Memorabilia Leviathan Fanatics continues its push into collecting and has reached an agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB Players Association) for exclusive rights to produce baseball cards.
ESPN obtained a memo from MLBPA that stated that a Fanatics-founded firm will be the sole licensee in the "baseball card category". Panini's licenses with Topps expire at 2022.
According to Wall Street Journal reports, the deal also includes the National Basketball Players Association (NBA) and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). They will share equity in the new venture as well as the MLB and NBA. (The NBA and NFL union agreements with Panini will expire in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
It is important to distinguish between rights with a player's union and/or league. Panini, for example, has an MLBPA license, but not a MLB license. It produces baseball cards, but can't show the logos of MLB teams. Topps currently produces baseball cards featuring players' images and MLBPA logos.
MLB extended its deal with Topps in 2018 and continues through 2025. Topps has been the exclusive licensee for MLB-backed baseball cards from 2009. Fanatics-backed Candy Digital also has exclusive MLB NFT rights.
The memo states that Fanatics' agreement with MLBPA and MLB is more than 10x larger than any other deal the union has ever made. In addition, the memo states that the deal will generate approximately $2 billion by 2045 if it is combined with other deals.
According to the MLBPA's annual reports, Topps paid $20.4 million to the MLBPA in 2020 licensing fees. This was the largest amount from any MLBPA licensee, and an increase of roughly $1.67million from 2019.
Fanatics is the latest blow to Topps, the card giant. Topps was founded in 1938 and first began producing baseball cards in 1951. They were packed with taffy, not gum, and this became a common practice. Topps, founded 1938, was long a publicly traded company. In 2007, Topps went private with a deal worth nearly $400 million, led by Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC and Michael Eisner's Tornante Co.
Topps, which had achieved sales of $460 million in 2019 compared to $567 million in 2020, announced that it would go public again. This special purpose acquisitions company merger (SPAC) involved Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II. It was a massive deal that boosted Topps' valuation to $1.3 billion.
Topps will be without baseball, its most popular sport. It will only have soccer, Bundesliga, Major League Soccer and UEFA Champions League. There will also be NHL stickers for major sports. Upper Deck remains the sole license holder of NHL cards.
Both Fanatics, the MLBPA and Topps declined to comment. Topps could no longer be reached immediately for comment.
