Since I obviously think that I know better when it comes to the product calendar than most of these companies, I think its time for me to get down to business and propose some revamps to their lines. Ill do one for Panini and one for Topps, with the hopes that we can boil down the calendar to contain exactly what would make me happy as a collector and a blogger.

Of the two licensed companies right now, I definitely think Panini has the most to work on, with almost half of their calendar needing a complete overhaul. The other half of their calendar needs improvement in most of the product, and that is being generous. If Panini were to change some of the stuff that is presented to collectors on a bi-monthly basis, they may be able to establish themselves as the top dog in the football card market. Although they grossly overpaid for the NBA license, and Football has obviously taken a back seat, that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to work with. It does mean that if they continue on the path they have already started travelling down, they will never reach any amount of popularity that is possible in a sport without a licensed design champion like Upper Deck was.

Panini Prestige

Prestige is a low end product that has the price point of a mid end product right now. At release this junk was priced with a huge tag, but has already lost a good percentage of the box value. Because they cant use any more pictures of players in their college uniforms, they need to push this back to post premiere. In fact, I would even enter into an agreement with Topps that no products will be released pre-rookie premiere. It will save collectors a lot of goofy looking cards like what we got this year. Don’t get me wrong, I can see why they want it out before the premiere, but it looked so terrible this year that I actually felt disgusting buying some to get autographed. If the long run is to sustain popularity, they need to push this back. The second thing they need to do is drop the horrid and worthless jersey cards, drop the auto to 1 per box, do some severely short printed base RC variations and charge 60 bucks a box. Make this a low end product, BOTTOM LINE. There is ABSOLUTELY no reason I should have to pay 100 bucks a box for a product like this.

Panini Elite

Elite was one of the best products so far this year from Panini, and it all has to do with the fact that it came out a few weeks post premiere with a simple design and NFL uniform rookies. They also incorporated on card signatures as well a good checklist of players. That needs to stay the same. On the other hand, they need to ditch the foil, and ditch the lame ass subsets with stupid names like “Down and Distance” and other awful examples. If they did that, Elite would be a great start to the year.

Panini Classics

Classics used to be the first product of the year with NFL rookies in their corresponding NFL uniforms. Its not any more, and instead just becomes another middle end product that blurs together with all of their other mid end products. Maybe the subsets for this set should be folded into elite and replace the ones in there. That would make much more sense.

Panini Rookies and Stars

Ditch this whole product. The design has been terrible for the last five years and the rookie manupatches are more played out than saying EPIC as an adjective for anything. There is no redeeming part of this entire set, and the subsets may actually be worse than Elite’s. I would maybe replace this with a tinned product that is more Vet/HOF focused, and try everything you can to get on card autos to complement the rookie autos that will have to be stickers at this point in the year. Panini Fabric of the Game has a nice ring to it. I will say this, there are so many of these similar products, 4 hits/1 auto/90 Bucks that I am beginning to not be able to tell them apart. That says something.

Panini Threads

Dump this whole product. Not even a question. The name is dumb, the black and white letters are dumb, the subsets are dumb, and it’s another product on the 4/1/$90 slate. Can it.

Panini Epix

Axe this one as fast as humanly possible. I don’t even need to say much more than this was a product based solely on trying to experiment with new types of foil. Im not kidding. That is not speculation.

Panini Absolute Memorabilia

This product is such a rehashed piece of poop that the cards don’t even look different year to year. Here is what I would do. Get rid of that Pokemon-level rainbow foil, switch it to a tin or pack it out. Redo the subset names and give us team logo word cutouts instead of the ridiculous “NFC” and “AFC” stupidity. Keep the basic elements of the product, like the Rookie Premiere Material cards, but stop being fucking lazy and redesign them year to year. The way this product is produced right now, I am legitimately surprised that people still buy it. Jumbo patch cards only go so far. Lastly, this product needs to be on card for all veteran/HOF signatures. Because I am unsure of how long it takes to get rookie signatures back, I would be okay with letting them be stickers.

Panini Gridiron Gear

Gridiron Gear sounds like it should be a nerf toy set for kids to play with, and for the most part, it performs as such. It’s a nerf product without any real edge to it. Keep the hidden gems that make this product what it is, but change the format so that we don’t have to sit through a FIFTH 4/1/$90 product for the year. Put it at 150 bucks, or put it at 60, but change it up for fuck’s sake. There are so many of these goddamned products that I actually had to consult a calendar to figure them all out. There is no reason to be that predictable. Give us better designs and change the name, and we may be happy.

Panini Certified

I hate the look of this product, and that is a design issue that needs to change. More rainbow foil really makes me hate this product before I even see the cards, but then I see the cards and I hate it more. Since Certified functions on vertical orientation, it falls into the same eye sore trap that Topps Finest had with part of it’s product this year. Basically, redo the orientation of the Freshman Fabric, change the name of the set to Certified Rookie Auto Patches and call it a day. This set has a lot of potential that Panini completely poops on, and it stems a lot from MORE laziness over not taking the time to actually sit down and re-do the set year to year.

Panini Limited

I love limited, at least most of the time I love limited. This year’s set is shaping up to be crap, much like the rest of Panini’s stuff this year, and I blame the three normal elements that always cause me to react the way I do. Design problems, sticker problems and foil problems. Keep the phenoms, keep the letters, dump the foil, dump the single color jerseys and move it back until you can get ON CARD SIGNATURES FOR EVERYONE. Limited was released at similar points in the calendar as Ultimate, and that means its possible to do it all on card. No more excuses.

Panini Plates and Patches

This one hasn’t come out yet and I can already tell that the name needs to change. Being literal never works in any product, which is the same reason literal never works in movie titles. We get that Snakes on a Plane means that the movie is about Snakes who are on a plane, but we could have used a little creativity. Same goes for this product. Im not even sure many casual collectors would be able to understand that plates means “nameplates” and not “printing plates” or even “dinner plates.” The cards don’t look all that different from anything else that Panini puts out, so give this slot to another product. Of course, my saying this means it will be back for five more years. Bottom line, I am already not impressed.

Panini Contenders

Notice how I put Panini everything? That’s because it needs to be uniform. Contenders is already moving towards on card signatures and that needs to continue. The design has been ultra disgusting since 2008, and I am frightened to where they are going this year. Simplify the design, get rid of the foil, and keep the rest the same. Outside of that if I see “20XX ROOKIE” in 100 point text again, im coming for my scalps.

Panini National Treasures

Ahhhh the grand daddy of them all, at least for Panini products. This one is very simple. Make it all on card, and use an old fashioned design to make it look more like National Treasures should be like. I hate the name National Treasures because I keep thinking Nicholas Cage is going to give me a weird look whenever I open the box, but that is unavoidable at this point. If on card signatures are not available, this product should not be released. Topps is already one upping NT on just about every aspect with the new Five Star Football, and that should be a clue as to where things need to go. As long as this product is 100% on card and doesn’t look like an overpriced box of Threads, we will be good.

Like I said above, Panini has A LOT of work to do before even sniffing the jock of Upper Deck’s concept and design team. Upper Deck doesn’t even have a license and they are still doing better in terms of design than Panini. That is ridiculous. Utterly fucking ridiculous. Panini has cemented themselves as a laughing stock among the informed collectors, and its mostly because they are so lazy in designing all their products. No inspiration, no innovation, and no differentiation. Until their calendar is not Elite, Limited, NT and a bunch of 4/1/$90’s, they will continue to be on my shit list when it comes to this hobby.