You’d have to be living under a rock to have missed the hobby-shaking news this week: Topps is out as the official licensed card manufacturer of the MLB. In four years, Fanatics will take over as the MLB’s licensed card company. The same is happening with football and basketball, as Fanatics has supplanted Panini as the official licensee of the NFL and NBA respectively.
It’d be impossible to not touch on this development in this week’s episode of the Loupe Market Report powered by SlabStox. Big changes are a’comin’ — whether that means Fanatics creates its own lines or leads massive buyouts. It’s too early to tell, but something’s brewin’ one way or another. You know we’re keeping our eye on this one.
Moving to basketball, Zion Williamson has seen his prices fall from January of this year when they were at an all-time high. New Orleans’ offseason moves seem to be geared toward running the offense through Zion, which means that his market might rebound nicely in 2021-2022. He had a great sophomore season, but his third year could very well be where he truly breaks out.
Baseball has us talking about Marco Luciano. His cards aren’t moving a ton of volume, but he’s high up on MLB’s list of top prospects. Adley Rutschman, Spencer Torkelson, Bobby Witt Jr. — these are all some of the hottest names in Bowman over the last few years. All those guys will get called up to the big leagues before long, and then Luciano is in the conversation for MLB’s top prospect. Expect his card to skyrocket when that happens.
On the cusp of the NFL season, Drew Lock’s cards have recovered nicely from a lull in June. That’s because everyone thought there was a legitimate chance Aaron Rodgers was going to Denver, meaning Lock would be pushed out. Now that he’s in a battle with Teddy Bridgewater to be the Broncos’ starter, his cards are on the rise. However, there’s a good chance Denver goes with Bridgewater, and backups usually don’t have the biggest market. Be wary of Lock.
Soccer closes out the show, as Man U’s Mason Greenwood scored in the first two matches of the new English Premier League season. Predictably, people are high on him as he’s a rising star on one of the most valuable clubs in the world. Look for Greenwood’s cards to keep trending upward if he keeps finding the back of the net.
That’s it for this week’s episode of the Loupe Market Report powered by SlabStox! If you’ve got any questions — and given the news of the week, it’s likely that a lot of you have questions — remember that we hold a livestream on Loupe every Thursday at 6pm Eastern. We’ll do our best to field whatever’s on your mind about the hobby. See you there!