Hobby Resilience - Long Term

[butchie_t]

I believe once Fanatics has taken full control, the collecting hobby will no longer be a hobby.

Rant on……

It is just gonna be a madhouse free-for-all on who can get the shiniest chase card at that particular moment in time. Base sets will rapidly fall off the face of the collectors radar and everyone will be overpaying for a box of cards that only has two packs of 2 cards, looking for that Willie Wonka golden ticket. And then summarily flipping it and bitching that they did not get what the expected out of their ‘investment’.

Rant off…..

That is actually happening now with these advertised case breaks. Over pay for a maybe shot at a 1 of 1 common.

What ever happened to the distributors that did not gouge their customers? Certainly is a thing of the past, that is for sure.

This is reminiscent of the gold rush and all the people that mined the miners. Who got the better end of that deal……not the miners and not the hobbyist in the modern day scenario.

Butch Turner

[Dead-Ball-Hitter]

With respect to wax (new cards in packs), it seems like folks have viewed buying packs/boxes like buying lottery tickets- really just a gamble to find some serial numbered/low print run/ auto and toss the rest away. Seen it a thousand times. Some don’t mind dropping the cash to have a few beers and bust packs for the fun of it. Others would rather buy a graded vintage item for their pc with that same $150.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by butchie_t

I believe once Fanatics has taken full control, the collecting hobby will no longer be a hobby.

Rant on……

It is just gonna be a madhouse free-for-all on who can get the shiniest chase card at that particular moment in time. Base sets will rapidly fall off the face of the collectors radar and everyone will be overpaying for a box of cards that only has two packs of 2 cards, looking for that Willie Wonka golden ticket. And then summarily flipping it and bitching that they did not get what the expected out of their ‘investment’.

Rant off…..

That is actually happening now with these advertised case breaks. Over pay for a maybe shot at a 1 of 1 common.

What ever happened to the distributors that did not gouge their customers? Certainly is a thing of the past, that is for sure.

This is reminiscent of the gold rush and all the people that mined the miners. Who got the better end of that deal……not the miners and not the hobbyist in the modern day scenario.

Butch Turner

Hate to say it, but can't disagree with your initial statement. It is going to be very interesting to see what happens in the future. And it won't surprise me to see the major sports leagues and their players (isn't that who owns a big portion of Fanatics?) go after the grading companies, breakers/dealers, and maybe even an AH or two at some point. They've come up with Fanatics to start with. And now they've figured out how to take over the production of sports cards. So what makes anyone think for even a moment that that will satisfy them and that they'll stop there? It seems fairly clear the sports leagues and players are as usual, all about the money, and will do whatever they can to make as much as possible off what they do. So why let others make money off of cards when they can take over parts of that ancillary industry and keep more of the money for themselves. Heck, if the major sports leagues can, they'll try to get in on the gambling industry as well. Just give them time. they'll figure a way to get paid.

I hope there is some movement in Congress to finally remove the exemption to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act that MLB has now had for 100 years. This investment by the major sports leagues and player's associations/unions in Fanatics, and the subsequent acquisition by Fanatics of the rights to produce cards (which they basically just gave to themselves), could just be the start of the efforts by the major sports league to monopolize different segments of the sports industry in their attempt to wrest control of as much of it as they can.

However, the one area of the "hobby" the leagues and players may not be able to grab control of is the vintage side of it. The cards were produced long ago, and rights and such, if applicable, paid for already.

[Yoda]

One thing for sure: card shows are back. And when watching UTube for the many videos featuring card shows, I get nervous when I see a 17 year old walking around with a briefcase full of $10,000 shiny stuff items looking for action. It seems like a lot of business is done by trade with little cash trading hands. To actually buy, say, a Zion RC autographed, patched and God knows what else takes a bit more than pocket money.
I have always worked the vintage end of the market and that is where I will stay.

[icollectDCsports]

This question, or variations, come up here frequently. What do you consider to be "long term?" I don't think people will value these things for generations in the same way folks do now, but not sure when that transition will occur.