Big news on the Upper Deck front, most likely in coordination with the release of 2012 Exquisite. Today via Twitter and their blog, Upper Deck has announced that they have worked out a deal with Andrew Luck to include him as the subject of the trade cards that were present across many of the 2012 products. This is big.

Up until 6/1/13, Press Pass had signed Andrew Luck to an exclusive deal, which prevented his autographs from being included in any non-NFL licensed set. This prevented UD from including Luck by name in any product they did, instead forcing them to offer a more creative solution to the problem. The trade cards, which stated they were not valid until this past June stated that they would be good for “a first round QB,” but never specified who that was. It left the door open for players like Robert Griffin III to fill the gap if Luck could not be signed, but just about everyone knew what was bound to happen.

The elusive and quite rare trade cards have already jumped significantly since the announcement:

2012 Exquisite Andrew Luck Trade Card Gold Auto

2012 SP Authentic Andrew Luck Trade Card Gold Auto

2012 SPX Andrew Luck Trade Card Gold Auto

2012 Exquisite Andrew Luck Trade Card Silver Base RC

Now that Upper Deck has announced that Luck has signed his deal, a collective sigh of relief can be had by all holding the trade cards until this point. So far, there has only been pictures of mock ups from 2012 Exquisite, but it is likely that other designs will be explored as the actual signings take place. I think this is a huge win for Upper Deck who is slowly inching their way back into the limelight as a direct competitor of Panini and Topps.

Who knows, maybe this could signal something amazing in store for the upcoming national convention in Chicago? One can only hope!

Here is the release:

Carlsbad, CA(July 5, 2013) – Upper Deck is pleased to announce the company has reached a trading card and autograph deal with Andrew Luck. The company’s exclusive deal with the Collegiate Licensing Company will allow Upper Deck to produce licensed Stanford trading cards of this legendary quarterback in mainstream trading card sets for the first time. Upper Deck issued special “trade” cards good for rookie and autograph rookie cards of a first-round quarterback in 2012 football products. With the deal in place, Upper Deck can move forward with creating these of Andrew Luck for collectors who were lucky enough to pull them. Additionally, collectors can expect to find Andrew Luck cards and autograph cards in upcoming 2013 Upper Deck football releases.

“Being able to provide collectors with one of the most-valuable rookies of the 2012 season is a big win for Upper Deck,” said Brandon Miller,collegiate sports brand manager for Upper Deck. “Andrew Luck racked up just about every award you could imagine at Stanford and he is continuing to break records in the pros. We know there has been a lot of speculation over who the‘Trade Upper Deck’ card would be good for and we are thrilled to announce it will be Andrew Luck. Getting his rookie cards into the market for collectors is a top priority for us and signing this deal was the first step to getting that done.”

Collectors can find these special “Trade Upper Deck” cards in 2011 Exquisite Collection Football, 2012 Upper Deck Football, 2012 SPx Football, 2012 SP Authentic Football and the newly released 2012 Exquisite Collection Football. With the deal in place and designs completed for many of the cards,Upper Deck can move forward with the production process to bring them to life.Upper Deck will share more details on these highly anticipated Andrew Luck trading cards as they near completion.