Tag Archives: rookie cards

On the Radar: 2015 Panini Clear Vision Football

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About a year ago, I would have told you that I am a fan of anything acetate. Its a great medium to use when producing trading cards, as many times it highlights all the right things about the product. Since that timeframe, acetate has become a feature in so many sets, so much so that we are reaching a point of oversaturation. This is none more clear than with Panini’s recently solicited product High Tek Clear Vision Football. Sometimes I wish there were a rule that prevented Panini from abusing a cool technology.

Dont get me wrong, Acetate can be a powerful tool when used correctly:

2012 Strata Signature Relic Russell Wilson Auto Patch /15

2014 Black Gold Teddy Bridgewater Sizeable Signature Relic

2014 Topps Hi Tek Mike Trout Auto

2013 Tier One Hank Aaron Clear Rookie Reprint Auto

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1997-Barry-Sanders-Pinnacle-Inscriptions-Auto-Acetate-Lions-/281707303831?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4197105397

Of course, it can also be a complete train wreck:

2014 Playbook Johnny Manziel Auto

Believe it or not, the product’s design is actually NOT the weirdest thing about this product. That designation belongs to its format, which for the first time in many years, is highlighted by a one autograph per CASE outline. Yes, Panini is going to attempt the impossible – create a product, in an autograph dominated hobby, with barely any autographs. Not only is it beyond risky, it might actually be something more than that. To me, if the one autograph per case format holds, it serves more as a test product for 2016 than anything.

Here is why I think that is the case.

Basically, when Panini drastically overpaid for the NFLPA exclusive, they set themselves up for a very difficult task. Not only would they have to absorb all the calendar slots from Topps, but they would have to make those products VERY successful to even entertain the prospect of breaking even. After hearing some musings on the minimum guarantees that Panini will have to come up with just for the NFLPA, there are a few things that will have to be accomplished.

One of those things is creating products that dont rely on autograph content as much, as it seems like the autograph deals that many players will sign are going to have to get a lot larger. To fund 30-35 products per year, their team is going to have to come up with double the amount of autographs they would normally do, unless those new products some how create value without adding additional autograph content to the pool.

Clear Vision looks to be a product that could end up being the first of those sets that focuses more on content outside of the autographs. Funny enough, I have heard that distributors revolt against products that want to move away from relic content. I have heard the same is true on the autograph side. Im not sure how Panini plans to sell this to the only customers that matter to them, if that indeed is the case.

They might tout on card signatures with this product, but I think its clear that they are stretching the definition of what “on card” really means. This looks to be those ever-horrible manupatch autographs, but with an acetate insert instead of a signed piece of embroidered cloth. That isnt on card, people. That is a sticker replacement device.

There is a big potential for this set to explode in their face, but it all depends on their ability to execute on all those elements that speak to customers. Even though its 50-60 bucks a box, and features the first Panini cards with rookies in their NFL uniforms, I really dont see much potential here. Football is the wrong sport to be in the conundrum that Panini put themselves in. This sport is autograph dependent, and I think they are going to have a very tough time hitting sales numbers for the PA in general. Releasing products like this will only make it tougher, but then again, Panini isnt known for their hobby intelligence.

Personally, I see this as a knock off of Hi-Tek Baseball and Football, which featured a set comprised mostly of acetate cards. In football, Hi-Tek offers true on card autographs, and does it in a normal format for a similar price. I cannot understand why Panini wants to try to compete with that. This set seems destined for below cost prices on boxes, especially after the allure of new rookie cards wears off.

I guess we will have to wait and see how the collectors react to something like this.

2015 NFLPA Rookie Premiere: Wrap Up For The End of An Era?

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For the last decade plus, the Rookie Premiere has been an event where every card company who has a football license sets up their goods and prepares for the entire year’s worth of rookie cards. Signings, pictures, the works. Over the last few years, thousands of autographs are signed. It funds many products, and that doesnt even begin to talk about the photographs taken at the stadium on Saturday.

During the entire span of the event, there have always been multiple companies who are attending. This past weekend will unfortunately be the last time that happens. There is no guarantee that the 2016 event will be as big or as fun, especially when Panini is the only trading card company who has a license.

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Now, I fully intended to get on every night and write a post about the happenings at the premiere. Over the last 5 years, it has been a weekend filled with cards to be signed, autographs to be showcased, and pictures to be viewed. Instead we had Panini come and do nothing of the sort, and Topps literally blow them so far out of the water that the debris has yet to land. Social Media, Cards, Autographs, basically everything was in Topps’ corner, and that doesnt even begin to describe what is likely going to be coming in digital with the Huddle team in attendance for the first time ever. I really didnt even need to offer any opinion because the results were so clearly laid out.

This was really the Topps show all weekend, and as happy as I am to see them go out with a bang, I am sad because I know that that means for 2016. The football card hobby is about to go into a famine of unheralded proportions with Panini at the helm, and that scares me to fucking death. They literally walked into this event with the rookies available for FOUR straight days to sign cards. From what we saw, they spent that time signing non-card materials. Stickers, paper inserts, everything BUT cards.

When the cards they did sign ended up coming to the surface, they were some of the ugliest examples in recent memory. Panini either played everyone for a fool and showed nothing in their hand, or they really fucked up the biggest event of the year in a way that hasnt been done since 2010. For as good as 2014’s premiere signings were for Panini, 2015 was as bad, if not worse.

Their same day signature cards look so ugly there arent any words. Aside from the fact that the rookies arent even in their gear (because the shots had to be taken a few days before the reveal on Saturday), they put them in Panini t-shirts for some god forsaken reason. Add in some giant text and an inexplicable vertically signed autograph, and you see what happens.

Dont even get me going on the Pen Pals cards, which are back to head shots instead of retouched NFL jerseys like they were last year. Just ridiculous. Yes, we see that sketch cards are more important than hard signed NFL content like they have done since 2012.

Here are the types of things they did all weekend:

On the other side of things, Topps really did a great job with Inception, Topps Football and other sets taking center stage. As usual, Inception was the brightest star on the stage, as it has been since 2011. It was another year of great looking cards, and lots of inscriptions. The design this year looks very similar to previous years, but there is no reason to change a formula that always plays to the big time. Inception is a high end product in the disguise of a pre-premiere set, and that takes a lot of talent to pull off. Sure, the NFL took away some of the luster with forcing them to use 00 jerseys for players who had late jersey number assignments, but the set looks good enough to me that I will set that aside.

I also LOVED that they used the 1976 and 1987 Topps designs for the retro cards this year, as both have a long history in this industry. Being that 1976 was the same year that Walter Payton was a rookie, that was a perfect way to close out the run. Although 1987 was in the beginning of the junk wax era, that design was always a favorite of mine.

Oddly enough, the most convincing win of the weekend for Topps was in their social media. Susan Lulgjuraj kicked some ass and took some names. If it wasnt clear that she was a great hire, this is a perfect example. She did live chats, live signings, and gave fans all sorts of ways to experience the weekend. Topps’ twitter was easily where I spent most of the time watching for new cards, something that was a bit unexpected. Usually Panini is all over things, but not this time. This was a big win for the team from New York.

Here are some of the awesome cards that Topps had done:

Bottom line, people should be really pissed off. REALLY pissed off at Panini. Even if they have on card material with College jerseys for their first few products, that is not what this event should be used for. This event is not about those stupid fucking sketch cards that everyone laughs at. It is about getting some great looking cards done for use in the first products – NFL style. Topps has done that and done it well now for 5 years, Panini still seems to be fumbling their way through everything, focusing on setting up big events to make themselves look good, instead of delivering substance in their products.

This mentality will hurt the hobby and hurt in a way that might not be something that we can ever recover. Panini has always been a hot mess, and this is just the icing on the cake. Some how, if Elite, Prestige and other sets end up being stickers or on card autograph replacements, they deserve all the venom they will get.