What Happens After Upper Deck?

Its been a long January for Upper Deck, one that includes losing millions on a lawsuit that never should have been an issue. The offense was a needless and stupid risk, and it put the entire company in jeopardy. Now with a pending lawsuit from the MLBPA, is Upper Deck hoping to go down in a blaze of glory? Ultimate Collection baseball was a big middle finger to the licensing agreement, and considering the logos mean little to a set like Ultimate, it just becomes more needless money down the drain.

Now, I hate the exclusives more than anything, I hate that one company has a hold on any one player/league/brand. But, I will say that once the damage is done, you gotta nut up or shut up. That means bend the rules when you have the means to do it, and sit on your hands when you don’t. When you have a multimillion dollar suit stamped on your company's wikipedia page, you don’t fuck with the law. Its that simple. Even if you are on the verge of bankruptcy, you don’t help it along. Those are the expectations, and UD decided to piss on the flames. It aint gonna put them out, but it does leave you with a urine soaked mess when everything is said and done.

Upper Deck produces the highest quality cards on the market, bar none, as evidenced by their great ideas in years of SPA, Exquisite, and others. They don’t produce gold with every release, but their huge amount of on card autos, lack of foilboard, and amazingly great design puts them high above companies that put out a never ending stream of visual diarrhea. They have built a huge hatred among collectors for any number of terrible offenses, but many of them continue to buy because of the way the cards look with every product. Personally, I will not have much to buy if they go under, that should be obvious by now. However, I know a lot of other collectors out there feel the same way from the emails I get daily. I don’t get "countdown to Absolute" emails like I get "countdown to SPA" emails, that’s how much people love the products they put out. Yet, many don’t seem to understand how that will affect the industry.

Because Upper Deck is doing everything in their power to go out with a bang instead of trying not to go out, we are left holding the short end of the stick. Although nothing is certain at this point, its becoming clear that there is going to be little that UD can do to come back from this disaster. What I find interesting is that Ultimate Collection has obviously been in production for a long time, and there was no effort to curtail the logos on the cards. Remember, the first lawsuit is only a couple months in progress.

Regardless of the way everything shakes out, Upper Deck's eventual exit is not good for anyone. Already, Topps has sunk to a laziness in producing baseball cards, and Panini has no chops in producing football. That means there will be a huge hole in the collecting wants of the general public, and I for one, will not buy the drivel that seems to be commonplace outside of UD's stuff. Granted, its not like they didn’t get what they deserve, but that doesn’t soften the blow when dealing with a neverending sea of Triple Threads.

If UD does bite the bullet, there will be much rejoicing among people who don’t know any better. They cant/wont understand the destruction it will cause, and it may take years to recover. This is not a plea to get you to support UD or condone their practices, but it is a reminder of what will be missed when they leave. From a cards only perspective, things would be a lot worse off without their presence. That’s indisputable.