With the dawn of the new NFL season, card companies are making their final preparations for their product calendar to be released during 2012. This year is a bit different, as there has been no licensed NFL products that have come out after the draft, with both of the first products hitting a few weeks after the rookie premiere on May 19th. Upper Deck has taken full advantage of this void, releasing a product that collectors have embraced, despite the fact that it is NCAA licensed and not NFL licensed. I gotta hand it to UD, I never expected there to be as many people interested in College cards as there has been with the products they have released so far, and the base set this year looks to be one of the most popular yet.

Even with the release of previous sets, UD has tried to get creative in using aspects of the college game as add ons to the sets they produce. Some of them have been successful, others have not, especially in the way they are received by collectors. This year, to piggy back off of the manufactured patch cards of the popular Animal Kingdom set from Goodwyn Champions, they have release a set of College Mascots sewn onto patches in the cards. Considering how little value is assigned to jersey cards these days, I actually think this is a pretty good idea.

Regardless of my feelings, collectors have been trying to complete the set, which has led to some crazy prices for the SSP cards in the set.

2012 Upper Deck Mascot – USC Trojans Traveler

2012 Upper Deck Mascot – Army Black Jack SSP

2012 Upper Deck Mascot – UT Longhorns Bevo

I still believe that more of the people who buy these types of products will give up later in the year to buy the higher end products from both UD and the NFL licensed companies, which will make the readily available cards less expensive, and the SSP cards that much more expensive. Although its going to take much more of a new direction to reduce dependency on memorabilia cards, this is an interesting way to start the ball rolling. Outside of the fact that collectors have found the mascot cards interesting enough to want to chase the set, I believe it will take a continued dedication to the next steps in the process to add value to any product without piling thousands of dollars into acquiring more jerseys to cut up.

For clarification, I do not believe these cards were a replacement for jersey cards in the set, but I do believe its an attempt to add a hit that isnt player touched. When you consider how little value is assigned to player connected material these days, with some logo cards barely breaking the cost of a box, maybe there is a lot of wiggle room for cards like this to be successful. Why not?