Topps to be replaced as the BB Card Manuracturer

[bigfanNY]

Topps not dead yet. They have a license for 4 more years and as mentioned above Brand recognition that is through the roof. Just like Bowman and leaf and Donruss too valuable to just fade away. I just hope the competition brings out some great cards.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

Topps not dead yet. They have a license for 4 more years and as mentioned above Brand recognition that is through the roof. Just like Bowman and leaf and Donruss too valuable to just fade away. I just hope the competition brings out some great cards.

Topps has an MLB license for 4 more years but an MLBPA* license for only 2 more. That means 2 years of not being able to use any active players and having to do individual licenses with anybody they do want to use.

With the deal to go public going up in flames, I really see no outcome other than Fanatics buying Topps and continuing the Topps brand. I can't imagine Fanatics would turn down a chance to get Topps at a deep discount and just run cards with the Fanatics brand. Just don't see that happening.

Also, at the end of the day, Topps never had a chance anyway. There's no possible way they could top the licensing deal that the Fanatics group could offer since the leagues and players themselves own the company. They gave themselves the license. Topps can't touch that. No way.

* - what genius at Topps negotiated license deals with MLB and MLBPA that don't end at the same time?

[Mark17]

Just throwing this out there....... is there enough profit for Topps to just issue numerous non-sports sets, like they did in the 1960s (Gilligan's Island, McHale's Navy, The Beatles, The Monkeys, Hogans Heroes, Batman, Combat!) and so on?

Could they come up with something like Pokemon, Garbage Pail Kids, Harry Potter, or whatever, just to produce cards and make some dough?

In other words, can they survive without major league sports?

[brianp-beme]

"Topps to be replaced as the BB Card Manuracturer"

I didn't realize baseball cards could be converted into manure.


Brian (I read the title 7-8 times before noticing the misspelling...congrats on disguising it so well)

[Snowman]

I suspect Topps isn't done yet. I would handicap the odds of them being acquired by Fanatics to be at least somewhat likely. Maybe a 30-40% chance? Just a guess. But that's precisely what Fanatics did with Majestic. They bought the licensing then bought out Majestic and said, "sorry about that license deal we just screwed you out of, please make our clothing now", and they did.

I would also speculate that this didn't come out of left field for Topps. I think they knew it was a strong possibility. The timeline with taking the company public is just way too closely correlated with this Fanatics news. Topps SPAC was literally supposed to vote on it next week before the news broke. It's like they were just trying to pull a fast one and cash out before the bottom fell out so that someone else would be left holding the bag instead of them.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Is there any chance that the timing of all this has repercussions? I don't know a ton about big business and mergers and what is and isn't kosher, but the timing of the Fanatics announcement clearly seems intended to queer the Topps merger deal. If they then pick up Topps at a discount, is that all squeaky clean and just legal corporate raiding at its best?

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Is there any chance that the timing of all this has repercussions? I don't know a ton about big business and mergers and what is and isn't kosher, but the timing of the Fanatics announcement clearly seems intended to queer the Topps merger deal. If they then pick up Topps at a discount, is that all squeaky clean and just legal corporate raiding at its best?

Like you I do not know that the side of the business and anything is possible. But I think with Topps reputation, brand recognition, and great history they will be fine either way. Or perhaps they will be bought out or merger with another company.

But hopefully the competition makes for some new and amazing stuff

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Is there any chance that the timing of all this has repercussions? I don't know a ton about big business and mergers and what is and isn't kosher, but the timing of the Fanatics announcement clearly seems intended to queer the Topps merger deal. If they then pick up Topps at a discount, is that all squeaky clean and just legal corporate raiding at its best?

I'm very ignorant about legal matters such as this, but it seems to me like it wouldn't matter when they made the announcement because regardless of they announced it today or 3 months from now, it would still have the same effect of greatly devaluing Topps. The timing of it affects who might be holding the Topps bag when it happens, but from fanatics perspective, whenever they announce, Topps value plummets and they can probably acquire them for pennies on the dollar. Investing in a company whose entire valuation is tied to a licensing deal seems like a risky investment to me. If they lose that license, they go from hero to zero overnight.