Interview with President of Fanatics Trading Cards on Sports Cards Nonsense

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by ewokpelts

How So?

announced it was being released, then never spoke about it again

[KhalDrogo]

Advertising. Yeah, that will do it for Fanatics. Advertising will convert millions more into trading card collectors. How will they ever produce enough to keep up with the demand?

Fanatics' success hinges on their ability to capture the peripheral services after the sale of the wax. Can they take a portion of the revenue from breaking, storing, grading, and selling? I'm sure they can. But can they do so to an extent that matters?

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Advertising. Yeah, that will do it for Fanatics. Advertising will convert millions more into trading card collectors. How will they ever produce enough to keep up with the demand?

Fanatics' success hinges on their ability to capture the peripheral services after the sale of the wax. Can they take a portion of the revenue from breaking, storing, grading, and selling? I'm sure they can. But can they do so to an extent that matters?

Dude! they said they're gonna grow the hobby by 10x!!!!!!!

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

Dude! they said they're gonna grow the hobby by 10x!!!!!!!

Was Loober or Rubin the first to say that? Can't remember.

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Was Loober or Rubin the first to say that? Can't remember.

i cant remember either

#ThanksTopps

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by ewokpelts

That’s so #@#@#@#@ing dumb

I don't think it's that dumb. The platform could be like Shop at Home Network back in the day. That was pretty iconic.

I think they want to facilitate group breaking. Whatnot is already doing that.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Advertising. Yeah, that will do it for Fanatics. Advertising will convert millions more into trading card collectors. How will they ever produce enough to keep up with the demand?

Fanatics' success hinges on their ability to capture the peripheral services after the sale of the wax. Can they take a portion of the revenue from breaking, storing, grading, and selling? I'm sure they can. But can they do so to an extent that matters?

They need to get the NBA and NFL licenses immediately. They need to supercharge the hobby by printing high quality Topps NBA and NFL cards. They can't wait to let the Panini deals sunset -- you've got to keep people from losing interest.

Fanatics' strategy hinges on dominating the entire industry. Letting Panini and UD be a drain on their efforts won't allow them to drive the hobby to new heights of popularity.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

They need to get the NBA and NFL licenses immediately. They need to supercharge the hobby by printing high quality Topps NBA and NFL cards. They can't wait to let the Panini deals sunset -- you've got to keep people from losing interest.

Fanatics' strategy hinges on dominating the entire industry. Letting Panini and UD be a drain on their efforts won't allow them to drive the hobby to new heights of popularity.

“Flagship quality” will definitely suffice.

Anything else is really for “hobby elites and assorted degenerates” many of whom really aren’t into collecting.

[eephuspitch]

Originally Posted by cholodolo

This is where the influencers come in -- they will buy and sell those cards to the same 5-10 individuals until some guy not in their group overpays and holds it forever while leaving the hobby. I'd be shocked if the major auction houses or hobby companies (Collector's) aren't financing those purchases/transactions on the company credit card.

Rinse and repeat. This wasn't an accidental or overnight strategy. It's a racket.

If transparency was forced on the major auction houses...who is buying what, when...the entire market would collapse.

The incestuous nature of the hobby cannot be overestimated. And the modern phenomenon of super-fractors all but ensures some of these markets (e.g. 1st Bowman's) are ponzi schemes.

[ewokpelts]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

I don't think it's that dumb. The platform could be like Shop at Home Network back in the day. That was pretty iconic.

I think they want to facilitate group breaking. Whatnot is already doing that.

And the home shopping networks sold junk. LOTS of it.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by eephuspitch

If transparency was forced on the major auction houses...who is buying what, when...the entire market would collapse.

The incestuous nature of the hobby cannot be overestimated. And the modern phenomenon of super-fractors all but ensures some of these markets (e.g. 1st Bowman's) are ponzi schemes.

I’ll settle for a published list of which items went unpaid for by the deadline. Baby steps first.

[ewokpelts]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

They need to get the NBA and NFL licenses immediately. They need to supercharge the hobby by printing high quality Topps NBA and NFL cards. They can't wait to let the Panini deals sunset -- you've got to keep people from losing interest.

Fanatics' strategy hinges on dominating the entire industry. Letting Panini and UD be a drain on their efforts won't allow them to drive the hobby to new heights of popularity.

Last I heard they’re buying the license holder. Or at least the American division.

[eephuspitch]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

What kind of budget would Fanatics need to effectively prop up secondary prices? I would think it would be a lot. Maybe they would only have to target the biggest hits so break participants still have a strong enough incentive to keep buying into breaks.

As it relates to this specific point, it's not Fanatics that I'm worried about...yet.

They haven't needed to get involved, all you need is an army of breaker bots doing the work for you...because that's how the incentives work.

Think about the early days post Veefriends release and what was happening with secondary prices for singles...it was to drive demand to churn through inventory at breaker operations sitting on loads of product they had bought direct.

[eephuspitch]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

I’ll settle for a published list of which items went unpaid for by the deadline. Baby steps first.

That would be a start but it's not nearly enough.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by eephuspitch

If transparency was forced on the major auction houses...who is buying what, when...the entire market would collapse.

The incestuous nature of the hobby cannot be overestimated. And the modern phenomenon of super-fractors all but ensures some of these markets (e.g. 1st Bowman's) are ponzi schemes.

Definitely true. A huge reason why pricing is the way it is is because people think they can anonymously influence and profit…a mafioso’s wet dream.

First Bowman super pricing is often set in a manner to increase pricing of lesser parallels…”a rising tide lifts all ships”…it’s rigged.

[eephuspitch]

Originally Posted by MoreToppsPlease

Definitely true. A huge reason why pricing is the way it is is because people think they can anonymously influence and profit…a mafioso’s wet dream.

First Bowman super pricing is often set in a manner to increase pricing of lesser parallels…”a rising tide lifts all ships”…it’s rigged.

There was a Luka Tiger podcast about 9 months or so ago where they had someone on who openly admitted to manipulating a Yankee prospect's red refractor prices to inform prices of a load of orange, gold and blue refractors he had in inventory. He rotated himself out of this position and the market soon collapsed because the supply / demand characteristics were severely manipulated.

Why this didn't pick up more steam is beyond me...but such it is with so much in this backwater.

[JRX]

It's really no different than the art market. Theres no intrinsic value, a small group can collude and control the prices of high end items. The only real difference is on field performance can move prices, but that's really inconsistent between players.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[ThoseBackPages]

#ThanksTopps

[WallyatJCCards]

Originally Posted by JRX

It's really no different than the art market. Theres no intrinsic value, a small group can collude and control the prices of high end items. The only real difference is on field performance can move prices, but that's really inconsistent between players.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

oh so true

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by JRX

It's really no different than the art market. Theres no intrinsic value, a small group can collude and control the prices of high end items. The only real difference is on field performance can move prices, but that's really inconsistent between players.

Can such art be purchased at Wally World for less than 50 cents each?

[Pacmeyer]

Originally Posted by rms13

Well this guy was talking a lot about Zero Cool so it's definitely not shut down and supposedly a big part of future releases for non sports stuff

Didn't anyone on the Fanatics marketing team realize how unfortunate "zero cool" actually sounds?