, maybe split carries somewhere

So if player rarely gets injured, doesn't split carries, and starts right away, that's 7 years starting, and maybe another 3 splitting carries. That's probably enough time to get a guy to the edge of the HOF stat wise, but he still may need to be on a good enough team to make a lot of deep playoff runs.

So even if all goes well, you may still just end up with Corey Dillon.



Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

[regularp]

Originally Posted by Zauron

I just proved Pujols outsells Tomlinson. A Tomlinson Chrome sells for $450 and is limited to 999, Pujols does sell for the same raw but his cards trump Tomlinson in sales for nearly everything else.

I would say compare Miguel Cabrera to Tomlinson.

Also, nearly everybody is going to be outshined by a basketball player. Ray Allen probably sells more than Tomlinson, at least his chrome rookie was on par with Randy Moss when I was comparing those two earlier.

That guy is making laughably misinformed posts.

He's saying guys like JJ Watt sell more than NBA counterparts. Watt's a future Hall of Famer and one of the great defensive linemen the game's ever seen. Jason Williams was a flashy PG with more style than substance who was a serviceable for a handful of years.

Williams' autos from recent Impeccable releases sell for almost the same raw as BGS 9.5s of JJ Watt's National Treasures RC Autos.

[Eckstein197]

Originally Posted by regularp

If football was the most collected, prices would be higher.

Baseball drives a lot of value because they’ve been around the longest. Vintage football is nowhere near as popular as baseball. Even though it should be much closer in value