MLBPA Renews Upper Deck Baseball License

Upper Deck will continue to produce Major League Baseball trading cards.

The Upper Deck Company has been granted a new trading card license agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association.

“We are thrilled to renew our commitment to the baseball card market and look forward to working closely with the Players Association to further grow the category,” said Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam.

Upper Deck was founded in 1989 and has had an MLBPA license ever since, but speculation had surfaced that the association might offer an exclusive deal to one manufacturer. With Topps expected to return as well, it appears as if there will continue to be at least two major manufacturers with trading card licenses.

“Our goal is to provide collectors with great baseball card products, while continuing to grow the market with an infusion of new consumers. We’re confident Upper Deck can help us realize those goals,” said MLBPA category director Evan Kaplan of the renewed partnership.

“During the term of our current agreement, Upper Deck consistently demonstrated their dedication to achieving long-term sales growth for the baseball card market. Their kid-focused and online marketing programs, like UpperDeckU, combined with a long line of exceptional products, is a testament to their pursuit of sustained long-term growth for this category,” Kaplan added.

The first release of the new license term will be Upper Deck Series One Baseball, currently scheduled to launch on February 6, 2010. “Needless to say, we are extremely eager and very excited to put our 2010 baseball trading card product and marketing plans into motion,” said Jason Masherah, Director of Sports Brands for Upper Deck.