Shrewd move by Upper Deck

After getting PWNED by Topps in the MLB category, UD ink an exclusive deal with NCAA licensing per Beckett:

Collegiate Licensing Company, Upper Deck Announce Multi-Year Exclusive
By Tracy Hackler
8/13/2009 9:02:36 AM

As for reported by Beckett Media, the Collegiate Licensing Company officially announced Thursday morning that it has reached an exclusive five-year agreement with Upper Deck.

The agreement, which goes into effect April 1, 2010, gives Upper Deck exclusive rights in the trading card category to the team and word marks for more than 200 collegiate institutions.

“We believe that there are many opportunities in the college trading card category that have not been fully realized, and Upper Deck shares our vision for expansion,” said David Kirkpatrick, CLC’s Vice President of Non-Apparel Marketing. “We are confident that fans will embrace this strategy, which will place a renewed focus on collegiate accomplishments in addition to a student-athlete’s post-collegiate potential.”

According to a press release distributed Thursday, Upper Deck intends to expand its collegiate license beyond football and basketball to include sports such as hockey, baseball, lacrosse, swimming and women’s basketball while extending its distribution into new outlets such as college bookstores and concession stands.

“Many of the best athletes in the world were leaders in college sports, and fans of those colleges passionately support their former players,” said Richard McWilliam, Upper Deck founder and CEO. “Upper Deck shares that commitment to the college market, and we plan to putthe marketing resources in place to support both our trading card programand the college sports market overall. “

Stay tuned to Beckett.com for additional details.

Sayonara SAGE and Press Pass. You will not be missed.

Say bye to press pass(except for Nascar) and Sage. They had to do something and apparantly this is it. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

I may be in the minority, but I love Press Pass. On card auto's = :salut:

UD better not (but they will) eff this up ray: ...

I love Press Pass too. Guess we have sticker autos, redemptions and crappy customer service to look forward to with college products now.

Crap, sad that Press Pass is going to be gone Great product for us college collectors. Chasing red inks and inscriptions is a lot of fun.

All of these exclusive rights deals are getting ridiculous. This is not helping the hobby. I would love to see each sport create its own card company and make cards that way. If the NFL had a card company, it would have access to hundred of jerseys and players to get autographs from. Then they can give UD, Topps, and Panini the big FU.

:shock:

No Press Pass

I love Press Pass. Always on card autos, and a great autograph/box ratio.

Brad said:

No Press Pass

Click to expand...

x2

:doh::doh:

I agree with everyone I liked me some Press Pass. Hell thats most of my Seminoles and Jayhawks collection, because I want the player in their college uniform and an on card autograph if possible. Press pass for the most part was the only company that gave that to me.

Since UD did this, I want to see some more college jersey and patch cards. I have been saying that they should make the SP Authentic gold parallel patches with college jerseys. Even if its photoshoot worn, I think it would be cool.

Poopy Pants said:

Since UD did this, I want to see some more college jersey and patch cards. I have been saying that they should make the SP Authentic gold parallel patches with college jerseys. Even if its photoshoot worn, I think it would be cool.

Click to expand...

Thats a good idea. They will never do it.

Poopy Pants said:

Since UD did this, I want to see some more college jersey and patch cards. I have been saying that they should make the SP Authentic gold parallel patches with college jerseys. Even if its photoshoot worn, I think it would be cool.

Click to expand...

That would be sweet. Imagine an Exquisite type set with College Logos in it. They can do this well or they could screw it up. I see this working real well for Basketball.

Have something called lineage or something.

Three players from a college. An stud from the way past (college wise), a stud from the not too distant past '98 - '06) and a rookie or if they can get non-pro players, one there. I think it'd be cool but I also collect Dennis Northcutt and think THAT'S cool :drunk: ...