A couple of weeks ago I got one of my two favorite calls of the year when my rep dialed me in that the list of participating products for 2016 Panini Father’s Day was out. These are the products I have to order to get the free 2016 Father’s Day packs I hand out to customers during the promotion. That call cost me about as much as a BGS Michael Jordan 9.5 from a seller with reeeaaalllyyy good feedback and a few 10 subgrades.
After digesting the list and figuring out what won’t sell, what might sell and what will sell, I found about 20 Panini cases with which to test the strength of my UPS driver. By the time I was done, my shop will have 3% of the 40,000 Father’s Day packs that will roll off the presses.
Fortunately, my collectors are always excited about this annual promotion and with a few days left until the packs even get here, we have commitments for double digits worth of cases from them. After taking a peek at what those Father’s Day packs will have to offer, I can see why.
“Participating Products”
As always, customers are rewarded with free packs of exclusive cards for every box of the participating products they buy starting Friday. This year, those products will include 2016 Diamond Kings baseball, 2015-16 Revolution, Clear Vision and Luxe basketball, 2016 Prime Sigs and the new Classics football, USA Soccer sets and UEFA Prizm Euro soccer and, from the college ranks, Immaculate, National Treasures, 2016 Contenders and 2016 Prizm Draft football. You can check with your nearest shop to see how many packs they will be sharing with you for each box purchase.
2016 Father’s Day Packs Highlights
Please enjoy this sneak peek at the base set and the 10 card Elements subset. Panini is making the most out of their MLB, NBA, NFL deals and even threw in soccer superstar Tim Howard for good measure.
The incredibly popular Cracked Ice parallels are back again and Jake from State Farm will surely be stoked to know that there will be HyperPlaid versions. Looking at the first group of autographs, I can’t wait to see some signed cards of Stephen Curry, Lionel Messi, Todd Gurley, Rob Gronkowski, local hero Von Miller, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kristaps Porzingas popping from packs.
The 70 plus possible memorabilia cards certainly seem cool with a great mix of 
players from each sport. A challenge flag from the Dolphins/Texans game got sliced and diced for our amusement as well as relics from Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Emmanuel Mudiay, Karl-
Anthony Towns, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and enough younger players to stock a solid rookie challenge from each sport.
Not yet seen are the first NASCAR cards from Panini as promised and it’s my hope that we also see more soccer represented since the ones we saw last year (numbered to 7) are among the most collectible cards we have seen from either Father’s Day or Black Friday. If you’re not into soccer, I assure you they’re more popular than you might think.
I’m sure we’ll get a few more preview nuggets before the weekend.
I would urge each of you to make a point of visiting your nearest card shop and get your dad a little something special for Father’s Day. As a dad, I love getting cute things from my kids, but it is awesome to see boxes roll out the door knowing that they will be replacing a potential tie or cologne for some lucky guys. Call ahead to make sure they’re participating in the promotion.
Feel free to keep the bonus packs for yourself unless you feel like your dad deserves them as well.
Mike Fruitman owns Mike’s Stadium Sportscards in Aurora, CO. Normally, his column focuses on what products are selling best in hobby shops. He’s got thousands of cards for sale on COMC.com under the ID cardmn5150. Enjoy new arrivals and big hits from Mike’s on Twitter. Mike’s is always looking for more friends on Facebook and you can email himat [email protected]
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