Last year I could not believe the prices that Tim Tebow’s cards were getting out of the blocks. Before the draft, he was slated to be a second round to third round pick, and people were paying HUNDREDS for his autographs out of press pass and sage, both unlicensed companies in terms of the NFL. The difference between last year and this year is that for those cards, the Gators’ logo and uniform could still be used in the design and photographs, something that isnt available anymore. I can see how this would be something desirable for a set like 2010 Press Pass with its simple design and on card autos, but I stand behind my “NO PRESS PASS OR SAGE” policy on all cards I collect.
This year, as mentioned above is a completely different beast. Because Upper Deck has the exclusive NCAA CLC license, Press Pass and Sage might as well be completely off the shelf. In SAGE’s case, all I can see is that they are completely unprepared to create cards without the college license, and cards like their “BIG TIME” subsets are a great indicator of this. Oddly enough, people are so starved for 2011 rookie autographs that they actually buy this crap. That is something that completely baffles me, especially when the cards look the way they do. There are no uniforms, no logos, NOTHING, and yet people are still paying ridiculous prices for autographs of Cam Newton and the other top draft picks
. I honestly am curious if people know that these cards will be worth chump change in a matter of weeks when the officially licensed sets are released, even if they do end up looking as terrible as I expect them to look in Panini’s initial releases.
Here are some recent sales of the big rookies of 2011. Im dumbfounded. Literally dumbfounded.
I get that people are excited for 2011, football games or no football games, but there is such a thing as patience and investment sense, regardless of your fan status. I wanted an Adrian Peterson auto the minute he was drafted by the Vikings, but I wasn’t going to pay 200 dollars for a card that barely cracks 80 bucks now. Listen, it would be one thing if the cards looked cool and were hard signed like they should be. Its completely different when you see how they look this year from SAGE. Its ridiculous at a minimum.
I think you are way too hard on Press Pass and Sage. I’ve busted multiple boxes of both and found that they give a lot better value than some of the other hobby boxes out there. There seems to be a strong market on ebay for the singles and the boxes aren’t as dependent on 1 monster hit to give value. Granted, the boxes I’ve busted have been ’08 and ’09’s and sold for $50-$70 but I’ve gotten a lot better value for busting them than, say, a 2010 SPx box or 2010 Platinum box, let alone a box from ’08 or ’09 where I’m paying a premium because the box is 2 years old. Plus, with Press Pass I’ve gotten on card autos and the sticker drops on Sage are so well integrated it makes you wonder why Panini can’t figure out how to copy them. I agree that their 2011 products might be weak because of the licensing issue but I think these two companies deserve a tip of the cap for delivering good value as small players in the industry.
Now I cant stand sage. The cards are absolutely terrible looking. But Press Pass deserves a lot of credit if you ask me, especially with their products in college uni’s. I think that they looked great and has on card auto’s. That is a lot more than you can say for Panini. I think that Press Pass is absolutly underated.