Upper Deck posted the photos of their first go at SP Authentic without an NFL license today on their facebook page, and I must say that despite the lack of NFL uniforms, Im excited for it. Although the lack of pro uniforms creates a void in the product that people like me are going to have to get used to, the design and hard signed autographs are going to strike a chord that has been missing this whole year. Where most of the other sets from the licensed companies have failed, this one definitely succeeds, and its actually surprising that the team from Upper Deck has done a great job addressing the 800 pound Elephant in the room. Yes, the whole set is NCAA licensed, but it doesnt matter when the cards look as good as most of these do.
SPA has always been my favorite set of the year because of what it brings to the table, but I am not going to get that 100% this year. Instead I have to fill it with products trying to accomplish very similar goals and failing miserably, and that pisses me off. Upper Deck was my bag up until this year for exactly that reason, and it sucks that I have to endure boring panini product after boring panini product, while the solution to the problems they create exist in sets like this.
If Upper Deck manages to pull this off, it will be tremendous, but that is not guaranteed in a market like the one they function in. This product could be a complete disaster, and the execution of the elements that make it great will need to be precise and perfect. You may hate the ethics of the company and what they stand for, but you cannot deny that this stuff looks better than a good portion of what else has already been released. Thats where my love for everything Upper Deck lies.
Even without the nfl license, the cards still look good. Upper deck changes up this set every year. Sp authentic has always looked good and if the product fails, I will blame the lack of an nfl license.
looks amazing although it would look better with nfl unis and pics, love that retro rookie set although its only #rd to 5 so it will be rare. I hope it comes out good and hope it will be cheaper than 100 than it would be sick.
That patch window on the RPA needs to be bigger, too much empty white space around it.
I think the reason why the swatch window is much smaller is that Upper Deck doesn’t have as many college jerseys that they can cut up, so they may need to conserve as much patch material as they can. Not like they have 80 or 100 event worn jersey crap to turn to for the patches
what Everett said.
I will be gunning for a UT Manning fo sho’
Weren’t there earlier pics of other players like Steve Young BYU auto, Brady Michgan auto, etc? Either way, if they have these star players in college unis with on-card sigs, player collectors will eat this stuff up. Good job if the initial pics/players end up in the final release. There are many in here who already don’t have an abundance of signed cards out there, so it will only attract more attention.
It will be really interesting to see what they do with the SP Authentic baseball set (they are calling it Prospects). It will be even more difficult since, unlike football, not every baseball player went to college. Not only that, but college uniforms just work so much better in football. The image of Peyton Manning in Tennessee Orange or Tom Brady in Maize and Blue is something that the general public is very familiar with.
Also, I don’t think anyone even knows if they will have any current MLB players. I wish they wouldn’t play hide and seek so much with their customers. I’d like to pre-order a box of SPA baseball, but that seems silly to do without at least a few pictures and a set checklist.
These are rookie premier jeseys, not to be confused with real gamers.
Seeing how nice these look, I’m hoping that some basketball company follows suit. I collect Illini grads, and would love to get some sweet cards showing them in their college unis.