The Sports Card Show

Today's show is a long one! We cover on the 1st part of the the show a preview of the 2014 NSCC In Cleveland, OH which starts this week. Then I go over one listener question we got from our contest we announced on show #159. Finally, I talk about the NBA draft and the top 10 picks.

On today's show we talk about the rumor that has been swirling around the hobby - and that's Panini getting an exclusive NFLPA license to make football cards. I talk about who's tweets in the industry often foreshadow events like this. I also discuss a recent Topps employee calling the company "cash strapped" and one being fired for being "late." We discuss what Panini should have done with the money they (potentially) used to gain an exclusive license.

On the second half of the show we talk about the Panini VIP Party at the National ... and how a dealer/breaker could have spent the money in a more effective fashion. Lastly, by request we talk a bit about Daily Fantasy Sports. DraftKings & DraftStreet merged last week .... possibly leading to larger player & prize pools for daily fantasy players this season.

We recap the Josh Cade @CardFatherX interview. I'm still confused about Josh "being a boy or being a girl" ... or "what seems like and what is are two different things" but I try to clear up some things listeners may have missed since Josh Cade didn't seem so open to discuss what really goes on his webcam each night.

Josh Cade conducts Raffles, Razzes, "Fillers" and breaks on his webcam. He invited me to lunch at the National .... I declined, mainly because at the world's largest card show, meeting a male webcammer isn't high on my list. He asked to call me on the phone. I said sure, but we would have to record it. He agreed. Enjoy.

The Golden Age of being a group breaker is about to end.

I'm not saying group breaking is going away, actually it will become apart of the sports card collecting fabric even more as we move on ... but that will make it harder to become a breaker yourself.

Don't worry though, "Golden Ages" exist in all kinds of businesses, just feel glad you were around (and possibly) profited when the money was easy. In a few years you all will look back and remember how easy it was to be a breaker, and how much easier it was to make a profit.

Here are the things I think that will cut into breaker profits over the next 5 years.

1 - Red Tape. Things like allocations, Upper Deck selling only to Hobby Shops, Panini & Topps deciding to charge more to breakers, or only sell to certain ones are all example of current 'red tape' and this list will only grow further as we move on into the future.

2 - Margins go down. These are going to continue to be eaten away - mainly by the red tape issues you have to deal with above.

3 - Blowout, DA and now Beckett are group breaking. They have marketing channels that dwarf all other breakers combined. They have the ability to make it difficult for the average breaker to get product at a price low enough to offer to customers. 

4 - The trend is for many breakers to open a hobby shop, or buy expensive real estate at the National or Industry Summit. Those are added costs, and further make the cost to do business almost impossible for the 'little guy' to compete with.

5 - Panini, Topps, Upper Deck ... ect could start partnering - or cause group breakers to be 'authorized' in the future, which would be further red tape and make it difficult for a new breaker.

Finally we talk about a recent hiring at Topps, and we discuss this months product in the 1st segment.

On today's show we bring on someone I have gotten to know quite well over the last few years. Longtime fans of the show will remember him as StealSecond on the forums and he's got a new sports podcast launching next week so we talk about that. We spend a good amount of time talking about the World Cup. We also discuss the Razz (raffles) some guys think is cool to do. Finally we talk about some of the 2014 Topps Baseball card releases and more.

On today's show I talk about the World Cup matches I've been able to watch over the last week. 

A while back Panini sold 1/1 Panini Prizm Pylon cards via their own website - now they have started their own eBay account and are selling 1/1 "El Samba" 2014 Panini Prizm World Cup cards.

We talked about Panini Rewards on the last show, and they are starting to filter onto ebay. One thing I noticed is that sellers are exposing the QR code in the auction (which allows someone to claim the points) - so you'll only want to bid on the sellers who blackout the QR code. If you sell any of these cards, cover up the QR code in your auction, otherwise you'll have to issue refunds.

The last week or so saw some new product announcements including 13/14 Panini National Treasures Basketball.

I talk about a conference call I had with Topps a week or so ago. Plus a few more topics!

Another short edition of the Sports Card Show podcast considering there's lots of great sporting events going on this week. We have the US Open Golf, NBA Finals and World Cup Soccer (plus NHL) all going on! 

Panini launches is reward points system. 

2014 Topps Series 2 Baseball and 13/14 Panini Innovation Basketball come out this week.

We also talk about Panini Prizm Soccer and more.

On Today's show we just run down some topics of the day.

NBA Finals are starting today with Miami & San Antonio battles it out for a second year in a row. 

3 new 2014 Football sets were announced  - Prestige, Valor and Triple Threads.

The 2014 MLB draft is here and we talk about the top 5 prospects from this years draft and look at what a few picks are doing from the 2013 MLB draft. 

Topps is hiring! Nice!

On today's show I'm joined by a collector, who like many people, collected cards at an early age - only to pick up the hobby again later in life. We talk to him about a number of different things in a fun filled hour.

Keep your head on a swivel, lots of sets are coming out this week including 2014 Topps Archives Baseball and 2014 Upper Deck SP Game Used Golf. I also discuss the NBA Draft lottery, Mark Sapir and Beckett buying the Industry Summit. 

Enjoy