It's not because of lack of interest in baseball... there is still a ton of interest, much higher than even the 80's when collecting started to boom. Baseball revenues are very very high. More competition from football... but they are the only game in town during the summer, and that means interest and money. Kids still love the game.
And frankly, it's not because of the shiny new stuff that is being put out. The card companies were forced to go that route once the hobby became monetary. It's like people who say MTV should be playing music videos all the time... trust me, if playing music videos got the ratings... MTV would still have Guns & Roses in rotation. But the game changes and businesses have to adapt. The companies saw how rarity was driving demand in vintage (and prices) and adopted that model to compensate for the lack of interest as a "hobby"... but instead of genuine rarity, it is manufactured rarity. And that is what drives vintage collectors nuts on top of the bulk of products. If those companies could survive on one set, trust me they would out of efficiency (it's just a better business model). Example... the Billy Ripken F-Face card showed a 15% increase in Fleer packs in 1989 vs 1988 so what if we had that possibility every year on multiple sets! Not factually meant to be correct but you get my point.
Kids stopped collecting for the passion of the game the minute a price guide was issued. That is a fact. If you want to find the day this entire thing was turned on it's head, look for the 1st price guide. That gave birth to everything the "hobby" is now including slabbing.
Will kids come back? Probably not in the numbers it saw prior... but as long as the cards have monetary value there will always be "collectors". So really... it doesn't matter. It's the evolution... and some might even say it's the American Way. The money will always create the demand and the demand will always create the money.
Find something of value and exploit. End of story. The "business" no longer needs the kids.
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