Why aren't there more football card collectors?

[OlderTheBetter]

I think collecting (and buying/selling) in any collectible market often goes where the best market value and interest lie. Demand breeds demand. Some folks will delude themselves into thinking that they're pure collectors but would prefer to buy more valuable cards if they could afford to do so. Football cards have generally been (relative to baseball) an easier buy than baseball for a long time now due to lesser demand. And honestly I'm not much interested in why that is the case. It is what it is.

Since 1990 I've been able to buy just about any card that I really wanted (1968-1972 Topps BB and FB), but I haven't bought many football cards. The return on investment is not as great for the players that I'm interested in. The card series are small and the challenge of completing a FB set was never really there for me. How many of you ever look at those sets that you collected and put in a binder on a shelf?

No it's not all about money, but at least I'm honest enought with myself to understand that some day I am going to sell it all and I want to get top dollar. No one in my family wants the cards. Children and grandchildren in my family could not care less about cards. Some of the Mantle cards that I bought in the early 90s have been graded and have now quadupled in value. I can't say that about any of the football cards I could have bought instead.

--Dave