Fanatics has reached a deal with almost 150 universities and over 200 athletes to release Topps College Trading Cards. This deal focuses on college football and college basketball athletes and is set to begin printing this fall. Name, image, and likeness deals made this possible and will further enhance the college athlete experience. This deal does not prevent student-athletes from signing other deals with other trading card companies. Fanatics and Topps this fall will feature athletes such as Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, Georiga quarterback Stetson Bennett, Duke forward Dereck Lively II, and South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston.
.@Fanatics Collectibles and Topps Announce Comprehensive College Trading Cards Program with More Than 100 New University Partnerships!
Find out more here: https://t.co/0yB5hONJOF pic.twitter.com/xIKPP1Mnb3
— Topps (@Topps) June 9, 2022
College trading cards are a fun way to enhance the experience for fans and for college athletes to further capitalize on their college careers. In a press release on Thursday, Executive Vice President of the Fanatics College division, Derek Eiler said the following:
“Fanatics has been closely monitoring the ever-evolving NIL landscape, and we felt this was the perfect time to launch multiple, strategic college trading card programs that will allow schools and current student-athletes to create new levels of direct engagement with fans across hundreds of the top programs nationwide. There are tremendous opportunities for this untapped area of the hobby and to expand further across the collegiate sports landscape.”
The deal will surely grow as more players in both college football and college basketball continue to grow their brand. While other sports, like baseball, could be included in the future this initial release seems to be focused more on football and basketball. Those two sports at the college level are currently more popular. College trading cards are coming to stores soon and fans will surely be ready to collect them.
