Dr. Price Clarifies The Hockey Card Drama
By now many of us have seen Dr. Price’s blog post and if you haven’t then check it out here http://www.cardcornerclub.net/?q=node/886. The post points out his frustration with the hockey card industry. He has been able to carve himself a niche over the years, without an NHL license and now those other licenses that he pays for are being challenged behind the scenes.
Hockey Card Drama Heats Up as Players Get Ready to Take the Ice
Back on March 24th, 2010, the NHLPA and the NHL released a statement announcing that they had renewed their licensing agreement with Upper Deck while simultaneously granting a second license to Panini America. While an obvious coup for the former Donruss company, left in the cold once again was Canada's own In The Game. When the league moved to a single licensee after the 2003-04 season, Dr. Brian Price's company relied on it's own creative skills and ingenuity to maintain a viable market presence in a trading card niche that they had excelled at for years.
The nuances of the licensing agreement have slowly trickeled out over the subsequent months since the official press release. A letter sent to NHL players and their agents upon the announcement, shows in the following excerpts, more specifics of the licensing deal:
“both Upper Deck and Panini will be permitted to use images of ALL NHL players in their products” — but also that those two manufacturers “are the only trading card companies that players should sign autographs or appear on packaging for.”
Product Preview: 2010 Upper Deck SP Authentic Prospects
Scheduled Release Date: October 12th, 2010
Pack-out Configuration: 24 packs per box. 5 cards per pack.
Pre-sell Pricing: $95-$105 Hobby Box
Base Set:
- Regular Cards - 45
- Future Watch Autographs - 15 (# to 999)
- High Series Autographs - 30 (# to 249)
CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS:
- Get Five (5) Autographs in every box!
*Includes one (1) multi-signed card per case!
*Look for rare foil numbered Platinum Power Autographed die-cut cards
- Three (3) foil numbered parallel cards in every box!
*All non-autographed parallels numbered to 799 or less!
- Every pack will contain either an autograph card, foil numbered parallel card, or Platinum Power insert card!
- Uncover uncommon Blue, Red, and Black foil parallels and autograph parallels, with an array of rarities including "1 of 1" autographs!
PRODUCT BREAKDOWN:
Autographed Cards and Autograph Parallels: (5 per box!)
- Regular Cards Autographs Silver Parallel (Varied #)
- Regular Cards Autographs Blue Parallel (# to 99)
- Regular Cards Autographs Red Parallel (# to 25)
- Regular Cards Autographs Black Parallel (# to 1)
- Future Watch Autographs Blue Parallel (# to 249)
Product Preview, Checklist, and Image Gallery: 2010 Upper Deck World of Sports
The debut of 2010 Upper Deck World of Sports sets the stage to deliver the greatest collection of sports stars the industry has ever seen all assembled in one product! Collect autographs and memorabilia from the games greatest stars and personalities in Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Golf, Soccer, Lacrosse, MMA, Olympic Sports, Extreme Sports, and more.
Product Arrival Date: December 2010
Pack-out Configuration: 6 cards per pack, 20 packs per box
Base Set: (400)
Top Inserts:
–Athletes of the World Signatures
–Sports Nation Dual, Triple and Quad Signatures
–All Sport Apparel
–Clear Competitors
Break Summary: (on average)
– Get Two (2) Autographs in every box
•Including one (1) multi- signed card per case
–One (1) Memorabilia card per box
•Look for the autographed parallel
–One (1) Clear Competitors PETG insert per box
Autographs from sports’ biggest stars
–Michael Jordan
–LeBron James
–Tiger Woods
–Amanda Beard
–Pete Rose
–Sidney Crosby
–Wayne Gretzky
–Nancy Kerrigan
–Randy Couture
–Sasha Cohen
–And many more
Memorabilia worn by the biggest names in sports
–Tiger Woods
–Landon Donovan
–Magic Johnson
–Michael Jordan
–Matt Danowski
Product Preview and Images: 2010 SP Authentic NCAA Basketball
2 SP By The Letters Autographs OR 1 SP By The Letters Autograph + 1 Additional single, double, triple, or quad autograph + 1 oversized Michael Jordan Supreme Court floor card
Product Highlights/Details:
200 Card Base Set
SP By the Letter Rookies, Veterans, and Legends Autographs!
Classic Holo-FX die inserts fall 1:6 packs, also look for rare die-cut versions!
Michael Jordan Supreme Court Relics and Relic Autographs featuring an actual piece of North Carolina Tar Heels court!
Collect Autographs from some of basketballs biggest names past and present including: Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Hakeem Olajuwan, Bill Walton, Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun, DeMarcus Cousins, Derrick Favors, Xavier Henry
Collect Championship players and coaches with Cutting Down The Nets, Supreme Court, Future F/X Flashbacks, and Authentic Top 10 Inserts featuring: Coach K, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, Magic, Michael, Bird, Irving, Steve Alford, Jerry West, and more!
Description:
Product Preview and Image Gallery: 2010 Upper Deck SPx NCAA
SPx Football makes its first-ever all college appearance with a new configuration and even greater value, delivering one Rookie Autographed Memorabilia card per box! Be sure to look for rare SPx Shadow Box inserts, including autographed versions.
Configuration:
–4 cards per pack
–18 packs per box
Product Arrival:
-October 2010
Regular Set:
–Regular Cards (100)
–SPx Rookie Autographed Jersey Cards (35)
–SPx Rookie Signatures (50)
–SPx Rookies (50)
Top Inserts:
-SPx Rookie Autographed Logo Patch Parallel (# to 1)
–SPx Shadow Box
–Rookie Winning Big Materials Patch (# to 50)
–Super Scripts Eight (Varied #)
Break Summary: (on average)
One (1) Rookie Autographed Memorabilia Card in every box!
All Rookie Autographs are numbered to 599 or less!
Up to three (3) additional autographs or memorabilia cards per box!
One (1) SPx Shadow Box card per case!
Look for rare signed cards
Product Preview and Image Gallery: 2010-11 Upper Deck Black Diamond
Release Date: Late November 2010
Pack-out Configuration:
5 cards per pack
24 packs per box
12 boxes per case
Product Highlights:
Get 3 Triple Diamond RC’s + 1 Quad RC in each box
A total of 6 Triple Diamond and 2 Quad Diamond cards per box
New Insert:
Ice Premieres Rookie Card (1 per box)
4 #’d Tiers
4 non-Rookie Ice cards per box
Look for(2)Quad-Swatch Jersey Cards per box
Parallels in Ruby, Gold, Onyx, and Autograraphed versions
Highlighting Team Canada
Die-cuts from the country’s best
Hardware Heroes Die-Cut Cards
(2) per case #’d to 100
Parallels
Ruby, Gold, and platinum
Box Break Summary:
6 Double Diamonds
3 Triple Diamonds
3 Triple Diamond Rookie Gems
1 Quad Diamond
1 Quad Diamond Rookie Gem
1 BONUS Pack per box
1 Ice Premieres Rookie Card
2 Quad Memorabilia
1 Ruby/Gold/Platinum Parallel
Case Break Summary:
4-5 Gemography Autos
2-3 Hardware Heroes
4 Team Canada Die Cuts
Bonus Pack: 1 per box, featuring Ice Premieres, regular Ice Cards, Rookie cards and more.
