1st Year Salute: Upper Deck SP Rookie Threads

Upper Deck hopes the still wet-behind-the-ears crop of impact rookies will drive sales of its latest football product.

Upper Deck has loaded autograph, memorabilia and its popular “Rookie Autograph Letterman” cards into the newly-released 2008 SP Rookie Threads Football card product.

Most of the “hits” in 2008 SP Rookie Threads Football will focus on this year's NFL rookie crop and Upper Deck is hoping that drives sales of the product, which is already showing up on eBay after its release late last week.

“Rookies like Matt Ryan, Felix Jones, Steve Slaton, Darren McFadden, Jonathan Stewart, Chris Johnson and so many others are all emerging as huge talents,” said Brandon Miller, Upper Deck’s associate brand manager for Football.

Boxes of 2008 SP Rookie Threads Football include two “Rookie Autograph Letterman” cards, three autograph cards (including the chance of pulling multi-signed versions), five memorabilia cards and one “Super Swatch,” “Super Patch” or multi-player jersey card. The “Super Swatch” and “Super Patch” cards include huge patches of memorabilia from the players depicted on each of the cards.

This year there are three levels of collectability within the “Rookie Autograph Letterman” cards: either the last name of the players, their colleges or their college’s nickname. To make the process easier for collectors, Upper Deck lists what the group of cards should spell right below the autograph swatch.

SP Rookie Threads also includes a shout out to some of the NFL's Hall of Fame players. "We’ve included autograph content from huge retired stars like Gale Sayers, John Elway, Y.A. Tittle and Joe Montana as well to bring 2008 SP Rookie Threads Football full circle,” Miller said.

Each five-card pack of 2008 SP Rookie Threads Football carries a suggested retail price of $50. Boxes and single cards pulled from packs are already selling on eBay.

CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS:

o Two (2) Autographed Rookie Lettermen in every box, on average

o Three (3) Autographs per box, on average

o Five (5) jersey cards in every box, on average!

o One (1) each of a Super Swatch, Patch, and multi-player jersey card per box, on average

o Combination of six multi-signed cards or autograph-memorabilia cards per case, on average

PRODUCT BREAKDOWN:

Autographed Memorabilia Cards

o Rookie Lettermen – Last Name (Varied #)

o Rookie Lettermen Parallel – College (Varied #)

o Rookie Lettermen Parallel – College Nickname (Varied #)

o Rookie Lettermen Parallel – Last Name (Varied #)

o Rookie Threads Autograph Parallels (# to 50 or less)

o Rookie Threads Patch Autograph Parallels (# to 25 or less)

o Rookie Super Swatch Autograph Parallel (# to 15)

o Super Swatch Autograph Parallel (# to 5)

Autographed Cards

o Signing Day (# to 199 or less)

o Signature Draft Choice (# to 199 or less)

o Scripted in Time (# to 199 or less)

o SP Authentics (# to 199 or less)

o Multi Marks Duals, Triples, Quads, Sixes, and Eights (# to 299 or less)

Memorabilia Cards

o Rookie Threads (# to 250)

o Rookie Threads Parallels (# to 199 or less)

o Rookie Threads Patch Parallels (# to 99 or less)

o Dual Threads (# to 160)

o Dual Threads Parallels (# to 99 or less)

o Triple Threads (# to 100)

o Triple Threads Parallels (# to 60 or less)

o Rookie Foursome (# to 75)

o Rookie Foursome Parallels (# to 50 or less)

o Rookie Super Swatch (# to 175)

o Rookie Super Swatch Parallels (# to 99 or less)

o Super Swatch (# to 25)

o Super Swatch Parallels (# to 15 or less)

o Flashback Fabrics (# up to 200)

o Flashback Fabrics Parallels (# up to 115)

o Legendary Numbers (# to 99)

o Legendary Numbers Parallels (# to 50 or less)

o Stitch in Time (# to 99)

o Stitch in Time Parallels (# to 50 or less)

o Rookie Numbers (# to 99)

o Rookie Numbers Parallels (# to 50 or less)

o Dual Threads Patch Parallel (# to 35)

o Triple Threads Patch Parallel (# to 20)

o Rookie Foursome Patch Parallel (# to 15)

o Rookie Super Swatch Patch Parallel (# to 25)

o Super Swatch Patch (# to 10)

o Rookie Numbers Patch Parallels (# to 50 or less)

Regular Cards

o Base Set – 100 Cards