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Im so glad this industry has turned out to be eye for an eye type of crap, right? Well, Topps signed an exclusive deal with MLB for their license, so UD signed an exclusive deal with the NCAA licensing people. Upper Deck sues topps, Topps sues Upper Deck. Its all about who can kick the other's nuts the hardest, and personally, its gotten to the point of absurdity. Although the MLB license was huge in baseball, the collegiate license is huge in just about every other sport. It basically puts Press Poop out on their ass, and prevents Panini, Topps, SAGE and everyone else from making logo ridden college cards. This will basically damage pre-premiere releases for all those companies, no doubt, and I don’t think that is very good at all.
I will continue to post my repeated feelings on contracts as long as shit like this goes down. Exclusivity sucks, bottom line, because it basically puts you ahead of the competition by force rather than by content. Really, as much I as I have despised the absolute donkey crap that Panini has put out, I would at least like them to get the chance to redeem themselves next year. Granted, it is only 5 of the 16 sets of the year, but that is 5 I would like to see at top form for everyone - not just one company. Exlusivity hurts collectors because it takes away the choices we have, both for baseball, basketball and also for football. Now that I will not be able to get the college uni cards that look like the college unis, I will DEFINITELY avoid those products even more so than I already do. I really dislike cards without the pro shit on them, but I still have some singles from the targets I collect. No more, for sure, if I have to deal with logoless cards. What's the point anymore if it gets that far?
Really, this is only a bad thing, just as it was in Baseball with Topps, and the pettiness of the contract is dripping from the pages. We get it, the first strike is always the worst, as it was here too, but this is not faring much better for anyone.
I swear, if an NFL exlusive is reached, regardless of company, I will never forgive the NFL and NFLPA for allowing it to happen on their watch. Thankfully, with Panini GROSSLY overspending on the NBA license, and Topps doing the same on the baseball, im not holding my breath. Yet, only time will tell. Let the pandering begin.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
A Comment On Exclusive NCAA Licensing
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I think about how much better it would be for collectors if all of the card companies took the money they pay the lawyers for the contracts and litigations and whatnot, and instead put it toward product development, design, getting autos, filling redemptions (eliminating need for redemptions?), and everything else. And stopped worrying so damn much about what the other guy is doing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the cards and the hobby would be so much better that there would be a lot more collectors buying a lot more product from everyone.
Probably wishful thinking. But, a guy can dream, right?
If we're dreaming here, why not stop the exclusive deals and work with the card companies to reduce the number of sets and increase the quality. Let's have less quantity and more quality so the items you do buy are more enjoyable and might be considered of real value.
ReplyDeleteEveryone says less products mean more quality in the ones that are produced. That is just assumed, and will probably never happen. Less products will only mean less products, thats it. It has nothing to do with existing quality. Its just putting faith in companies out to increase the bottom line that they will keep the same margin but produce better (but less) sets.
ReplyDeleteI see this as being more petty than anything else. All it does, besides screwing Press Pass which I couldn't care less about anyway, is mean no draft products in college uniforms for Topps and Donruss. Not really a big deal and as I see it doesn't negatively affect Topps. I did like those Saturday Stars Donruss put out last year except they paralelled them to death, so no more of that Do the college uniform cards hold value at all?
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