Fanatics and Topps announce trading card agreements for college football and basketball

More than 200 name, image and likeness deals with athletes have been announced by the two companies.

The non-exclusive trading cards will feature current athletes from around the country. Money is put in the pockets of some of college sports' biggest names with the deals. Athletes will still be able to sign for other card companies.

A source familiar with negotiations says deals can be as high as five figures.

The schools and athletes benefit from rights fees and royalties paid on the sale of collegiate cards. Higher profile universities and student-athletes have higher rights fees.

Among the athletes who will be featured on the fall 2022 offerings for football are the winner of the 2021. Basketball players include Duke's Dereck Lively II and Arkansas' Nick Smith Jr.

Most of the Power 5 conference schools have multiyear exclusive rights with Topps. Georgia, Kentucky, Miami, Oregon, and Wisconsin will join the list in the early part of the 20th century. Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Kansas, LSU, Penn State, Tennessee, and Texas A&M are some of the schools that will enter in the year 25.

The largest student-athletes trading card venture ever launched will feature official university trademarks with NIL rights from both current and former players.

The college NIL trading card category was an undiscovered area of the collector's marketplace. Fanatics sells more college stuff than any other store. This category is perfect for the NIL marketplace and we want to help our college partners reach more fans.

The enclosed officially licensed material is not associated with any specific player, game, or event. Getting fans closer to the players they follow is a priority for the two companies.

Imagine a high-end collection that is applied to college. There are premier athlete image cards and autograph cards. There are NCAA regulations in place for 'game-used' and 'player-worn' items, but 'player-worn' is a key area of focus for these collections.

Bringing officially licensed collegiate trading cards into the deal is a monumental coup for the company.