Why aren't there more football card collectors?

[OlderTheBetter]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

What now, you're saying that unless someone can afford more expensive cards they're not "pure collectors"?

That's not really what I was trying to say. What I meant to say was that many collectors pretend to not care about the financial value of their collection when in fact it's a major factor.

And often they're not collecting modern issues because they know that these cards will never have much financial value... But they won't tell you that.

This kind of hypocrisy in the so-callled "hobby" was always there, but has become more obvious as older cards become much more expensive in comparison to modern cards. Modern issues are often scorned because they're not valuable and most likely never will be.

The original OP posed the question about why there aren't more football collectors and my opinion is that many collectors with real money to spend aren't collecting football as much as baseball because they perceive the ROI to be less. At least I am willing to admit that this has been the case for me.

These are just pictures of players on cardboard -- and it's getting harder to justify the cost.

If all vintage cards were relatively cheap this would not be the case and we'd
all probably be like those guys in the pre-1970 era, scooping up everything in sight.

--Dave

[Leon]

This is spot on, imo. Money is usually the answer to most questions of this nature. If the football cards were way more valuable there would be way more collectors. I go to a local show where there is always a guy with in ipad walking around. I try to get away from him quickly but every now and then he catches me and has to show me something I could give a rats ass about. One time he showed me a holy grail of his. The build up was great and I was expecting something fantastic and really valuable. So he pulled out his trusty ipad (I hate them) and showed me a Mickey Mouse card. I acted interested and asked the value of such a holy grail? He told me about a hundred bucks. I said wow, that is great. But to be honest had he said 10k I would have been more interested . Truth be told, money keeps people interested. Jeff Burdick would have hated today's collectors.

Originally Posted by OlderTheBetter

That's not really what I was trying to say. What I meant to say was that many collectors pretend to not care about the financial value of their collection when in fact it's a major factor.

And often they're not collecting modern issues because they know that these cards will never have much financial value... But they won't tell you that.

This kind of hypocrisy in the so-callled "hobby" was always there, but has become more obvious as older cards become much more expensive in comparison to modern cards. Modern issues are often scorned because they're not valuable and most likely never will be.

The original OP posed the question about why there aren't more football collectors and my opinion is that many collectors with real money to spend aren't collecting football as much as baseball because they perceive the ROI to be less. At least I am willing to admit that this has been the case for me.

These are just pictures of players on cardboard -- and it's getting harder to justify the cost.

If all vintage cards were relatively cheap this would not be the case and we'd
all probably be like those guys in the pre-1970 era, scooping up everything in sight.

--Dave

[mickey7mantle7]

I love baseball first. .

However...

I wouldn't mind having a Jim Brown or Payton RC before other cards in most cases.

I think Fantasy Football has changed the hobby as well.

[Kurri17]

I posted earlier in this thread, but have a couple more thoughts on the topic. So here goes.

Collecting usually starts as a kid, and often has something to do with connection to the teams and players they like. Today, if kids want to, they can see games, video, and discussion seven days a week. With all of that available, something is missing that draws kids to cards. They just don't need them. For many of us, game broadcasts, magazines, and cards were the only way to get that connection. Just a thought.

Secondly, and I may get pounded for this, but think about what you hear during broadcasts and sports talk shows. That would be money, arrests, suspension for PEDs and other reasons, and lots of other stuff that has little to do with actual football. Seems like it might be hard to get excited about the game and have that desire to do things which provide connection to the teams and players. Football media is for adults, and does nothing to make kids excited about football.

[sthoemke]

I think there just isn't many supercollectors for football stars, as compared to other sports.

[frankbmd]

With 53 men on the active roster of each team, an opening day inclusive set of 32 teams would contain 1664 cards. Without short prints and five cards in a pack, there would be one Brady or Rodgers card in every 333 packs.

With injuries each week, an update set might be possible every two weeks during the season with highly coveted MRI Refractor inserts of your fallen heroes.

Sounds like a gold mine to me. And if you have never seen a refracted MRI, you are in for a treat.

[PowderedH2O]

If you went by NFL promotion, pro football started in 1966. When the most championships are discussed, Tom Brady is #1 and no mention is made of Starr or Graham. No stars from the 1960s or before hold any significant lifetime records. Guys like Matt Stafford have stats that make Unitas and Staubach look like losers. So, no NFL publicity plus no records plus little film footage means guys like Steve Van Buren and Ollie Matson are unknown to modern football fans. Ask a current NFL fan who Deacon Jones or Bronko Nagurski is and 99% would have no idea. Most baseball fans could recognize Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb or many others. So, I bought my Deacon Jones 1963 rookie in Ex Mint for $18 and my Pete Rose in VGEX cost me a few hundred. The Jones is probably rarer. I don't understand it, but I accept it and I don't complain. And I bought a second year Lee Alcindor in Ex Mint for $20 recently, so maybe basketball is even worse...